INDUSTRIAL APPLICATIONS OF FORMULATION COMPUTATIONS - IS THE COMPUTERTHE ENEMY

The basis of modern computations of colorant formulations is a 1931 ar ticle by Kubelka and Munk. Virtually all the subsequent important cont ributions to the problem were published in the following four decades; if it were the practice for software instructions to include a compre hensive list of published references, it is unlikely that many if any, would be dated later than the advent of the modern computer. This imp lies either that no major problems remain unsolved or that some factor is discouraging further improvements or is inhibiting their publicati on. This leads to the hypothesis that the accepted practice in rite di ssemination of computer documentation, of failing to provide reference s to relevant published work is a significant basis of stultifying new development. It is accordingly urged that promulgators of software ac cept the I responsibility universally observed in scientific technolog ical publication, of disclosing prior work by supplying appropriate li sts of relevant published material. The failure to disclose prior publ ished work should be deemed a form of plagiarism. (C) 1996 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.