21 pages, This paper examines (1) the role of professional journals in research and (2) the perceived criteria for journal publication in the sciences utilizing national surveys of agricultural journal editors and agricultural scientists in thirteen disciplines. Results indicate that agricultural scientists view professional journals as the most important published resource in their research, the major outlet for their findings, and a key criterion in their choice of research problems. In addition, both journal editors and scientists generally agree that scientists' submitted articles are primarily judged against the normative criteria of scientific craftsmanship rather than by particularistic standards. The most important criterion for journal publication as seen by both editors and scientists is the value of the author's findings to the field. However, unlike other scientists, agricultural scientists appear to associate this universalistic criterion of value to the field with (1) the potential contribution of the article to increased agricultural productivity and (2) the value of the article's findings to clientele groups. Furthermore, these two criteria of productivity and clientele needs that stress the practical value of the research are more important for publishing decisions among journals reporting applied emphases and to scientists in applied disciplines.
