Science and technology journal Scientific American has laid off 5 percent of its staff, according to media reports. The journal's longtime editor John Rennie and President Steven Yee will exit their posts. Executive editor Mariette DiChristina will serve as acting editor-in-chief.
Until recently, Scientific American was a separate unit within Macmillan, which publishes mostly books, along with the journal Nature and a number of scientific publications. The journal is now transitioning into parent Macmillan's Nature Publishing Group.
According to the Publishers Information Bureau, the magazine's advertising pages dropped 18 percent in the first quarter of this year compared to the same period last year. Collectively, magazine ad pages dropped 26.1 percent.
First published in 1845, Scientific American is claimed to be the world's leading source and authority for science and technology information. Published in 19 foreign language editions with a total circulation of more than 1 million worldwide, it reaches business executives, opinion leaders, policy makers, academics and well-educated general consumers. As a tiny division of a giant parent company, it has been largely buffered from the cutbacks hitting other magazine publishers.
