Izabela Wielicka: Last year, the bimonthly “Logistyka” celebrated its 40th anniversary. Is this perhaps the oldest logistics magazine in Poland?
Iwo Nowak: Perhaps not the oldest, but it is true that we are one of the longest continuously published logistics magazines on the market. However, if we take into account the fact that we operate in the sphere of both science and practice simultaneously, we are definitely the oldest periodical combining these two, often distinct, areas. It is precisely thanks to this combination of “fire and water” that our magazine facilitates the two-way flow of information and knowledge between science and practice. Thanks to this, “Logistyka” has maintained its unique character for so many years. Observing the logistics magazine market, it is clear that there is no other title like it. On one hand, there are magazines with a scientific profile, and on the other, typically commercial titles. We position ourselves in the middle, although it is not for me to determine whether this is the “golden mean”. That is already being judged by the Readers themselves, who have been buying us for so many years.
I.W.: Today, logistics is one of the most important branches of the modern economy. 40 years ago, this field was not as popular. What were the beginnings of the “Logistyka” magazine?
I.N.: We have to go back to 1970, when the quarterly “Magazynowanie i Transport Towarów” (Warehousing and Transport of Goods) appeared, published by the NOT Technical Magazine Publishing House in Warsaw and the State Warehousing Services in Warsaw. The first editor-in-chief was the initiator of the quarterly’s establishment, Stanisław Teski. At that time, the magazine (based at ul. Wspólna 1/3 in Warsaw) was an organ of: the State Reserves Office, the State Council for Material Economy, and the Material Economy Office. The topics covered in its pages concerned problems of warehouse construction and equipment, warehouse work technology, cargo, external transport means, transshipment technology, work organization, management, and warehousing economics. After the introduction of martial law on December 13, 1981, in Poland, the Minister of Material Economy, by his ordinance of December 23, 1982, stopped the publication of the quarterly. Similar decisions halted almost all magazines and newspapers at that time – fortunately, not for long. As for our title, on March 3, 1983, the President of the Main Office for the Control of Publications and Performances, at the request of the Undersecretary of State in the Office of Material Economy, granted permission to publish the quarterly “Problemy Magazynowania i Transportu” (Problems of Warehousing and Transport) by the Institute of Warehousing Economy in Poznań (IGM). As you can see, the title and publisher changed, but the magazine continued the thematic line of both the Warsaw quarterly “Magazynowanie i Transport Towarów” and the “Problemy Magazynowania” (Problems of Warehousing) published in Poznań by IGM since 1979. In the 1980s, the editors-in-chief of the magazine, whose headquarters had permanently moved to Poznań at ul. Estkowskiego 6, were: Ambroży Stachowiak (I – VI 1984), Prof. Elżbieta Gołembska (VII.1984 – XII.1987), and Prof. Stefan Abt (I.1988 – XII.1989). It was they who co-created Polish logistical thought in those years. The changes in politics, and above all in the economy, progressing from the turn of the 80s and 90s, resulted in the transformation of both the Institute of Warehousing Economy itself into the Institute of Logistics and Warehousing (ILiM), and the title of the quarterly from “Problemy Magazynowania i Transportu” to “Logistyka” (from January 1994). The thematic scope of the magazine was also expanded. It additionally covered Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) and automatic identification – especially using barcodes. The next editor-in-chief was Zbigniew M. Skowroński, and he was supported by, among others, Dariusz Gościniak, Karol Górski, Mieczysław Kaczmarek, Stanisław Krzyżaniak, and Andrzej Weselik. In May 2001, I joined the editorial staff of “Logistyka”, which had already switched to a bimonthly publishing cycle. After the well-deserved retirement of editor Z.M. Skowroński at the beginning of 2002, the Management of ILiM entrusted me with the position of editor-in-chief of the magazine, which I have had the honor of leading to this day.
I.W.: Has the magazine’s concept or target audience changed over these 40 years due to its development?
I.N.: Yes, as I said before, the magazine changed titles and publishers and kept expanding the spectrum of issues that appeared in its pages. In a sense, this was a reflection of the state of development of science and technology, including specific concepts developed and implemented in enterprises. The substantive “weight” also constantly shifted from warehousing as such towards supply chains, logistics infrastructure, modern means of transport, implementation of foreign solutions in the field of, among others, production and distribution logistics, as well as the electronic economy. This evolution continues, and the magazine’s target audience, in addition to scientists and practitioners, now also includes students and high school pupils training in the professions of logistics technician and freight forwarder technician. This is a very important group, as the functioning of supply chains and TSL industry companies in the future will depend on them.
I.W.: How does “Logistyka” function today? What is its mission? Who is the magazine specifically aimed at?
I.N.: In the domestic publishing market in the area of logistics, we are the only title operating at the intersection of two worlds, i.e., science and practice. This requires us, as an editorial team, to make special efforts to maintain a high substantive level of published articles and other materials, while at the same time presenting them to Readers in an editorially attractive form. Therefore, one of the first steps I took after taking the position of editor-in-chief was the decision to publish “Logistyka” in full color. Each of the sections was additionally given a separate color, which makes it easier for the reader to reach the content they are interested in. Over time, I introduced advertising presentations on CD-ROMs to our pages, and from 2003, I started selling individual, archival articles in electronic version. In this way, readers could purchase only those materials that they needed at a given moment – without having to buy entire issues. Furthermore, thanks to the electronic version, we can still offer the content of archival issues even though most of them have long been sold out in paper form. A few years ago, I established another section: “Logistyka – nauka” (Logistics – Science), in which, alongside printed articles, we include a number of peer-reviewed materials on CD-ROMs. It is a real goldmine of knowledge, both from the TSL industry and areas of management, technology, etc., which, after all, connect with broadly understood civil and military logistics. To illustrate the scale of this resource of professional information, I will say that in 2010, in the pages of “Logistyka”, we published in print almost 300 advisory, informational, and scientific articles, reviews, information, polemics, interviews, and summaries and reports, and in addition to that, over 1040 peer-reviewed articles on CD-ROMs. Please show me another such magazine in the field of logistics offering a similar dose of knowledge. And knowledge whose level is overseen not only by the Publisher – the Institute of Logistics and Warehousing and the Editorial Board composed of, among others, such experts as Stanisław Krzyżaniak, Elżbieta Hałas, Aleksander Niemczyk, or Ireneusz Fechner, but also the Program Council, chaired by Prof. Włodzimierz Rydzkowski from the University of Gdańsk. Both he and its members: Prof. Krystyna Kowalska, Prof. Marek Ciesielski, Prof. Marek Fertsch, PEKAES SA President Jacek Machocki, and the President of Transmeble International Sp. z o.o. are demanding reviewers of our work – primarily in terms of content, but not only.
I.W.: You also run the logistics supplement of “Gazeta Wyborcza” – “Flota. Transport. Logistyka”. You therefore know the situation in the trade press market well. The number of logistics press titles is constantly growing. This testifies to the increasing interest in logistics. Logistics companies are developing at a fast pace, and new ones are still being created. Consequently, the demand for specialists in the logistics profession is increasing. Logistics courses are being created at universities, and even higher schools of logistics have been established, such as the Higher School of Logistics in Poznań or the International University of Logistics and Transport in Wrocław. Some high schools are also preparing students for the logistics profession. There is therefore a demand for knowledge related to warehousing, transport, and logistics. Do the logistics magazines present on the market satisfy it? Are there, in your opinion, still too few magazines in this industry?
I.N.: Although there are already quite a few press titles devoted to logistics, transport, or warehousing, I think they are not able to fully satisfy the demand for knowledge in this area. Besides, I don’t think that’s the point. It should be mentioned here that Poznań has been a leading publishing hub for logistics press for many years. About 10 titles are created here, not counting several thematic internet portals. Commercial publishers dominate. Warsaw is in second place in terms of the number of press titles. Of course, to this, one can add such publications as various types of scientific journals and magazines, or yearbooks published by institutes and universities across the country. However, books remain the basic supplement to knowledge. In the capital of Greater Poland, besides the ILiM publishing house, which prepares, among others, compendiums in the form of, for example, the “Logistyka” volume, or a number of textbooks for students and high schools, the Higher School of Logistics also publishes its books. Many interesting titles have also been published by nationwide publishers, such as: Difin, PWE, PWN, MT Biznes, or BEL Studio. The publishing offer is rich, but it must be remembered that when choosing a given university, one should expect a certain program specificity, even if the general framework of the program is the same for a specific specialty. Lecturers at universities, economic universities, technical universities, or non-public schools will look at logistics slightly differently. And from this angle, one looks for sources of knowledge. However, for several years now, there has been a clearly growing interest in the resources of internet portals, which generate more and more visits. I think their role will continue to grow in the educational process in the field of logistics, transport, or warehousing, as well as as providers of current information. In this respect, logistics magazines, mostly published on a monthly and bimonthly cycle, are already losing at the start. Advertisers see this, by the way, as they are increasingly knocking on industry internet portals, while at the same time limiting their activity in printed magazines.
I.W.: How do you assess the level of logistics press in Poland in terms of content and editorial quality? What problems do publishers struggle with?
I.N.: The assessment of the level of logistics press depends on the criteria adopted and who expects what. Sometimes it may happen that there are few issues in the entire issue that interest a given Reader, but one article is exactly what they need at that moment. Commercial publishers are by nature focused on practice because they count on obtaining advertisements from there. And there is nothing to be surprised about. It is mainly advertisements that financially support magazines, and not just copy sales. From this year, specialized magazines have been additionally burdened with a five percent VAT tax, which will either have to be “drowned” in the current price or this price will have to be raised. People outside the publishing industry also do not realize that for presence in large distribution networks, one sometimes has to “pay” distributors a share exceeding, for example, 40% of the price of the sold copy. And when purchasing, for example, articles in electronic version via a mobile phone, more than half of their value is taken by the GSM operator. The prices of paper and printing services are also not standing still. So for publishers of specialized press, copy sales without the support of advertising revenue are becoming less and less profitable. It is also difficult to estimate for now to what extent electronic books, available via special readers, will affect the reduction of printed book circulations, and in the near future, also paper editions of magazines. Interestingly, for recipients, the price of electronic editions of books or magazines will not decrease at all, despite skipping printing costs. These costs will simply move elsewhere.
I.W.: Do you see any niche in this market?
I.N.: More and more niches have already been occupied, but with the development of the economy, and especially technology, new niches are still appearing. The winner will be the one who not only sees them first but will be able to manage them in a way that is attractive to their customers. Some publishers support themselves by organizing paid conferences or training on selected topics. Here, however, the market expects something really interesting that will allow expanding the necessary knowledge with elements useful in everyday activities. The more conferences there are, the sharper the selection will be, as everyone has limited financial and time resources that they can allocate to such events.
I.W.: We are at the beginning of the year – a planning period. What plans does the editorial staff of the “Logistyka” magazine have?
I.N.: First of all, we want to maintain our leading position in the country among logistics magazines combining science with practice. We want this mutual penetration to provide our Readers with as much knowledge as possible, which they can use in their professional work. We are also constantly analyzing all the “pros” and “cons”, preparing to launch the magazine in an electronic version as well. How it will turn out in the end – time will tell. But this path seems inevitable, even if a more exclusive paper version remains.
I.W.: I wish you success and thank you for the conversation.