当焊接研究理事会于1935年成立时，其主要目标之一是向理事会的研究人员和订阅者提供世界各地文献中存在的信息。因此，多年来，理事会的主要活动之一是就精心挑选的主题编写文献综述。该委员会编写并出版了大约100篇文献综述。其中一些早期文献综述构成了进一步文献综述、研究工作、解释性报告等的基础。 发布和提供这些信息的问题最初是通过与美国焊接协会的合同安排得到解决的，该协议已持续多年。根据该合同，由美国焊接学会出版的《焊接杂志》创建了《焊接研究补编》，该补编是该杂志的一部分，但有自己的独立编号系统。

When the Welding Research Council was organized in 1935, one of its principal objectives was to make available to the research workers and subscribers of the Council the information existing in the literature throughout the world. Accordingly, for a number of years one of the main activities of the Council was the preparation of literature reviews on carefully selected subjects. Some 100 literature reviews have been prepared by the Council and published. Some of these earlier literature reviews form the base for further literature reviews, research work, interpretive reports, and the like. The problem of publishing and making available this information was initially solved by a contractual arrangement with the American Welding Society, which has been continued over the years. Under this contract The Welding Journal, published by the American Welding Society, created a Welding Research Supplement, which forms part of the Journal, but has its own separate numbering system.