Magnetic papers were prepared by using the co-precipitation method. The spectral data of the magnetic fibres were obtained by using the photoacoustic Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR-PAS) and attenuated total reflection (ATR). It was found that the elevated loading degree increased the IR absorption and reduced the tensile strength of the paper. The partial-least-squares analyses showed that the FTIR-ATR data were strongly correlated with the degree of loading and the correlation obtained was better than that of the FTIR-PAS spectral data. (C) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.