Looking forward to the next 25 years!
We would like to wish you all a very happy and prosperous 2011.However before we look forward, we would just like to take this opportunity to look back at a few events from last year. 2010 marked the 25th anniversary of JAAS, and we have had a fantastic year to celebrate this landmark for the journal.
In 2010, we saw an overall growth in the number of articles published in the journal, and so we would particularly like to thank all of our authors and reviewers throughout the year. In particular, as the subject has matured, we have been very pleased to see an increase in the contribution of interdisciplinary articles, and those from other disciplines, not traditionally seen as the domain of JAAS. As discussed in a past Editorial (J. Anal. At. Spectrom., 2009, 24, 11–13 DOI: 10.1039/B821202N), we welcome this diversity in the journal and look forward to this continuing into 2011.
2010 began with the publication of the Young Analytical Scientists (YAS) themed issue, guest edited once again by Advisory Board member Spiros Pergantis. This issue showcased a collection of research articles from the up-and-coming scientists in the field. The quality of the work shows that the future is very bright, and there is good reason to believe that we will continue to see new ideas, research directions, interdisciplinarity and global participation in future issues. A JAAS 25th anniversary Symposium was held at the 2010 FACSS meeting in Raleigh, USA, and featured several of our YAS contributors to also recognise the importance of our young scientists for the continuing success of the journal.
Throughout the year, JAAS has also been publishing Editorials each month on various aspects of the 25 years of the journal. Favourite highlights include Frank Vanhaecke reminiscing on the birth of JAAS and his choice of music at the time, the rise of atomic spectrometry in both Japan and China, and a personal viewpoint on Sector-Field ICP-MS from Advisory Board member Ashley Townsend, amongst others. A full list of these Editorials can be found on the journal blog, JAASNews.
The end of JAAS' anniversary year also coincided with 30 years since the first article on ICP-MS was first published in December 1980. Sam Houk has written an Editorial for JAAS to mark this occasion (J. Anal. At. Spectrom., 2010, DOI: 10.1039/C0JA00186D).
To round up our celebrations, JAAS hosted a 25th anniversary one-day Symposium in Beijing to highlight the past, present and future of atomic spectrometry. The symposium featured a selection of lectures reflecting the topical and geographical breadth of the field, with talks covering both fundamental atomic spectrometry research and applications in areas such as bioscience, earth science and environmental science. This final celebration was made possible by the kind support of our sponsors, the Chinese State Key Laboratory for Continental Dynamics, the Chinese State Key Laboratory for Geological Processes and Mineral Resources, Thermo Fisher Scientific (Bremen) Ltd., Agilent Technologies (China), Nu Instruments, Analytik Jena and Nanjing Fuwei Environmental Purification Co. Ltd. See Fig. 1 and 2.
 | ||
| Fig. 1 JAAS 25th anniversary Symposium (from left to right): Niamh O'Connor (Publisher, JAAS), Zhaochu Hu, Steven Wilbur, Tai Zhao, Lothar Rottmann, John Cantle, Steven Ray, Martin Resano, Norbert Jakubowski, Rebeca Santamaria-Fernandez, Takafumi Hirata, Ashley Townsend and Xinrong Zhang (host). | ||
 | ||
| Fig. 2 May Copsey (Editor, JAAS) and Niamh O'Connor (Publisher, JAAS) thank representatives from the Symposium sponsors, Chinese Key State Laboratory for Continental Dynamics, the Chinese State Key Laboratory for Geological Processes and Mineral Resources, Thermo Fisher Scientific (Bremen) Ltd., Agilent Technologies (China), Nu Instruments, Analytik Jena and Nanjing Fuwei Environmental Purification Co. Ltd. | ||
In addition to our celebrations for the 25th anniversary this year, we also welcome back Gary Hieftje to the Editorial Board. Gary has always been a strong supporter of the journal, both as author and as past Chair of the Editorial Board, and we look forward to his increased involvement with the journal once again.
Gary Hieftje
We would also like to welcome Suresh Aggarwal, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, India, to the Advisory Board of the journal. It has been a pleasure working with all of our Editorial and Advisory Board members over the past year and we thank them for their input during this time.
However as we enter the New Year, it is also time to look forward. JAAS has always aimed to be a central part of the atomic spectrometry community, and to continue to do this, we are looking to develop our blog, JAAS News. Steven Ray, JAAS News Editor, ably accompanied by his team of contributors from around the globe, aims to bring us the latest developments from the atomic spectrometry community. Please do take a look, and we encourage you to take part by commenting on any posts that catch your eye!
Quality and Growth Continues
The 2009 Journal Citation Reports ® released in 2010, also showed that not only growth but quality is very important. With an impact factor of 3.45, JAAS continues to be the leading journal in its field, publishing primary research.In fact, for all RSC journals, it's quality that really matters. This is now better than ever as our average impact factor (IF) rose from 4.9 to 5.4. It's an impressive figure, especially when compared with the average for a chemistry journal of 2.4.
But we do not rely on just one or two titles to boost our average. It is our entire collection that counts: of the top 20 journals in the multidisciplinary chemistry category, 25% are from RSC Publishing; and 90% of our titles have an IF over 3.
Our list of titles continues to grow: Food & Function and Catalysis Science & Technology are the latest titles to join our expanding portfolio. Plus, the number of articles we have published has increased by 74% in the last 2 years alone. We remain committed to providing a world-class publishing service to our authors, and delivering cutting-edge chemical science to readers throughout the world.
The IF and article growth figures provide a clear indication that more researchers than ever before are recognising journals from the RSC as a key resource to access the very best research.
International Year of Chemistry 2011
IUPAC (in conjunction with the UN and UNESCO) have proclaimed 2011 as the International Year of Chemistry (IYC), the goals of which are: to increase the public appreciation of chemistry in meeting world needs; to encourage interest in chemistry among young people; and to generate enthusiasm for the creative future of chemistry. The RSC will be leading the way in IYC 2011, supporting this important initiative through a series of additional events and activities.JAAS will be involved with the International Year of Chemistry. Watch out for interviews with influential scientists and leaders in their field and find out how chemistry has influenced them, and impacted on their lives. These will be published on JAAS News.
2011 Books
With steady front-list growth and cutting-edge content, delivering excellence and authority, the RSC is one of the world's leading chemical science print and online book publishers.Nearly 1000 eBooks equating to one third of a million pages, the RSC eBook Collection delivers outstanding online research and opinion in a multitude of areas of the chemical sciences. Nine new RSC eBook Subject Collections offer additional flexibility.
With over 90 new print titles planned for 2011, including: second editions of seminal texts; and new RSC Polymer Chemistry and RSC Metallobiology series launching, our contribution to chemistry collections worldwide is diverse, topical and high impact. Expect another first class collection of best selling chemical science titles in 2011.
NEW RSC Publishing Platform
Access one million journal articles and book chapters in one simple integrated search.The new RSC Publishing Platform has been developed in consultation with the international scientific and librarian community. Together we have identified the best and most valued interface and features that connects you with the highest quality scientific research. With one single search box, easily access our books, journals and databases for students, academics, researchers, scientists and professionals.
Free online access
Free online access is available to all our newest journals, and more – all you need to do is register for an RSC Publishing personal account. Then, when you are logged in, you will be able to access all our free content. Currently this includes:• All content of our newest journals for the first 2 volumes
• Any articles that are part of a special free access promotion (e.g. ‘hot’ papers, web theme issues, etc.)
• All journal content published more than two years ago (dating back to 1997)
• A sample chapter from each book in the RSC eBook Collection
With your username and password you can access the free content any time, any place – all you need is internet access. Register at www.rsc.org/personalregistration.
If your institution is a current customer with IP registration, you will be able to access all free content. Other institutions can apply for free online access to our newest journals using our online form: www.rsc.org/freeaccess.
ChemSpider
Have you heard about the RSC's award winning chemical structure and text based search engine – ChemSpider? It's FREE!ChemSpider provides access to:
• millions of chemical structures
• an abundance of additional property information
• tools to upload, curate and use the data
• a multitude of other online services like the RSC Publishing Platform
ChemSpider is one of the richest single sources of structure-based chemistry information.
Visit www.chemspider.com (for mobile devices: cs.m.chemspider.com)
RSC 2011 Conferences and Events
As a learned society host more than 300 international conferences and events, the following have been outlined as areas you may find of interest. Visit www.rsc.org/ConferencesAndEvents to view the complete schedule of events for 2011.Faraday Discussion 150: Frontiers in Spectroscopy
Basel, Switzerland, 6–8 April
Analytical Research Forum 2011
Manchester, UK, 25–27 July
And finally…
As we look forward to the next 25 years of JAAS, and anticipate future successes and achievements in our field, we would like to thank you once again for your support and feedback. All comments and suggestions are always welcome, so please do stay in touch at JAAS-rsc@rsc.org,
Detlef Günther, Chair, JAAS Editorial Board
May Copsey, Editor
Vibhuti Patel, Deputy Editor
| This journal is © The Royal Society of Chemistry 2011 |