Analyst—faster, higher, stronger in 2013!

Welcome to issue 1, 2013 of Analyst and may we wish you a very happy New Year from all the journals team!

Looking back over the past year, and with one of us having been lucky enough to have an Olympics so close to home, the London Games will certainly feature in some of our most vivid memories of 2012. The scenes of colourful fans from all over the world and the huge number of smiling volunteers demonstrated how we are definitely stronger when we work together! This is a theme that also echoes with us, when looking back at some of the events that have happened this year with Analyst.

Faster

With the introduction of Accepted Manuscripts for Analyst, it is now faster for authors to have their work published online in a citable form. Authors have the opportunity to choose, during the online submission process, to have the unedited and unformatted version of their accepted article published online shortly after acceptance. This version is then replaced with the final edited version of the article as soon as this is available.

Higher

2012 has also seen a higher impact factor for Analyst. The 2011 Journal Citation Report® reported the latest Impact Factor for Analyst as 4.23, going above 4 for the first time. This cements the journal's place in the top 5 journals publishing general analytical science.

Stronger

2012 has indeed been a strong year for Analyst. We have seen a huge growth in the number of articles submitted to us, so we are happy to say that we are now publishing even more high-quality articles in the journal, exceeding 800 articles over 24 issues in 2012.

This growth has also seen us reach out to an increased range of research communities. This was highlighted in our themed ‘Single’ issue, guest-edited by Henry White, University of Utah, US, which published a collection of articles describing important and fascinating new insights into structure and reactivity at the “single entity” level. This issue was a demonstration of the power of analytical science across a range of fields including analysis of complex biological chemistry within single cells, measuring and modifying transport in single nanopores, and studying the reactivity of single nanoparticles, as well as the cytotoxicity of nanoparticles.

This year, we have also collaborated with our sister journal Analytical Methods on a web collection of articles, highlighting important developments and novel applications in the exciting area of electroanalytical science.

We have also been working hard to increase our collaboration with other societies. In September, the first RSC Symposium at JASIS 2012 (Japanese Analytical Scientific Instruments Show), was held in Tokyo, Japan. This event brought together a collection of world-class researchers, including Analyst Associate Editors Steve Soper, Duncan Graham and Takehiko Kitamori to discuss the latest developments in micro and nano technologies for the analysis of human health and diagnostics. This was complemented by over 100 poster presentations on this same topic. The Symposium was in close collaboration with JAIMA (Japanese Analytical Instrument Manufacturers Association), and the RSC looks forward to continuing this rewarding and promising collaboration in the future.

At the beginning of October, the first joint RSC-ACS Symposium was held at SCIX 2012 (formerly known as FACSS) in Kansas City. This consisted of 2 symposia entitled ‘Current Status of the Analytical Sciences: Focus on Human Health’. The first symposium focussed on bioanalytical and clinical developments, while the second highlighted atomic spectrometry developments in this area. The theme of human health was highlighted as it is a key area in the RSC roadmap, ‘Chemistry for Tomorrow's World,’ and the ACS ‘Global Challenges Chemistry Solutions’ strategic plan.

We look forward to future collaborations with these societies, and working together to explore new ways of helping to support the analytical community.

What to look forward to in 2013

Members of the Editorial team will be out and about at a range of conferences throughout 2013, including Pittcon, Experimental Biology, Analytical Research Forum, SCIX 2013, JASIS 2013 and the Beijing Conference and Exhibition on Instrumental Analysis (BCEIA). Please do get in touch if you are also attending, as we would be very happy to meet up and discuss the journal, future developments and any aspect of publishing in Analyst.

We have some new faces for 2013, who have recently joined the team. We would like to warmly welcome Julia Chamot-Rooke from the Institute Pasteur in France to the Editorial Board. Julia joined the Board early in 2012, and her expertise in high resolution bioanalytical mass spectrometry is already proving extremely valuable to the journal.

The Editorial staff has also seen some changes, with Rebecca Brodie taking over as Deputy Editor for Analyst, and Paola Quattroni joining the team as Development Editor.

We also would like to thank our existing Associate Editors, Editorial and Advisory Board members for their much appreciated input and support this past year, and we look forward to working with them again in 2013.

For our authors and readers, we will continue to highlight the Hot Articles published in the journal, these can be found on the Analyst blog alongside our monthly most-read articles. Developing our presence online is extremely important to us, and so we would like to welcome our new blog writers who have joined us in 2012: Pui Sai Lau from McMaster University, Canada; Laura Ruvuna at Northwestern University, US; Jennifer Dougan from Imperial College London, UK; and Polly-Anna Ashford from the University of East Anglia, UK. We look forward to working with them in communicating some of the most exciting research, news and opinions from the community.

Finally, we would like to take this opportunity to acknowledge the continued support from all our authors and referees, and once again, to wish you a very happy and prosperous New Year.

We promise that we will continue to bear the Olympic motto in mind, and will be working to be even faster, higher and stronger in 2013!

Paul Bohn, Chair, Analyst Editorial Board

May Copsey, Editor, Analyst

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