Journals in chemistry

Chemistry, like any scientific discipline, relies heavily on experimental observations, and therefore on data. Until a few years ago, the usual way to publish information on recent scientific developments was to release it in books or journals. In chemistry, the enormous increase in the number of compounds and the data concerning them resulted in increasingly ineffective data-handling, on the side of the producers as well as the users. One way out of this disaster is the electronic processing, by computer methods, of this huge amount of data available in chemistry. Compared with other scientific disciplines that only use text and numbers for data transfer, chemistry has an additional, special challenge molecules. The molecular species consist of atoms and bonds that hold them together. Moreover, compounds... 

A print-version title publication covering the whole of chemistry is Current Contents Physical, Chemical Earth Sciences which began in 1967 and appears weekly, contains the contents pages of aU issues of 800 journals in chemistry, physics, earth sciences, mathematics, and allied sciences. Each issue contains an index of important words taken from the titles of the papers listed in that issue, and an author index, which, however, lists only the first-named author of each paper. The author s address is also given, so that one may write for reprints. An on-line service is available called Current Contents Connect is a multidisciplinary Web resource providing access to complete bibliographic information from >8000 of the world s leading scholarly journals and >2000 books. 

The Journal of Molecular Modeling (Springer-Verlag) is very similar in nature to Chemical Educator in its policies and practices. It is described as the first fully electronic Journal in chemistry - the advanced way of publishing . The Journal of Molecular Modeling further states that it is the first Journal in chemistry to offer network, print based, and CD-ROM editions. The Journal is fully citable with CAS-abstract, ISI citation, and ISSN (0948-5023) . It does not state how a print-based journal is fully electronic. Again, articles are not published when ready (after peer review and corrections), but rather as part of the print mentality of a regular monthly issue. This Journal does already have a few clear benefits. The two main features of value to the reader of this Journal are that structures often come with x,y,z coordinate files so they may be downloaded and manipulated by the reader and there is a much more rapid publication time for an article which means that new information is made available much more quickly to the reader. 

The following has been primarily extracted from the Internet home page of this newly established Joumal and describes how this journal will be a new, different, and truly electronic journal, not an electronic version of a print or print-oriented journal. 1 have chosen to use the material almost verbatim because it describes a likely scenario and plan for the future of electronic journals. Also, at present it is the only such journal of its kind, as indicated by the description and discussion above of the current electronic-type Journals now available. While 1 am very confident that by the time this article is published there will be other similar Journals in chemistry, the Internet Journal of Chemistry is highlighted here for both its value and uniqueness. 

The most important journals in chemistry are arranged according to the frequency of their citation and alphabetically arranged according to their abbreviated titles. The importance of a journal is measured by the number of times articles from the journal are cited in Chemical Abstracts. 

The Beilstein database [20] has more than 8.3 million (October, 2002) organic substance records from the Beilstein Handbook and abstracted from about 180 journals in organic chemistry from 1779 to the present. AH documents are critically evaluated and peer-reviewed. 

These examples are taken from a series of articles, entitled the Analytical Approach, which has appeared as a regular feature in the journal Analytical Chemistry since 1974. 

The book is similar to the two compendia already described. It is pubHshed approximately every five years and supplements are pubHshed between editions. In addition, notices of changes that need to be pubHcized after adoption at meetings of the committee are pubHshed promptly in the ACS journals Analytical Chemistry or, for those of a more urgent nature. Chemical and Engineering Nem. 

An example of a journal hovering between broad and narrow spectrum is Journal of Alloys and Compounds, subtitled an interdiciplinary journal of materials science and solid-state chemistry and physics. One which is more restrictively focused is Journal of Nuclear Materials (which I edited for its first 25 years). Ceramics has a range of journals, of which the most substantial is Journal of the American Ceramic Society. Ceramics International is an example of an international journal in the field, while Journal of the European Ceramic Society is a rather unusual instance of a periodical with a continental remit. More specialised journals include Solid State Ionics Diffusion and Reactions, and a new Journal of Electroceramics, started in 1997. 

Density functional theory was originally developed by solid-state physicists for treating crystalline solids and almost all applications were in that field until the mid-1980s. It is a current hot topic in chemistry, with many papers appearing in the primary journals. 

Advances in Chemistry Series was founded in 1949 by the American Chemical Society as an outlet for symposia and collections of data in special areas of topical interest that could not be accommodated in the Society s journals. It provides a medium for symposia that would otherwise be fragmented, their papers distributed among several journals or not published at all. Papers are refereed critically according to ACS editorial standards and receive the careful attention and processing characteristic of ACS publications. Papers published in Advances in Chemistry Series are original contributions not published elsewhere in whole or major part and include reports of research as well as reviews since symposia may embrace both types of presentation. 

Eric R. Scerri is a lecturer in chemistry and the history and philosophy of science at University of California, Los Angeles. He is the founder and edi-tor-in-chief of the journal Foundations of Chemistry and the author o/The Periodic Tabic Its Story and Its Significance (Oxford University Press, 2007). He received his Ph.D. in the his ton/ and philosophy of science from King s College London. Address Department of Chemistry Biochemistry, UCLA, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1569. Internet scerri chem.ucla.edu... 

This book contains key articles by Eric Sc erri, the leading authority on the history and philosophy of the periodic table of the elements and the author of a best-selling book on the subject. The articles explore a range of topics such as the historical evolution of the periodic system as well as its philosophical status and its relationship to modern quan um physics. This volume contains some in-depth research papers from journals in history and philosophy of science, as well as quantum chemistry. Other articles are from more accessible magazines like American Scientist. The author has also provided an extensive new introduction in orck rto integrate this work covering a pc riocl of two decades.This must-have publication is completely unique as there is nothing of this form currently available on the market. 

Alyea, H. N., Dutton, F. B. Tested Demonstrations in Chemistry Journal of... 

A review article is an intensive survey of a rather narrow field for example, the titles of some recent reviews are Desulfonation Reactions Recent Developments , Pyrrolizidine and Indolizidine Syntheses Involving 1,3-Dipolar Cycloaddtion , and From Corrin Chemistry to Asymmetry Catalysis—A Personal Account. A good review article is of enormous value, because it is a thorough survey of all the work done in the field under discussion. Review articles are printed in review journals and in certain books. The most important review journals in organic chemistry (though most are not exclusively devoted to organic chemistry) are shown in Table A.3. Some of the journals listed in Table A.l, for example, the Bull Soc. Chim. Fr. and J. Organomet. Chem. also publish occasional review articles. 

Head, J., Bucat, B. (2002). Visualisation and mental manipulation of molecular structures. Australian Journal of Education in Chemistry, 59, 25-29. 

Ozmen, H. (2004). Some student misconceptions in chemistry. A literature review of chemical bonding. Journal of Science Education and Technology 13(2), 147-159. 

In retrospect, we believe that Professor Mulliken was perhaps somewhat overstating his case in the remark quoted in the Introduction, concerning the status of computational chemistry in 1965. However, considered as a prophetic remark, the quotation certainly applies today, and it is a pleasure to dedicate this account to Professor Yngve Ohrn acknowledging his many important contributions to this development. These contributions include not only his own work on theoretical and computational approaches to central questions in chemistry, but also his continued engagement in the Sanibel Conferences and in the International Journal of Quemtum Chemistry. 

Bratter, P.D.G., Lausch, J. and Rosick, U. 1977 On the distribution of trace elements in human skeletons. Journal ofRadioanalytical Chemistry 37 393M03. 

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