News from ABC: Editorial board and features

Abstract

After a year of celebrating the tenth anniversary of Analytical and Bioanalytical Chemistry (ABC), but also intense thinking about the further development of the journal, we would like to share some changes with our readers and authors. First, the editors and the editorial office would like to express our sincere thanks to Maciej Jarosz (Fig. 1) for serving as Regional Editor Central Europe for the past 3 years. He has helped to achieve a smooth merger of the journal Chemia Analityczna/Chemical Analysis with ABC and to successfully promote ABC in the analytical science communities of central Europe, resulting, e.g., in two special issues on analytical and bioanalytical science in Poland (volume 399, issue 9 and volume 402, issue 7) as well as a significant increase in the number of published articles originating from central Europe. Therefore, we are very pleased that Maciej Jarosz will continue to support ABC as a member of the International Advisory Board. We are also indebted to Cynthia Larive, who for many years has shaped our educational column “ABCs of Teaching Analytical Science” and now steps down as column editor. She will be succeeded by Thomas Wenzel of Bates College, Lewiston, Maine (USA), but continues as a member of the International Advisory Board of ABC. Further changes to the educational columns of ABC will be introduced by Cynthia Larive in her editorial “Happy New Year– renewal, welcome, and farewell” in this issue. The “Aims and Scope,” which is posted on the journal’s homepage and printed in every issue, defines the criteria that papers have to meet to be considered for publication in ABC. To further improve the reputation and impact of the journal, the “Aims and Scope” of ABC has now been revised. The editors wish to point out more clearly that we are looking for excellent, high-impact research articles while maintaining a broad scope covering both novel methodological developments and truly innovative applications. Authors are advised to consult the “Aims and Scope” prior to submitting a contribution. Topical paper collections and special issues continue to be a very well received feature of ABC. In the past, they sometimes also included conference-based special issues with open and nonselective invitation of all conference participants to submit papers to ABC. In view of the revised “Aims and Scope” and in order to further improve the quality of the topical paper collections, with rare exceptions such conference-based special issues will no longer be produced. As before, however, the editors warmly invite guest editors to organize paper collections on topics of high interest from the field of analytical and bioanalytical science with contributions from selected, outstanding experts. There have also been changes to the types of papers that are published in ABC. Urgent communications of important preliminary results that are very original, of high interest, and likely to have a significant impact on the analytical Fig. 1 Maciej Jarosz, Warsaw University of Technology