Reference materials for chemical analysis.

Abstract

A journal devoted to publishing advances in analytical and bioanalytical chemistry, such as Analytical and Bioanalytical Chemistry (ABC), generally focuses on reporting new analytical methods or the application of methods to new analytical problems. Frequently, the necessary concepts and ‘tools’ for producing analytical data that are sufficiently reliable for making important decisions, in addition to satisfying scientific curiosity, are somewhat undervalued. This is also demonstrated in various papers reporting new analytical methods when it comes to method validation. There are still analytical communities that focus such method validation studies only on the characterization of the achievable method precision, but do not consider a suitable evaluation of the trueness of the results. It is recognized that it can be very challenging to assess the latter when appropriate certified reference materials (CRM) are not available to assist in the validation process. Therefore, this special paper collection is intended to address a number of the current challenges regarding BReference Materials for Chemical Analysis^. Building on a legacy initiated with Fresenius’ Zeitschrift fur Analytische Chemie (later called Fresenius’ Journal of Analytical Chemistry), ABC has had a long association with papers related to the production and use of reference materials. Since 1987, collections of papers concerning reference materials had been associated with papers presented at the International Symposium for Biological and Environmental Reference Materials (BERM). For this topical collection on reference materials, however, we specifically invited contributions from producers of CRMs worldwide, primarily from the National Institutes of Metrology (NMIs) in various countries. The response to our invitation was enthusiastic and overwhelming with 57 papers submitted. This topical collection illustrates the global involvement in the development of reference materials with contributions from authors working in 17 countries, the European Commission, and the Bureau International des Poids et Mesures (BIPM). The metrology institutes contributing to this paper collection include: Institute for Reference Materials and Measurements (IRMM), Federal Institute for Materials Research and Testing (BAM) in Germany, Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB) in Germany, LGC Limited (LGC) in the UK, Laboratoire National de Metrologie et d’Essais (LNE) in France, National Metrology Institute of Japan (NMIJ), National Institute of Metrology (NIM) in China, National Measurement Institute Australia (NMIA), Government Laboratory Hong Kong (GLHK), Korea Research Institute for Science and Standards (KRISS), National Metrology Institute of South Africa (NMISA), National Institute of Metrology, Quality and Technology (INMETRO) in Brazil, National Research Council of Canada (NRCC), and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in USA. International cooperation among metrology institutes and other government and academic organizations to produce CRMs is illustrated by several papers (e.g., H. Emteborg et al., L. Wu et al.). This impressive number of manuscript submissions covers a broad range of topics related to CRMs, from their Published in the topical collection Reference Materials for Chemical Analysis with guest editors Hendrik Emons and Stephen A. Wise.