SCI Publications Research Articles

Numerical study of steel–concrete composite cellular beam using demountable shear connectors

Steel concrete composite beams have been increasingly used in practice due to their advantages with respect to their structural features and constructability. However, in conventional composite beam systems composite action is applied via shear connectors welded at the top flange of the down-stand steel beam and embedded in the concrete slabs, making it less favourable for the beam system to be disassembled and reused. This paper presents a numerical study of a new composite beam system consisting of a cellular steel beam, metal deck flooring and demountable shear connectors. According to the experimental study, this composite beam system made the demounting, reassembly, and member reuse possible, and did not compromise the loading capacity. In the numerical study presented in the paper, a finite element model was developed and validated against the results obtained from the previous experimental study. The parametric study further examined the effects of concrete strength, shear connector arrangements and asymmetry ratios of steel beam section to the load capacity of the composite beam system. The analysis and comparison provided a deeper insight into the behaviour of this type of shear connector. Through this numerical study, the structural merits of the composite beam system using demountable shear connectors were highlighted. Finally, the mid-span plastic moment of the composite beam was predicted using the direction method provided in SCI publications and compared with the moment–deflection relationship obtained from FE modelling.

Numerical Studies on Composite Deck Slab With Floor Openings

Openings in slabs are provided mainly for service works. According to the purpose of the services, the size of the openings was classified as small, medium, and large. The provision of openings in a composite slab was not addressed in design codes like EC-4 and IS 11384. Normally the Longitudinal shear interaction is the influencing factor in determining the capacity and elastic rigidity of a composite slab which may be affected by the presence of openings. In the market, there are various forms of embossment/indentation available to enhance the interlocking at the interface of the Cold Form Steel decking sheet and the topping concrete thereby an increased longitudinal shear resistance can be achieved at the interface. In this numerical study, Among the various type of embossments, combined types of embossments (rectangular and chevron) are considered then the m and k values are determined with the help of the Penalty Friction interaction approach and the same was verified with the known experimental values for a solid slab. In addition, Finite Element [FE] models with various sizes of floor openings were created under the guidelines of SCI publication P300 and SDI Technical Guidance on Deck Damage and Penetrations. The effects of those openings located in the high shear region and no shear region are studied. The simulated load-deflection responses of various FE floor opening models were compared.

RESILIENT EMPLOYEES IN RESILIENT ORGANIZATIONS: THE INFLUENCE ON COMPETENCY OF AN ORGANIZATION THROUGH SUSTAINABLE HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

This research investigates the aspect that impacts the autonomy of employees and sustainable HRM involved in corporate recognition against competitors and propensity to leave. This stud supports the idea that resilient employees have the autonomy to change the status of an organization. This study focused solely on employee resilience on the two effects of perceived insider status and perceived external prestige in order to gain a comprehensive understanding of the linkages that exist between the study factors. This study further analyzed that job autonomy may also enhance the employee’s capability and potential to try and do their job in the best possible way. Moreover, In this study, questions (items) were taken from previous research studies that were cited in reputable SCI or ESCI publications. Additionally, sophisticated PLS software was employed to carry out the structural equation modeling. This mechanism is based primarily on the subject's comfort to exact process the participants for having to respond to the studies tool or amassing data. Further findings discuss in the study.

(Invited) HighPower Na-Ion Batteries with Long Cycle Life

In the last decade, many interesting cathode and anode materials have been proposed for Na-ion batteries1-20. Among them, layered oxide cathodes and disordered carbon anodes would be the focus of the first generation of commercial Na-ion batteries. In this talk, firstly, I will introduce a series of Na-Cu-Fe-Mn-O cathodes on the basis of our finding of electroactivity of Cu2+/Cu3+ redox couple in Na containing layered oxides 6-8 and Nax[Li1-yMny]O2 cathode based on reversible oxygen redox couple19,20. Secondly, I will present a series of carbon anodes from anthracite and biomass14-18. Thirdly, prototype Na-ion cells with capacity of 1-12 Ah were fabricated and and their electrochemical and safety performance of Na-ion cells will be presented. Most impressively, the cycle life of such cells can reach 4800 times at a high rate of 2C. Finally, the first 100kWh Na-ion battery energy storage system was demonstrated and their technical details will be disclosed. Reference s : Pan, H. L.; Hu, Y.-S.*; Chen, L. Q. Energy & Environmental Science 2013, 6, 2338-2360.Zhao, C.L.; ...; Hu, Y.-S.* Science 2020, 370, 708-711.Zhao, C.L.; ...; Hu, Y.-S.* JACS 2020, 142, 5742-5750.Sun, Y.; Zhao, L.; Pan, H. L.; Lu, X.; Gu, L.*; Hu, Y.-S.*; et al. Nature Communications 2013, 4, 1870.Wang, Y. S.; ...; Hu, Y.-S.*; et al. Nature Communications 2013, 4, 2365.Xu, S. Y.; Wu, X. Y.; Li, Y. M.; Hu, Y.-S.*; Chen, L.-Q. Chinese Physics B 2014, 23, 118202.Li, Y. M.; Yang, Z.; Xu, S.; Mu, L.; Gu, L.*; Hu, Y.-S.*; et al., Advanced Science 2015, 2, 1500031.Mu, L. Q.; Xu, S.; Li, Y.; Hu, Y.-S.*; Li, H.; Chen, L.; Huang, X., Advanced Materials 2015, 27, 6928.Wang, Y.; Xiao, R.; Hu, Y.-S.*; Avdeev, M.*; Chen, L., Nature Communications 2015, 6, 6954.Wang, Y.; ...; Hu, Y.-S.*; et al. Nature Communications 2015, 6, 6401.Wang, Y.; ...; Hu, Y.-S.*; et al., Advanced Energy Materials 2015, 5, 1501005.Xu, S.; ...; Hu, Y.-S.*; et al., Advanced Energy Materials 2015, 5, 1501156.Wu, Y.; ...; Hu, Y.-S.*; et al., Science Advances 2015, 1, e1500330.Li, Y. M.; Lu, Y.; Hu, Y.-S.* et al.; Energy Storage Materials 2017, 7, 130.Li, Y. M.; Hu, Y.-S.* et Energy Storage Materials 2016, 5, 191.Lu, Y.; ...; Hu, Y.-S.* Advanced Energy Materials 2018, 8, 1800108.Zhao, C.; Wang, Q.; Lu, Y.X.*; ...; Hu, Y.-S.* Science Bulletin, 2018, 63, 1125.Meng, Q.; Lu, Y.X.*; ...; Hu, Y.-S.* ACS Energy Letters 2019, 4, 2608-2612.Rong, X.; Liu, J.; Hu, E.; ... ; Hu, Y.-S.*, et Joule 2018, 2, 2348-2363.20. Rong, X.; Hu, E.; Lu, Y.; ...; Hu, Y.-S.*, et al., Joule 2019, 3, 503-517. Yong-Sheng Hu is a full professor at the Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences. He received his Ph.D. in Condensed Matter Physics from IoP-CAS with Prof. Liquan Chen in 2004, and then moved to Max Planck Institute for Solid State Research as Postdoc and Principal researcher. After a short stay at the University of California at Santa Barbara, he joined IoP-CAS in 2008 and is working on advanced materials for long-life stationary batteries and their energy storage mechanism, particularly focusing on Na based batteries. His recent original contributions include: propose the use of “cationic potential” to predict the O and P stacking structures; discover the electroactivity of Cu2+/Cu3+ redox couple in sodium containing oxides and design a series of air-stable and Co-/Ni-free Na-Cu-Fe-Mn-O cathode materials for Na-ion batteries; propose a superior low-cost amorphous carbon made from anthracite as an anode for Na-ion batteries; design zero-strain anode materials for sodium-ion batteries; propose a “Solvent-in-Salt” electrolyte; etc. He has published over 200 internationally refereed SCI publications including Science、Nature Mater.、Nature Energy、Joule、Nature Commun.、Science Adv.、etc, which have been cited over 26000 times according to ISI web of science with an H-index of 86. He was selected as a Thomson Reuters Highly Cited Researchers from 2014 to 2020. He became the senior Editor of ACS Energy Letters from October of 2018. He also received several awards and honors, such as The National Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars, The 14th China Youth Science and Technology Award, Tajima Prize, Fellow of The Institute of Physics (UK), Fellow of The Royal Society of Chemistry, etc. Figure 1

The period of insect research in the tropics: a bibliometric analysis.

The International Journal of Tropical Insect Science (Int J Trop Insect Sci) is a peer-reviewed journal established in 1980 to promote insect science mainly in the tropics. This study aimed to provide a Bibliometric overview of Int J Trop Insect Sci publications and citations between 2012 and 2020, ending September 2020. A sample of 488 documents extracted from the Web of Science (WoS) was analysed using widely used bioclimatic indicators. The articles were written by 1726 authors. During this period, the most productive authors comprised S Roy, followed by S Ekesi, S Subramanian and M Tamo. The dominant keyword was ‘resistance’, followed by ‘Homoptera'. India took a leading position in Single Country Publications (SCP) while Kenya took the lead in Multiple Country Publications (MCP). Bibliometric analysis reveals vibrant collaboration between African and Western countries and active publication of multi-country authored articles. We conclude that there is an increasing trend for collaboration among different countries on the general topic of insect science. Research in insect science has the potential to impact both academic researchers and practitioners the knowledge use chain. This study will help researchers, journal editors, science policy makers managers, and others working in the biodiversity space and potential research gaps needing for further studies.

China’s SCI-Indexed Publications: Facts, Feelings, and Future Directions

Purpose: In relation to the boom in China’s SCI-indexed publications, this opinion piece examines this phenomenon and looks at future possible directions for the reform of China’s research evaluation processes. Design/Approach/Methods: This opinion piece uses bibliographic data for the past decade (2010–2019) from the Science Citation Index Expanded in the Web of Science Core Collection to examine the rise in China’s SCI-indexed publications. Findings: China has surpassed the U.S. and been the largest contributor of SCI publications since 2018. However, while the impact of China’s SCI publications is rising, the scale of this impact still lags behind that of other major contributing countries. China’s SCI publications are also overrepresented in some journals. Originality/Value: Reporting the latest facts about China’s SCI-indexed publications, this article will benefit the reform of China’s research evaluation system.

Feasibility analysis based on BI evaluation index of SCI journals: Taking the Third Xiangya Hospital as an example

Objective This paper selects indicators, such as SCI journal publication fee, impact factors, annual Web of Science Documents, volume of publications in China, articles cited and so on, to conduct the feasibility analysis of using publication fee /impact factor (BI) as evaluation index of SCI journals. Methods Information from Web of Science, InCites, Journal Citation Reports database and the real-time data of 2013-2017 years SCI publication fees in Central South University, the third Xiangya Hospital were collected, SPSS and EXCEL was used to conduct Correlation and Basic analysis. Results In 2013-2017, a total number of 31 kinds of SCI journals were included in sample size, the SCI journal impact factor was positively correlated with the publication fee. BI was negative correlated with IF, The publication fee was not related to annual Web of Science Documents, volume of publications in Mainland China and Cites/Paper. Conclusions The SCI journal publication fee/impact factor (BI) can be used as a macro evaluation index for SCI journals. The BI values also can provide reference and reference of decision support and journal selection for scientific research personnel and scientific research administrators. Key words: SCI journal; Publication fee; Decision support; BI values

Retrospective sampling survey to the implementation situation of research projects in one large general hospital from Shanghai area

Objective To investigate the implementation situation of scientific research projects in large general hospital, analyze the quantitative evaluation parameters to explore the improvement measures. Methods Sampling survey of all levels of research projects from one general hospital in Shanghai. Based on parameter index quantization, the progress of projects in different levels was compared and analyzed. Results The progress index and achievement index are reliable quantitative indexes, and there is a linear correlation between these two indexes. Based on progress index, forecast for SCI publication of project can be carried out. There was no significant difference in the progress situation of all levels of projects. Higher level of project showed better SCI publication. Conclusions For the process management of scientific research projects at different levels, the quantitative indexes can be used to facilitate the early warning and supervision. Classified assessment should be implied to SCI publication for research projects at different levels. Key words: Scientific research project; Process management; Quantitative Index; SCI publication

Evaluating the academic trend of RFID technology based on SCI and SSCI publications from 2001 to 2014

Radio frequency identification (RFID) is one of the most influential technologies of the twenty-first century. Today, RFID technology is being applied in a wide array of disciplines in science research and industrial projects. The significant impact of RFID is clearly visible by the rate of academic publications in the last few years. This article surveys the literature to evaluate the trend of RFID technology development based on academic publications from 2001 to 2014. Both bibliometric and content analyses are applied to examine this topic in SCI-Index and SSCI-Index documents. Based on the bibliometric technique, all 5159 existing RFID documents are investigated and several important factors are reviewed, including contributions by country, organizations, funding agencies, journal title, authors, research area and Web of Science category. Moreover, content analysis is applied to the top 100 most cited documents and based on their contents, these top 100 documents are classified into four different categories with each category divided in several sub-categories. This research aims to identify the best source of the most cited RFID papers and to provide a comprehensive road map for the future research and development in the field of RFID technology in both academic and industrial settings. Six key findings from this review are (1) the experimental method is the most popular research methodology, (2) RFID research has been a hot area of investigation but will branch out into related subset areas, (3) South East Asia is positioned to dominate this research space, (4) the focus of research up to now has been on technical issues rather than business and management issues, (5) research on RFID application domains will spread beyond supply chain and health care to a number of different areas, and (6) more research will be related to policy issues such as security and privacy.

Review and analysis of transplant biological research projects funded by National Natural Science Foundation of China

To study the funding and achievements in the field of organ transplantation support by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC). A search of NSFC database was made by using the key word "transplantation" and excluding "bone marrow transplantation" for the projects funded between 1988 and 2013. SCI indexed publications that marked with NSFC project number were collected by searching each grant number in the database of the Web of Science. Six hundreds fifty-five projects were identified and received about 220 million yuan in grant funding. These funded research projects were distributed among 25 provinces and autonomous regions, however, which were mainly in the developed coastal areas; of them, 43 (6.56%) projects were granted in xenotransplantation and 17 projects (2.60%) were funded in the field of traditional Chinese medicine-related organ transplantation; Transplantation on blood vessels, heart, kidney, liver, lung, small intestine, pancreatic, cornea, trachea, skin, etc. were primarily performed in research. Nine hundreds and sixty-one SCI-indexed publications were achieved. Magnitude and intensity of NSFC funding, output of SCI publications have been increasing, suggesting that NSFC positively promotes the development of organ transplantation. Although a great progress of transplantation has been made, basic and translational studies should be vigorously strengthened.

Quantifying the Triple Helix relationship in scientific research: statistical analyses on the dividing pattern between developed and developing countries

This study aims to find a global pattern of the Triple Helix (TH) relationship among university, industry, and government sectors in scientific research, placing the discussion in a developmental context. Based on the dataset composed of SCI and SSCI-listed publications from around 130 countries, we investigated the participation share of each sector, the publication share by sector and sectoral combination, and the synergic effect of the TH relationship. Statistical analyses suggest the presence of a dividing pattern of the TH relationship between developed and developing countries: Developed countries had higher participation in the industry sector, more university-centered collaborations with the industry and government sectors, and a higher synergic effect of the TH relationship than developing countries. This tendency was found to occur irrespective of the science or social science field. These findings have implications for developing countries to promote the participation of the industry sector in scientific research and the effort of the government sector to facilitate university and industry linkage.

Research Productivity of Graduate Students in GPF program of Korea

This study analyzed the factors that influence the research productivity of 236 graduate students who are funded by the Global Ph.D. Fellowship Program of the National Research Foundation of Korea. Research productivity was measured by the number of SCI publications, and the explanatory factors are the demographic factor, the financial factor, the reputation of institutions and the supervisor factor. This study included 2 indices such as the reputation of institutions and the research productivity of supervisors to check the halo effect unlike other studies. Results are as follows: 1) no gender difference, 2) better performance by younger age group, 3) no difference even if the students are additionally funded by other research support programs, 4) no halo effect by the reputation of institution but rather better performance from low ranked universities, 5) and a positive halo effect by supervisors.

Evaluation on research development of clinical departments with SCI publications: the case of Peking University Cancer Hospital

To evaluate scientific research development of clinical departments of Peking University Cancer Hospital,we used SCI database to analyze the production of SCI papers of the hospital staff and searched h-index for principal investigators.We also explored the influence factors on scientific research to provide references for scientific research management and discipline construction. Key words: Scientific research development; Papers output; SCI; Impact factor; hindex

Evaluation of Timber-Concrete Floor Performance under Occupant-Induced Vibrations Using Continuous Monitoring

This paper describes the design of a system to monitor floor vibrations in an office building and an analysis of several months worth of collected data. Floors of modern office buildings are prone to occupant-induced vibrations. The contributing factors include long spans, slender and flexible designs, use of lightweight materials and low damping. As a result, resonant frequencies often fall in the range easily excited by normal footfall loading, creating potential serviceability problems due to undesirable levels of vibrations. This study investigates in-situ performance of a non-composite timber-concrete floor located in a recently constructed innovative multi-storey office building. The floor monitoring system consists of several displacement transducers to measure long-term deformations due to timber and concrete creep and three accelerometers to measure responses to walking forces, the latter being the focus of this paper. Floor response is typically complex and multimodal and the optimal accelerometer locations were decided with the help of the effective independence-driving point residue (EfI-DPR) technique. A novel approach to the EfI-DPR method proposed here uses a combinatorial search algorithm that increases the chances of obtaining the globally optimal solution. Several months worth of data collected by the monitoring system were analyzed using available industry guidelines, including ISO2631-1:1997(E), ISO10137:2007(E) and SCI Publication P354. This enabled the evaluation of the floor performance under real operating conditions.

Ranking analysis of publications from China hospitals in 2008

Objectives To provide outline for the Research & Development department of hospitals making research strategy by analyzing the quantity of publications and their cited status for the top 20 hospitals in SCI and MEDLINE, and the top 100 hospitals in domestic publications in 2008. Methods The number of publications and their cited times for the first 20 hospitals in SCI and MEDLINE, and the top 100hospitals in domestic publications in 2008 were analyzed with bibliometric analysis. Results Compared with 2007, the increased number and ratio of publications in SCI and MEDLINE for the top 20 hospitals were 1050, 51.19% and 658, 15.04%, respectively; for top 100 hospitals, the average decreased number of domestic publications was 2.08, and the number of cited publications was increased 202.52 and the increased ratio was 13.51%. Conclusions The SCI publications from top 20 hospitals increase sharply, the increase of the MEDLINE articles from the top 20 hospitals is slowly. The negative growth is showed in the number of domestic articles for the top 100 hospitals. In addition, the increase of cited articles is slowly and disproportion. Key words: Hospital management; Scientific publications; Scientific evaluation

Systematic Review of Integrative Health Care Research: Randomized Control Trials, Clinical Controlled Trials, and Meta‐Analysis

A systematic review was conducted to assess the level of evidence for integrative health care research. We searched PubMed, Allied and Complementary Medicine (AMED), BIOSIS Previews, EMBASE, the entire Cochrane Library, MANTIS, Social SciSearch, SciSearch Cited Ref Sci, PsychInfo, CINAHL, and NCCAM grantee publications listings, from database inception to May 2009, as well as searches of the “gray literature.” Available studies published in English language were included. Three independent reviewers rated each article and assessed the methodological quality of studies using the Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network (SIGN 50). Our search yielded 11,891 total citations but 6 clinical studies, including 4 randomized, met our inclusion criteria. There are no available systematic reviews/meta-analyses published that met our inclusion criteria. The methodological quality of the included studies was assessed independently using quality checklists of the SIGN 50. Only a small number of RCTs and CCTs with a limited number of patients and lack of adequate control groups assessing integrative health care research are available. These studies provide limited evidence of effective integrative health care on some modalities. However, integrative health care regimen appears to be generally safe.

Using content analysis to investigate the research paths chosen by scientists over time

We present an application of a clustering technique to a large original dataset of SCI publications which is capable at disentangling the different research lines followed by a scientist, their duration over time and the intensity of effort devoted to each of them. Information is obtained by means of software-assisted content analysis, based on the co-occurrence of words in the full abstract and title of a set of SCI publications authored by 650 American star-physicists across 17 years. We estimated that scientists in our dataset over the time span contributed on average to 16 different research lines lasting on average 3.5 years and published nearly 5 publications in each single line of research. The technique is potentially useful for scholars studying science and the research community, as well as for research agencies, to evaluate if the scientist is new to the topic and for librarians, to collect timely biographic information.

Analysis on publication rank of China hospitals in 2006

objectives To provide the reference for the Research & Development departments of hospitals by analyzing the quantity of publications and their cited status for the top 20 hospitals in SCl and MEDLINE.and top 100 hospitals in domestic publications in 2006.Methotis The number of publications and their cited times for the first 20 hospitals in SCI and MEDLINE.and the top 100 hospitals in domestic publications in 2006 were analyzed with bibliometric analysis.Results In 2006.the average increased ratio of publications in SCI for top 20 hospitals was 47.58%.but the number of articles in MEDUNE WaS decreased.For top 100 hospitals.the increased number of domestic publications was 71.25,the number of cited publications WaS increased 160.14.Conclusions The SCI publications from top 20 hospitals increased sharply,but publicatiOils indexed by MEDLINE decreased respectively. Key words: Hospital administration; Scientific publications; Evaluation studies

HIV/AIDS in Nigeria: a bibliometric analysis

BackgroundNigeria is home to more people living with HIV than any other country in the world, except South Africa and India-where an estimated 2.9 million [1.7 million – 4.2 million] people were living with the virus in 2005. A systematic assessment of recent HIV/AIDS research output from Nigeria is not available. Without objective information about the current deficiencies and strengths in the HIV research output from Nigeria, it is difficult to plan substantial improvements in HIV/AIDS research that could enhance population health. The aim of this study was to analyse the trends in Nigeria's SCI publications in HIV/AIDS from 1980 to 2006. Special attention was paid to internationally collaborated works that were identified based on the countries of the authors' affiliation.MethodsA bibliometric analysis regarding Nigerian HIV/AIDS research was conducted in the ISI databases for the period of 1980 to 2006. An attempt was made to identify the patterns of the growth in HIV/AIDS literature, as well as type of document published, authorship, institutional affiliations of authors, and subject content. International collaboration was deemed to exist in an article if any co-author's affiliation was located outside Nigeria. The impact factors in the 2006 Journal Citations Reports Science Edition was arbitrarily adopted to estimate the quality of articles.ResultsNigeria's ISI publications in HIV/AIDS increased from one articles in 1987 to 33 in 2006, and the articles with international collaboration increased from one articles in 1980 to 16 in 2006. Articles with international collaboration appeared in journals with higher impact factors and received more citations. A high pattern of co-authorship was found. Over 85% of the articles were published in collaboration among two or more authors. The USA, as the most important collaborating partner of Nigeria's HIV/AIDS researchers, contributed 30.8% of articles with international collaboration.ConclusionNigeria has achieved a significant increase in the number of SCI publications and collaborations in HIV literature from 1987 to 2005. There is need to challenge the status, scientists from Nigeria should forge multiple collaborations beyond historical, political, and cultural lines to share knowledge and expertise on HIV/AIDS.

Editorial

In 2006, the journal continued to grow, enjoying increasing recognition as a source of timely, reliable and valuable research information ranging across the full spectrum of food and agricultural research. Articles in our wide remit of subjects are submitted in ever-increasing numbers each year. The innovation, quality and popularity of papers continues to increase—one of the most frequently downloaded articles from the past year was a paper evaluating, for the first time, the spectral properties of juvenile and adult olive leaves by NIRS,1 which could contribute to a much faster screening technique in olive breeding programs. Another paper on rapid determination of trace elements in kidney beans, lentils and chickpeas2 was also among some of the most top-accessed articles in 2006. Thanks to the efforts of the SCI Publications department and of course the submission of ground-breaking and interesting research papers, the journal has enjoyed a significant increase in attention from the press. Highlights include a paper by Ghosh et al. on the protective effects of boysenberries and blackcurrants from oxidative stress and DNA damage,3 an article by Neto et al. on the anticancer properties of cranberry extract4 and a paper by Topping et al. investigating the possible transfer of latex allergens from food wrapper adhesives to the contained food.5 A recent paper by Lagunas-Solar et al.6 describing an interesting new method for disinfection and disinfestation of agricultural produce that avoids the use of potentially harmful chemicals also received some coverage. The year closed with the publication of an assortment of special issues and popular front matter articles. We continue to source and publish thought-provoking perspective articles, such as Addiscott's piece on nitrates in food7, and put out Review articles of great significance, such as Mueller-Harvey's paper on tannins in animal feed.8 Publication of Special Issues, such as the NEODIET issues of 2000 and 2001, provide reviews of lasting significance, evidenced by the frequency with which reviews in these issues are still accessed. Our recent ‘Enzymes in Grain Processing’ Special Issue, tackling the issues surrounding enzyme use in cereals—the core of human and animal nutrition—promises to be another such contribution to the scientific literature. In addition to Special Issues, 2006 marked the launch of the In Focus section, in which an issue commences with several coordinated reviews on a chosen theme. Two recent In Focus series of papers, ‘The Future of Sustainable Materials for Industry’ and ‘Polyphenols and Health’, have met with high acclaim. Our developing policy of commissioning both the Perspectives and Review articles from world-class authors should continue to raise the profile of JSFA in the competitive landscape of science publishing. Meanwhile, behind the scenes in the Editorial Office, we have migrated to a new version of the manuscript handling system, Manuscript Central v.3, that we hope will lead to an improved service to our authors. The journal would like to offer its sincere thanks to those who, owing to other commitments, resigned as Associate Editors from the Board in 2006. JSFA warmly welcomes to our family the new Associate Editors who joined last year to help strengthen our expertise in various fields. We also have a new Executive Board member—Dr Bo Jiang, who is Professor of Food Science and Associate Dean of the School of Food Science and Technology, Southern Yangtze University, China. Bo's research areas are food enzymology and functional food, with a focus on purification and properties of enzymes and immobilization, placing him in a good position to head the Molecular Biology and Biotechnology section of the journal. We would like to thank all members of the Board for their invaluable contributions in 2006 and look forward to working with them in 2007 to further develop the journal. Peer review is a fundamental aspect of improving the quality of JSFA and we would like to take this opportunity to thank all those who have given their time to referee papers for JSFA (please see the acknowledgement list) in the past year. We welcome your views and suggestions on how to improve the journal for the future and we hope you continue to read and value JSFA in the coming year.