THE EVOLUTION OF QUALITY IN ANALYTICAL-CHEMISTRY JOURNALS

The remarkable increase in the impact factor for analytical chemistry journals observed on comparing the Science Citation Indices of the Ins titute for Scientific Information (ISI) for the years 1991 and 1992 in stigated a systematic study of changes in two quality parameters for m ajor analytical publications over a ten-year period (1983-1999). Diffe rences in the impact factors between analytical publications and those in other branches of chemistry have been greatly reduced recently, wh ich indicates that the quality of the former has increased with respec t to the latter.