Editors' Column

Chromatography Grows and Grows and Grows

If the health of a scientific specialty can be measured by the number of journals and meetings on the subject, then we can be sure that chromatogra­phy is robust. The growth of chroma­tographic separation techniques is also attested by other measures such as current instrument sales and projec­tions based on studies of the growth areas in analytical instrumentation.

Last year ANALYTICAL CHEMIS­TRY listed 10 meetings concerned with chromatography. Several dealt with specific application areas including polymers, biological, and pharmaceu­tical. This year we have already listed eight chromatography meetings through September 1979. This, of course, does not count the chromatog­raphy symposia that form an integral part of any general analytical meeting whether it be the Analytical Division programs at national ACS meetings, the Pittsburgh Conference, FACSS, or other meetings in which specific areas such as the environment are cov­ered.

New Journals ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY has al­

ways looked upon the initiation of new specialized journals as an aid in coping with the increasing numbers of papers in a fast growing area. There is no way the JOURNAL can publish all of the good research papers in a given area without losing its broad editorial focus. Thus, specialized journals have removed some of the pressures on the JOURNAL'S page and money budgets. Because of wide circulation and broad appeal, we hope, of course, to attract the more fundamental, important, and potentially wide-ranging research pa­pers in the specialized areas.

As for new chromatography jour­nals, we noted the newest, Journal of High Resolution Chromatography & Chromatographic Communications (HRC&CC), last year [ANAL. CHEM., 50 (7), 648A (June 1948)]. The Jour­nal of Liquid Chromatography began publication in 1977, and we heard ru­

mors of a journal devoted to thin-layer chromatography.

We also read with interest a letter to Seaton Preston, publisher of the Journal of Chromatographic Science. Edward M. Emory questions the need for these new chromatography jour­nals and also expounds on the eco­nomics of the situation [J. Chroma­togr. ScL, 16, 379 (1978)]. Mr. Emory points out the large number of articles on chromatography in the general an­alytical journals (naming ANALYTI­CAL CHEMISTRY among others), as well as other types of specialty jour­nals such as Clinical Chemistry. Fi­nally, he calls attention to the past trend, both in ASTM Committee E-19 and in chromatography journals, to encompass the newer more active areas of chromatography in their scopes. This trend, however, in both meetings and journals seems to be re­versing.

Publishers and editors of new jour­nals have a rationale either for faster publication or, as discussed above, to serve a still more specialized area. To achieve rapid publication, reviewing must be especially efficient or sketchy. We do not know how the promised publication times can be achieved with thorough peer review if time is allowed for possible revisions, plus necessary transit times in peer review. Further, any promise of fast review and publication can be nullified in a journal that is published bimonthly or less often. In this case, if the re­search paper misses one issue, two or more months must intervene before publication.

Subscription Costs The problem for users of the small­

er chromatography journals is the high cost of information. Subscription prices are set with an expectation of a modest number of subscribers— mostly libraries and few individuals. Many of these journals (Elsevier's J. Chromatogr. is an exception) carry a small number of articles per issue, of­tentimes 10 or fewer. For the user the

economics of publications, however, must take into account the amount of information for the money spent.

Lorrin Garson and Nancy Oglesby of the R&D Dept. of the ACS Books & Journals Division studied the costs of subscriptions per unit of informa­tion for ACS journals and 50 other publications. The non-ACS publica­tions included other not-for-profit publishers as well as commercial pub­lishers. All of the data in this study re­ferred to 1976 volumes and subscrip­tion prices.

These data are reported as cents/ 1000 words. A computer program was worked out to account for nine vari­ables among the different journals. The prices in cents per 1000 words varied from a low of 0.21c (ANAL. CHEM. member subscribers including A-page editorial material) to a high of 31.1c The accompanying table shows this information for the analyti­cal journals studied.

The study showed that not-for-profit publishers charge markedly lower prices than commercial publish­ers and that the American Chemical Society publications are priced lower than other association publications.

Josephine M. Petruzzi

Subscription Prices of Analytical Journals

Journal e/1000 word*

ANAL. CHEM. Technical section

only A pages included Anal. Chim. Acta"

0.31 (0.42)a

0.21 (0.28)a

25.6 Appl. Spectrosc. J. Assoc. Off.

Anal. Chem.

3.6 2.9

J. Chromatogr.0 17.6

* This price refers to non-ACS member subscrip­tions; the lower price is (or ACS members. · Com­mercially published. The other journals listed are so­ciety publications.

86 A · ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY, VOL. 51, NO. 1, JANUARY 1979