Editorial
Analytical Chemistry's Advisory Board
T
he Advisory Board for Analytical Chemistry held its annual meeting at ACS Headquarters in Washington, DC, on May 2 and 3.1 woold like to acquaint our readers with the Board and the service that it provides to the Journal and to the analytical chemistry community. The Board membership is broadly representative of the different segments of analytical chemistry activities, including academic institutions, industry, national laboratories, and federal agencies. Because Analytical Chemistry is an international journal, the Board includes members from Europe, Asia, and Canada. The journal masthead lists the current Board members— their common characteristic is that they are scholars and innovators of distinction and are thus recognized leaders in their discipline. Nominations and suggestions for membership to the Board are taken from outgoing Board members from the editorial staff, and are also especially welcomed from the analytical chemistry community Suggestions will be most timely over the next several weeks as invitations will be sent later this summer inviting a class of new Board members to three-year terms
What does the Board do? Its most important function is to advise the ACS and the Editors of Analytical Chemistry yo matters involving the Journal. The Board members represent a wide range of experiences and backgrounds, and are thus hopefully a microcosm of the wisdom of the broader world of analytical chemists. Board meetings are informal and rather free-wheeling. For example, at the meeting last month, probing for ways to better serve the community through the manuscripts we receive and publish, the Editor presented some ideas to the Board regarding papers on applications of analytical methods. A number of very helpful
suggestions were made in the ensuing lively discussion. Presentations were also made to the Board regarding various forms of electronic publishing in which ACS and Analytical Chemistry are engaged or are considering, and further useful comments and suggestions came out of that discussion. There were other topics in the meeting, but these suffice to illustrate. Sometimes immediacies of decisions lead the Editor to collect opinions from the Board by mail at other times during the year, but the give and take of the discussions at the Board's annual gathering is by far the more valuable forum for receiving advice. Analytical Chemistry is a journal of the ACS and thus of its members, and the Board meeting serves the very useful function of allowing the analytical world outside of the ACS staff and Editors to see how we conduct the business of publishing news, reviews, and research in Analytical Chemistry. Are we doing n good job of publishing the highest quality research and other papers, and do we interact with authors and reviewers (the Board, of course, also contains authors and reviewers) in a manner befitting the flagship journal of the field? The Board has an important evaluative role and represents the analytical community in a very significant way. I and the editorial group of Analytical Chemistry are grateful to these leaders of analytical chemistry for their invaluable services to the Journal and to their community of analytical chemists.
Analytical Chemistry News & Features, June 1, 1996 343 A
