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ANALYTICAL CNEMISTRY Walter J. Murphy, Editor
Reviews on a Biennial Basis
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consultation with the members of the Adirisory Board of zh.4Lk.TICAI. CHEMISTRY. your editors have decided t o change the pattern of presentation of the annual rei-iews started in 1949. In the January 1953 issue, we 1)ill publish the group of rei,iei\-s referred t o generally as “Applications of Analytical Deyelopments,” and in J u u a r y 1954 the group titled “Fuiid:~mental .\nalysis ” In a word, the reviews henceforth will appear hieiinially rather than annually. The first revieit 5 . published four years ago. covered the outstanding developments of the war years and the postwar pears of 1946 and 1947 Essentially then. a decade of ad\-ances in d l phases of analytical chemistry, using that term in its broadest sense, have been recorded in the four annual revieiis which haye appeared. lleasured by almost uiiy yardstick, quantitative as well as qualitative, the progrebs in aiialytical chemistry during the past decade far exceeds any other period in history. It is most fortunate that the achievements of 194251 have been published and are widely available However, this is but one definite advantage of the reviews. The others are that new knowledge is made available quickly and in a form that makes for easy reference. We now feel, however, that all these adrant ages \vi11 be satisfied by biennial rather than annual revien-s. In addition, we believe that the plan will enable us to add new subjects for review. Already several suggestio115 have been received, including proposals that JI e initiate seriews on air pollution, pestirides, and clinical applications. The value of the reviews has been demonstrated. Xules of the combined reprints have been heavy. In a letter recently received from one of the authors, he commelit< as follows on the videspread interest in the rei*ien.s: “\\-e have always experienced a lively demand for reprints and often get requests for the n-hole series. Only this morning I received a letter from Australia in which the writer said he would like me to know how much he and his colleagues appreciated these re1riews ‘ and that they felt indebted to me for helping them with FTER
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the very difficult job of keeping up to date with recent developments .” Another author has written in to say: “So far as I can judge from comments I have had and the inquiries we receive for reprints, these review articles are very useful both to the newcomer who wishes to become familiar with the field and to the experienced analyst who is faced with a new problem.” This is a most appropriate time to express our appreciation to the authors who make these periodic reviews possible. We can assure them from the letters we receive that their efforts are greatly appreciated by the thousands of subscribers t o ALPTIC TICAL CHEMISTRY.
Do You Have a Standard Format for Analytical Methods? ~ T H Commission E
on Terminology and Expression of Analytical Results of the analytical section of the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry has set up a project on the format of analytical methods Each industrial concern in the United States maintaining an analytical laboratory is being asked whether it hais set up any kind of recommendation for the format of analytical methods, and companies that have a prepared format are asked t o send 10 copies for study by the Commission on Terminology and Expression of z4nalytical Results. Companies that do not now have a recommended format are asked to indicate whether they would consider adopting a format prepared under the auspices of the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry. This study seems to us to have considerable merit. We hope the response to this request is sufficiently great to gil-e the commission a wide range of examples for study purposes. Further information on this project can be obtained by addressing Grant Wernimont, Color Control Division, Eastman Kodak Co., Kodak Park TT70rks,Rochester 4,S. Y.
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