Editorial
Reviewers: Our Valuable Volunteers
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s we approach the season of giving thanks and gifts, I would like to thank our reviewers who have given Analytical Chemistry ana ouo authors the gift of their time and technical insights by acting as evaluators of submitted manuscripts. Reviewers perform an absolutely invaluable and indispensable service by helping maintain the integrity and accuracy of what is reported in scientific journals. The quality of the peer review works hand-in-glove with the quality of the work in authors' laboratories, helping authors produce papers that contain the technically accurate results and interpretations that lie at the cutting-edge of new ideas and concepts. Analytical Chemistry takes pride in bringing to our authors a high standard of peer review The excellent professional voluntarism of our reviewers is crucial in bringine that about In analytical chemistry notation it is great OA/QC By the end of this current year, Analytical Chemistry will have requested roughly 3000 reviews from scholars listed in its reviewer database. At about two hours per review, this work amounts to 6000 hours of highly qualified consulting time, which is an extremely valuable gift to the Journal. Analytical Chemistry is, of course, not unique. The entire system of scientific peer review of manuscripts for publication; research and teaching grant proposals; and college and university educational programs depends on professional volunteerism offered in the common interest of science and the society it serves. Analytical Chemistry trits to identify ththeviewing interests and expertise of beginning young scholars, so that they can take their place in our reviewer community. I'd like to especially thank our young reviewers, and invite any young scholars in industry, academe, or
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government, in the United States or abroad, who read this editorial and have not previously been invited to review, to send me your name and address and a brief expertise-description. Finally, I'd like to call the attention of reviewers and authors, young and old, to a recent ACS publication, theses Style Guide, by Janet Dodd. Style guides are usually stodgy documents, mainly concerned with elementary aspects of writing; this one contains a ton of useful information across the gamut of science writing. It also contains a long and generally useful chapter with sage advice from ACS journal editors and other experienced scholars on reviewing. New (and even experienced) reviewers would be well served by reading this chapter. Some of the advice is cast from the perspective of "If I were the author, what would I hope that the reviewer would do in looking at my work" and "If an expert reviewer didn't understand what I was saying, how could the average reader?" Editors constantly see both sides of the author-reviewer dialog while reading the reviewers' remarks and the authors' replies to them. Reviews that not only examine the technical qualities and accuracy of the work, but also offer constructive criticism on improving its presentation, are greatly appreciated by author and editor. Thanks, Analytical Chemistry reviewer. Your volvnteered time does our analytical chemistry discipline a most important service.
Analytical Chemistry News & Features, December 1, 1997 6 9 9 A
