A JAAS milestone

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Gary Hieftje is the Distinguished Professor and Robert and Marjorie Mann Chair at Indiana University. He has been a member of the JAAS International Advisory Editorial Board since the journal’s launch in 1986 and is currently Chair of the Editorial Board. An interview with the author was published in the first issue of JAAS.⁹ Professor Hieftje’s research interests include the investigation of basic mechanisms in atomic emission, absorption, fluorescence and mass spectrometric analysis, and the development of instrumentation and techniques for atomic methods of analysis. He is interested also in the on-line computer control of chemical instrumentation and experiments, the use of time-resolved luminescence processes for analysis, the application of information theory to analytical chemistry, analytical mass spectrometry, near-infrared reflectance analysis, and the use of stochastic processes to extract basic and kinetic chemical information.

Well, it’s another new year, and a special one for JAAS. This year begins Volume 21 of the journal, indicating that 20 years have passed since the first volume of JAAS appeared in February, 1986. As always, anniversaries bring reasons for celebration, but also for introspection and evaluation. Here in these pages and elsewhere, we will do both. Celebrations will occur not only in the RSC offices in Cambridge, but also at conferences, where the many contributors to JAAS can be recognized. Introspection and evaluation will be found in Critical and Tutorial Reviews, which will become a regular feature, and also in special editorials this year by members of the JAAS editorial board and by others who have been responsible for the considerable success and growth of JAAS.

It is impossible, in an editorial of reasonable length, to fully evaluate the many factors that led to what JAAS is today or to properly acknowledge the dedicated people who made it happen. Nevertheless, a few historical facts might provide perspective, and some data will help bring important points home.

JAAS was the brainchild of John M. Ottaway, whom many of us recall with great fondness and respect. After conferring in detail with many colleagues, performing a market analysis, and garnering a great deal of support, John succeeded in persuading the Royal Society of Chemistry to establish a new bi-monthly journal, which would feature both fundamental science and applications of atomic spectrometry, with an emphasis on the latter. An important feature of the new journal would be annual reviews of key areas in the field, an endeavour formerly the purview of Annual Reports on Analytical Atomic Spectrometry (ARAAS), an RSC publication that appeared yearly from 1971 to 1984. Unlike in ARAAS, however, the JAAS reviews, under the banner of Atomic Spectrometry Updates (ASU), would be published in topical sections, with each section being repeated annually or whenever justified. The first such review was on the subject of Environmental Analysis.¹ Other reviews that first year were on the subjects of: Clinical Materials, Foods and Beverages,² Instrumentation,³ Chemicals, Iron, Steel and Non-Ferrous Metals,⁴ Atomisation and Excitation⁵ and Minerals and Refractories.⁶

The first issue of JAAS was special and included a foreword from Professor T. S. West,⁷ a pre-eminent atomic spectrometrist who was at the time also the Secretary General of IUPAC. West hailed the introduction of the new journal as being both timely and appropriate. Fittingly, the first editorial was by John Ottaway,⁸ who outlined his plans as Chairman of the JAAS Editorial Board, and who also introduced a new feature, “Atomic Spectrometry Viewpoint”, in which this writer was interviewed.⁹ New members of the JAAS Editorial and Advisory Boards were introduced and there were greetings from other individuals.

It is interesting to compare that first issue, indeed the first JAAS year, with what we see today. The first volume of JAAS carried 80 research papers covering 488 pages, in addition to 200 pages for the ASU articles listed above. In contrast, in 2005, there were 183 articles in JAAS, covering 1428 pages. To accommodate this dramatic growth, JAAS had of course expanded to a monthly format from its bi-monthly origins. It had also gone through a succession of cover designs, from its initial pink monochrome to a subtler gray-and-pink format, to a black glossy arrangement featuring a starburst plasma, and finally to its current full-color layout that often features a photograph or figure from a key article in that issue. Other major changes in the Journal have recently been described.¹⁰

It is interesting also to contrast the areas of emphasis in atomic spectrometry in 1986 with those we see prominent in JAAS today. In 1986 there was considerable interest in mechanisms of excitation and matrix effects in the ICP, in nebulizer improvements, in hydride generation for As and Sb, in electrothermal vaporization (ETV) applied to the ICP, in ICP-MS load-coil geometry, in ETV of slurries, in flow injection AAS, in flame sources, and in comparing deuterium and Zeeman background correction. There were no papers on the Smith–Hieftje method of background correction.¹¹

In 2005, we have seen a strong emphasis on metrology in chemistry, on isotope-dilution mass spectrometry, on the use of collision and reaction cells in ICP-MS, on laser ablation, on laser-induced breakdown spectrometry (LIBS), on novel plasma sources, on ICP–time-of-flight mass spectrometry, on synchrotron XRF, on low-flow ICP torches, on novel nebulizers, on ETV coupled with ICP-MS, and especially on speciation and on the emerging satellite area of metallomics. There were still no papers on background correction by the Smith–Hieftje method.

Some of these topics, for example excitation mechanisms, nebulizer design, hydride generation, and others, are persistent, indicating ongoing interest, evolution, and improvement. Other areas, such as collision and reaction cells, speciation, metallomics, and isotope dilution, have emerged more recently, indicating the dynamic character of our field. We are clearly not in a period of decline, as some nay-sayers have asserted.

The success of JAAS, from its roots in 1986 to its present status (impact factor of over 3.9, the highest of any journal oriented toward analytical spectroscopy) is attributable to a number of dedicated folks. First, of course, is John Ottaway, who regrettably did not survive the journal’s first year. Also critical were Judith Brew (later Judith Egan-Shuttler), the first editor of JAAS, and Jim Harnly, who has since the Journal’s inception been the North American Editor. Later editors shepherded JAAS through the intervening years: Janice Gordon, Brenda Holliday, Sarah Williams (later Sarah Day) and, most recently, Claire Darby. Similarly, my predecessors who chaired the Journal Editorial Board were of critical importance: Les Ebdon, Barry Sharp, and Joe Caruso. And lastly, but certainly not least, all the members and chairpersons of the ASU Editorial Board, who tirelessly have made ASU a critical reference source for all who practise atomic spectrometry, and to all past and present members of the JAAS Editorial and International Advisory Boards, who have steadfastly provide critical guidance.

To all these people, to those who contribute to JAAS, and to those who read it, we all owe a debt of gratitude. We all look forward to the best JAAS year ever!

Gary M. Hieftje

References

1. M. S. Cresser, L. C. Ebdon, C. W. McLeod and J. C. Burridge, J. Anal. At. Spectrom., 1986, 1(1), 1R.
2. A. A. Brown, D. J. Halls and A. Taylor, J. Anal. At. Spectrom., 1986, 1(2), 29R.
3. J. Marshall, S. J. Haswell and R. D. Snook, J. Anal. At. Spectrom., 1986, 1(3), 61R.
4. D. Littlejohn, H. J. Ellis and H. Hughes, J. Anal. At. Spectrom., 1986, 1(4), 87R.
5. B. L. Sharp, N. W. Barnett, J. C. Burridge and J. M. Ottaway, J. Anal. At. Spectrom., 1986, 1(5), 121R.
6. D. A. Hickman, J. M. Rooke and M. Thompson, J. Anal. At. Spectrom., 1986, 1(6), 169R.
7. T. S. West, J. Anal. At. Spectrom., 1986, 1(1), 1.
8. J. M. Ottaway and J. D. R. Thomas, J. Anal. At. Spectrom., 1986, 1(1), 2.
9. G. M. Hieftje, J. Anal. At. Spectrom., 1986, 1(1), 3.
10. C. Darby, J. Anal. At. Spectrom., 2005, 20(1), 9.
11. S. B. Smith, Jr and G. M. Hieftje, Appl. Spectrosc., 1983, 37, 419–424.

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