Editorial – analytical science in China

As the articles of this issue of The Analyst are being published on the web in August, the attention of the world will be on the Beijing Olympics. In addition to watching the games and counting the medals, people will also witness the significant progress China has made during the 30 years of the long march towards modernization since the country adopted its open-door policy in 1978.

China has been one of the most dynamic and fastest growing economies in the world for the past few years. In 2007, China had moved to the third place in the world in terms of national R&D funding, closing fast on Japan, which was number two behind the United States. We have also witnessed the rapid increase in scientific publications from China, in terms of both quantity and quality, in all areas of chemistry. As shown in Fig. 1(a), there has been a spectacular rise in the number of scientific publications by Chinese researchers in analytical chemistry-related journals with an impact factor (IF) >2.0 from 1998 to 2007. This rise directly correlates with the increase of China's GDP over the same period [Fig. 1(b)], emphasizing the positive impact of the nation's increasing economic power (and associated investments in science and technology) on the nation's scientific research output.

Fig. 1 Great leap forward: positive association of China's increasing economic power with its scientific research output: (a) number of publications by Chinese scientists in analytical chemistry-related journals with an impact factor (IF) >2.0 from 1998 to 2007 (as tracked by Web of Science of Thomson Scientific); (b) China's gross domestic production (GDP) in renminbi (RMB) over the same period (http://www.stats.gov.cn/tjgb/).

This themed issue aims to introduce the top-class research in analytical science being carried out in China and to encourage more scientific exchange and collaboration between the analytical research community in China and those in other regions. It is impossible to provide comprehensive coverage on all the high-quality work being done by many outstanding research groups; however, this issue intends to highlight the latest innovation and discoveries in analytical, bioanalytical and detection science from some of the leading groups in China. This includes research papers contributed by 21 research groups from 16 universities and research institutes.

In recent years, the Chinese government has put a high priority on nanotechnology and life science and has allocated a lot of resources to these two areas, which is reflected in the two major categories of papers in this themed issue: nanodetection – the development of new analytical techniques for nanoscience and the applications of nanomaterials and nanotechnology in analytical devices; and biodetection – the development of analytical techniques, particularly sensors and biochips, for medical, environmental, and food-safety applications. It is expected that our colleagues in China will continue to make important contributions to these subjects and other areas of analytical and bioanalytical research in the years to come.

This themed issue marks the first time The Analyst has dedicated an entire issue to documenting the results of analytical research conducted in one particular country or region. I feel extremely honored to have the opportunity to help, organize and edit this issue, and I want to thank my colleagues in China for their support and contribution. As the journal is enjoying an increasingly higher impact factor and top-class ranking in analytical science, it will continue to attract the best research from all around the world. I also want to thank the efficient and professional Editorial and Informatics teams of The Analyst, and the large panel of expert reviewers who provided timely reviews and constructive comments and suggestions. The publication of this issue would have been impossible without their tremendous efforts. Finally, I hope the readers of The Analyst find the articles informative and interesting.

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