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Journal of Synchrotron Radiation

[J. Synchrotron Rad.]In the six years since the Journal of Synchrotron Radiation (JSR) was launched, we have published about 870 research articles in nearly 4000 pages. Our aim has been to provide a focus for the whole of the synchrotron radiation community, and to publish high-quality papers covering sources, instrumentation, methods and applications for all regions of the synchrotron radiation spectrum. A major development for JSR has been the introduction of Synchrotron Radiation Online, an electronic journal service with many exciting features.

The journal has published the proceedings of two major conferences, SRI'97 (May 1998 issue) and XAFS X (May 1999 issue), and will cover XAFS XI in 2001. A dedicated issue on structural biology in July 1999 marked the first Nobel prize for synchrotron- radiation-based work, awarded to Sir John Walker of the MRC's Laboratory of Molecular Biology. The issue included several excellent articles from the leaders in the field demonstrating the transformation in structural biology brought about by synchrotron radiation.

Special issues are an important part of increasing the impact of the journal, its distribution and readership. Indeed, JSR now ranks in the top 17% of the Science Citation Index of 4800 journals. Its impact factor increased by 32% from 1996 to 1998 and it already ranks 3rd out of 52 journals in the instruments and instrumentation field. This is due to the excellent quality of papers submitted by authors, and care exercised by our referees.

A recent addition to the Editorial Board is H.A. Padmore (Advanced Light Source, Lawrence Berkeley National Lab). Dr Padmore's major contributions to synchrotron radiation have been in the area of instrumentation, notably soft X-ray monochromators, mirror systems for microfocusing, photoemission electron microscopy for investigating the magnetic structure of surfaces, and the utilization of low-energy storage rings for hard X-ray experiments. In September, Co-editor D.M. Mills will succeed J.R. Helliwell as JSR Editor. Dr Mills is currently the Director of the User Program Division of the Advanced Photon Source (APS) at Argonne National Lab and Executive Director of the Synchrotron Radiation Instrumentation Collaborative Access Team (SRI-CAT). He has spent the last 25 years developing instrumentation for use with synchrotron radiation. His research interests include the application and use of the unique properties of synchrotron radiation to studies of X-ray physics, in particular X-ray optics, and time-resolved experimentation.

JSR has clearly become established; our goal now is to increase the number of subscribers. If your library does not already subscribe, please encourage them to do so, so that the work of the synchrotron radiation community - from 'source to science' - can reach the widest possible audience.

Samar Hasnain, John Helliwell and Hiromichi Kamitsubo, Editors
17 November 2008