Introduction to the special issue for the 15th International Conference on Small-Angle Scattering (SAS2012)
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Date
2014-01-30
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International Union of Crystallography
Abstract
The scientific publishing landscape is changing. Over the past few meetings of the
small-angle scattering community, it has become challenging for conference organizers to
publish traditional volumes of proceedings in scientific journals without impacting on
metrics of concern to many publishing houses, namely impact factor, despite an expressed need to have proceedings. Equally, many scientists would choose not to submit their
findings to proceedings and wish to communicate their work in high-impact-factor
journals only. From broadly canvassing the community, it has become evident that both
proceedings and selected articles have their own rightful place and are valuable sources
of reference for both the newcomer to the field and established researchers alike. As
such, for the first time, the organizers of the small-angle scattering conference have
published both proceedings (McGillivray et al., 2012) – reflecting the full content of the
meeting and reviewed to the extent that the work has been selected for conference
presentation – and, here, a special issue in what many would consider to be the traditional
and natural home for small-angle scattering, namely Journal of Applied Crystallography.
The production of this special issue has been a painstaking process. Attendees were
invited to submit articles on the basis that, not only would their work be exposed to
rigorous review but, even then, only selected articles would be published. The refereeing
process was strict and thorough, many papers were rejected, and all were improved. We
are grateful to all the authors that submitted material, whether selected or not, as well as
the Guest Co-editors – Andrew Jackson, Yoshiyuki Amemiya, Charles Dewhurst, Dmitri
Svergun and Aldo Craievich – the many referees for their invaluable effort which made
the publication of this special issue possible and, indeed, the entire scientific programme
committee that developed such a compelling programme. We would also like to thank
Lisa Stephenson and Peter Strickland at the IUCr Editorial Office in Chester, UK, for
their support and guidance. The resulting compilation provides an excellent overview of
the state of the art across the spectrum of small-angle neutron and X-ray scattering
(SANS and SAXS), covering the fields of application, theory, methods of analysis and
instrumentation
Description
Keywords
X-ray sources, Meetings, Scattering, Crystallography, Communities, Proceedings
Citation
Gilbert, E. P., & Allen, A. J. (2014). Introduction to the special issue for the 15th International Conference on Small-Angle Scattering (SAS2012). Journal of Applied Crystallography, 47(1), 1-3. doi:10.1107/S1600576714001770