This year marks not only the International Year of Chemistry, but also the 50th anniversary of the publication of the international edition of Angewandte Chemie. Since its first edition in 1962, there have been many changes in the journal, publishing and chemistry — most notably in the past 25 years. Peter Gölitz has witnessed many of these changes first hand as Editor-in-Chief of Angewandte Chemie. He talks about how the journal has changed and grown in the last 25 years:
From the first volume in 1962 to the 24th volume in 1985, the International Edition grew from ca. 700 to ca. 1100 pages while from the 25th volume in 1986 to the 49th volume in 2010 from ca. 1150 to well over 10 000 pages. But not just the numbers have changed dramatically. The entire publication process has changed.
The fax machine was not around yet in the mid 80s, and today it has nearly disappeared again. There was no e-mail and no internet. Around 1986 the editorial office began to request floppy discs (5 1/4 inch) from authors to avoid having to re-enter text. Now authors can submit their manuscripts entirely online.
Today the online version of a journal is the primary product, and some printed journals have shrunken their page format or been discontinued altogether. Reading behavior has changed such that for top journals like Angewandte Chemie, the homepage is checked for new articles on a daily basis.
Yet some things have remained the same over the last 50 years, namely the vision behind Angewandte. This was best expressed by Wilhelm Foerst in a foreword to the 75th volume of Angewandte Chemie in 1963: “And so each fundamental piece of new knowledge emanates a sweeping power, which in turn motivates receptive personalities to their own achievements. It is this group, the avant-garde, that we are trying to find. That is our entire agenda.”
To celebrate 50 years of Angewandte Chemie International Edition, the current “anniversary issue” seeks to cover the full breadth of chemistry, from bio to nano! Apart from the “more of the best” agenda, the homepage will have various features reflecting the past 49 volumes of the journal. For example, every day will highlight a different “Article of the Day”, which refers readers to a past article that has been particularly highly read or highly cited. To begin, Editorial Board member, François Diederich, reflects on 25 years full of chemical discovery in his editorial.
►Read the editorials
- 50 Years of the International Edition: More Substance than Appearance
P. Gölitz,
Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2011, 50(1), 4–7.
DOI: 10.1002/anie.201007335 - 25 Years Full of Chemical Discovery
F. Diederich,
Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2011, 50(1), 8–12.
DOI: 10.1002/anie.201006704
