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BY-NC-ND 3.0 license Open Access Published by De Gruyter (O) April 15, 2014

Fifty years of Radiochimica Acta: a brief overview

  • S. M. Qaim EMAIL logo
From the journal Radiochimica Acta

Abstract

This paper provides a brief account of the development of this journal over the last fifty years. Having started in 1962 as a modest outlet for reporting research results in radiochemistry, Radiochimica Acta soon became a respected specialist journal. There has been long-term continuity both in editorial activity and publishing management, resulting in welldefined publishing policies. Starting with the Founding Editors, the Board of Editors was changed only in 1977 and 1996. Similarly the original Publisher, Akademischer Verlag, published the journal until 1983. Since then OldenbourgWissenschaftsverlag has been managing the publication process. The journal has been broad-based, encompassing all chemical aspects of nuclear science and technology. It has played a significant role in the dissemination of new knowledge, occasionally by bringing forth special issues in fast emerging areas. It has kept pace with the changing trends in worldwide radiochemical research. Whereas by about the middle of 1980s all areas of radiochemistry were equally represented, today the emphasis is more on applied topics, such as chemical behaviour and mobility of actinides and fission products, accelerator-based radiochemistry, medical applications of radioactivity, etc. The number of published scientific contributions to date amounts to about 5100, covering about 30 000 printed pages. The total number of authors is around 7000. The journal follows a strict peer-review system and is supported by a network of about 400 referees. About 200 manuscripts are received per year, out of which 30-35% are rejected. The impact factor (IF) of the journal is almost the highest among the radiochemistry related journals, and the cited half-life (CHL) among the highest of all chemistry and physics oriented journals. In short, today Radiochimica Acta is a well established, internationally recognised periodical. Presently, approximately 50 percent of the published contributions originate from Europe, 25 percent fromNorth- and South America and the remaining 25 percent from Asia, Australia and Africa together. All articles are published in English, and the journal is available to readership both on-line and in printed form.

Published Online: 2014-4-15
Published in Print: 2012-8-1

©2014 by Walter de Gruyter Berlin/Boston

This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License, which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

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