One year of Green Processing and Synthesis – time for a small celebration

On December 5, the whole of the Netherlands celebrates Sinterklaas, officially Sint Nicolaas, as a traditional winter holiday figure. He and his servants come into each city, to institutions, such as to our group last year; such events provide fun and hope both to children and adults. In one way or another, such traditions are also found in some nearby countries and contribute to the special character of the last month of the year, when approaching Christmas, and the turn of the year in the Western world. The business calendar starts in January, when our journal Green Processing and Synthesis (GPS) will be 1 year old. The memory of the launch at IMRET12 in Lyon is still fresh and some images can be seen in Issue 4, the IMRET Special Issue.

Thus, GPS is getting older and “older persons” can tell stories and hand over their experience. What is the very first learning in the young life of GPS? We see a multitude of new scientific journals launched on the market; even authors say it may be too much. Yet, we also have increasing publishing activity worldwide, especially in the Eastern part of the world. Teaching and research topics are changing more towards an interdisciplinary direction. Thus, new formats for journals are needed and GPS was composed on that background. GPS managed to bring authors together in one issue and/or one journal, which formerly have not even heard their mutual names. Many diverse papers were included, which all had one feature in common – a green mission and orientation. GPS (and other similarly constructed journals), therefore helps authors to expand the borders of their discipline. Many papers come from the fields of flow chemistry and microreactor technology, as this is my background, however, we try to motivate authors from other fields, with increasing success. This is our learning curve with GPS.

Returning to the increasing numbers of journals which are being founded, we experienced what almost any new settled journal might experience currently – authors who are overcommitted in publishing, with some confusion existing over the increasing choice in publishing opportunities. Authors need to be convinced to accept the new offer. It is like real life; the first years are maybe the hardest. Entering a new world means gathering experiences, making errors here and there, gaining a wealth of learning, and finally becoming established.

I would like to take this opportunity to warmly thank the GPS editors. They have given much more than their names to the journal; they have helped in many diverse issues and have made a considerable contribution to the progress of the journal. The outlook is good for 2013. Three conferences have committed to select papers to be invited for publication in GPS. Beyond this, recently, the first submitted papers have come in for the 1/2013 Issue. There still remains much to be done to make the journal attractive for an even larger share of authors, with even greater diversity. All in all, I have come to the conclusion that my decision to take over this responsibility, despite already being quite overloaded, was right. It was and is a step in my life; a step forward, a step with pleasure and with many favorable contacts.

When I was a student, I lived for quite some time in a student flat with the number 13, located on the 13^th floor; thus being termed 1313. Many people would be quite reluctant to take this, as the number 13 is believed to be unlucky. I see it differently – it is just a funny combination which I like, and as a scientist, I have little belief in such a meaning. I am sure that I would have forgotten any other combination of numbers, but not 1313. Thus, let us hope that “13”, the year 2013, will be a great year with nice weather and good prospects for GPS.