USU Professor Named 'Editor-in-Chief' of Top Chemistry Journal

A key challenge for scientists is staying informed with what’s going on in their fields, says Utah State University chemist Stephen Bialkowski.

“With the volume of scientific literature hitting the press, it’s hard to keep up what’s state-of-the-art,” says Bialkowski, professor of analytical chemistry in USU’s Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry. “Review articles are a way to keep in touch.”

Bialkowski was recently named editor-in-chief of Critical Reviews in Analytical Chemistry, a review journal produced by Philadelphia-based publisher Taylor & Francis, Inc. The journal has a five-year impact factor of 3.956, ranking it “9” out of 73 chemistry analytical journals by Thomson Reuters’ 2011 Journal Citation Reports.

Bialkowski has served on the journal’s editorial board for the past 17 years and looks forward to taking the helm. He notes that, during the past decade, the number of review articles, in all scientific disciplines, hasn’t kept up with the exponential increase in scientific research papers.

“More review articles are needed to keep pace with innovations and the rapid evolution of science,” he says. “A broad overview is needed to bring focus to what’s important to science and to society.”

In addition to keeping scientists informed, review articles provide valuable educational tools, Bialkowski says.

“I often use review articles in my classes, especially lab courses, to challenge students with real-world scientific problems,” he says. “I give students an article and ask them to come up with an application and design an experiment to test it.”

Bialkowski says review articles also provide scientists with an archive of sorts to determine if research they’re envisioning has been done before.

“A certain amount of repetition is expected, even welcomed, in science,” he says. “But every investigator benefits from knowing how peers are approaching similar problems.”

Shared knowledge of results isn’t the only benefit, Bialkowski says.

“It’s always extremely helpful to hear about emerging technology and the tools and techniques researchers are using in their approaches,” he says.

In his new post, Bialkowski hopes to broaden the community of authors contributing to the journal.

“Though the journal is international, most of our authors are from North America and Europe,” he says. “I’d like to involve more authors from Asia, South America and other parts of the world.”

China, for example, has a huge scientific research and manufacturing base, Bialkowski says. Involving more authors is also a way of expanding the journal’s readership — another of his goals.

“There’s so much going on in the global scientific community and in analytical chemistry in particular — especially in nanoscience and nanotechnology,” he says. “The journal provides a vehicle to foster innovation and collaboration.”

USU Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry

USU College of Science

Contact: Stephen Bialkowski, 435-797-1907, stephen.bialkowski@usu.edu

Writer: Mary-Ann Muffoletto, 435-797-3517, maryann.muffoletto@usu.edu