In that period, a relatively small group of journals--15 in all--has dominated the "hit parade" of top-ranked chemistry serials, according to the scientists who read them. For seven of these years, Chemical Reviews has held the first-place position, including 1989, the most recent year that these periodicals were ranked. It has alternated in the top spot with only one other journal, Accounts of Chemical Research. Table 1 lists the 15 top-ranked journals (alphabetically), along with the year each began publication.
The Scientist identified these 15 journals using the subject listings formulated by ISI to categorize the periodicals included in the SCI database. Since 1980, ISI has categorized chemistry journals in six broad areas: analytical, applied, general, inorganic and nuclear, organic, and physical. ("General" includes serials that cover several areas of chemistry that cannot be classified as one specific type.)
This article examines only those journals in the general chemistry category. ...
