Measurement Science and Technology at 2015

Dear authors, reviewers and readers of Measurement Science and Technology, As a New Year dawns I would like to thank all those who have published papers with us in 2012, and offer a special thanks go to those of you who have given up much of your precious time and kindly reviewed articles for the journal. I would also like to take this opportunity to update you all on some of the developments on the journal as we look ahead to a 2013 that will be a very special year for MST. Something that many readers may not be aware of is that Measurement Science and Technology was the world's first scientific instrument journal, and in 2013 we will be celebrating 90 years since the journal was first published. In 1923 the Institute of Physics launched the Journal of Scientific Instruments in order to capture the essential information regarding the design and performance of instruments, which was then often unobtainable from books or articles focused on results. The journal has moved with the times over the 90 years since its first publication, changing its name and scope to ensure it reflects the community it serves, but the dissemination of useful measurement knowledge has always been its core purpose. In 2013 we will be celebrating the sustained success of the journal with a series of articles and events throughout the year. These include a one-day 'Frontiers of Measurement' meeting to be held at the Institute of Physics, London, on 21 March. We do hope you can join us and leading speakers for this exciting event. We also think you will enjoy reading the articles in this special reviews issue which will showcase some of the best research in the journal's scope as well as look back over the past 90 years with a historical perspective by Richard Dewhurst and a historical review of the measurement of dielectric properties of materials by Udo Kaatze. Regular readers will already be familiar with our special issue programme, collecting original research papers in areas of interest to our readers. We can look forward in 2013 to the publication of special issues on 3D velocimetry and optical fibre sensors, areas where we have a long history of publishing articles from the some of the best researchers in the field. In my first year as Editor, I have enjoyed gaining an overview of other fields, in particular through the review articles. Multidisciplinarity, bound by the common language of measurement, is a hallmark of Measurement Science and Technology. It still impresses me that I can be reading about the measurement of protein dynamics [1] in one issue and measuring the interior of volcanoes [2] in another! As is so often the case, translating methods across research fields can break through the limits of traditional approaches and produce a real game-changer. By signing up to receive table of contents alerts, one can browse the journal and pick out topics of interest as well as experience the serendipity that comes from seeing things from the perspective of another research field. This seldom happens when looking at more narrowly focused journals or subject alerts. As this is a special year for the journal we are planning to publish several perspectives articles from members of our Editorial Board. Those published already have proved very popular so far as they give a personal view on a topic of current interest and help express the unique character of the journal. When speaking to young researchers I am particularly aware that having their articles published in a timely fashion is important, and I am pleased that our publication times are highly competitive, with most authors receiving a publication decision within six weeks and most articles being published a month after acceptance. Looking forward to 2013, we will continue to rely on our esteemed reviewers, for their help in determining which articles make a significant contribution to the field of measurement. Their work is highly valued, not only by those of us who work directly on the journal, but also by the readers who can continue to refer to MST knowing that only work of a high standard is published here. Finally I wish to thank the Institute of Physics Publishing team and the whole Editorial Board of Measurement Science and Technology. Their professionalism, expertise and dedication have, together with the fine work of authors and reviewers, led directly to the journal's impact factor (a measure of the average number of times recent papers are referenced by others) rising to its all-time high of 1.494. Impact factor is often taken as an indication of the quality and relevance of recently published research, and although as researchers we develop our own instinct for recognizing journals of high quality, it is gratifying as an Editor to see the data from an independent organization (Thomson ISI) agreeing with my own assessment. In research, as in commerce, competition raises quality and it is especially encouraging that our impact factor is now, for the first time, the highest in the sector of wide-ranging instrumentation and techniques. There simply remains for me to say thank you again for your contribution to Measurement Science and Technology in 2012, and wish you all the very best for a successful 2013! References [1] Adamczyk K et al 2012 Measuring protein dynamics with ultrafast two-dimensional infrared spectroscopy Meas. Sci. Technol. 23 062001 [2] Okubo S and Tanaka H K M 2012 Imaging the density profile of a volcano interior with cosmic-ray muon radiography combined with classical gravimetry Meas. Sci. Technol. 23 042001