23 June 2010
Biodiesel boost to IChemE journals
Hot Topics such as biofuels and biorefineries have fuelled a record interest in IChemE’s journals in 2009, and resulted in an unprecedented boost to the journals’ impact factor.
The impact factor of Chemical Engineering Research and Design (ChERD) rose to 1.223 (2008: 0.989), Food and Bioproducts Processing (FBP) almost doubled its impact factor to 0.952 (previously 0.511), while Process Safety and Environmental Protection came close to tripling its impact factor to 1.124 (up from 0.400).
“This is immensely gratifying, and a credit to the team,” says Claudia Flavell-While, director of publications at IChemE. “It shows how increased accessibility through our publishing partnership with Elsevier is benefitting the journals, and confirms that our ongoing programme to develop the journals is bearing fruit.”
Its publishing partnership with Elsevier has made IChemE’s journals more easily accessible and their coverage of very timely and topical subjects such as biofuels production and biorefining has attracted a significant amount of interest. At the same time, there has been a sharp rise in the number of people accessing the journals through the online portal Science Direct.
Overall, around 35,000 users accessed the three journals via Science Direct during the first quarter of 2008, rising to over 120,000 in the fourth quarter of 2009.
Biodiesel and biorefining were particularly popular topics, as proven by the strong download figures for the joint special issues on the topic published in ChERD and FBP in September 2009.
Overall, the most heavily downloaded papers across the journals were Production of bioethanol and other bio-based materials from sugarcane bagasse: Integration to conventional bioethanol production process by Marina Dias et al at University of Campinas, Brazil, with 992 downloads, followed by Design and development of three-dimensional scaffolds for tissue engineering by C. Liu et al at the University of Oxford, and Economic assessment of an integrated bioethanol-biodiesel-microbial fuel cell facility utilizing yeast and photosynthetic algae by EE Powell and GA Hill at the University of Saskatchewan.
In terms of citations, the most heavily-cited papers of ChERD, FBP and PSEP in 2008 and 2009 were, respectively, NOx storage behavior and sulfur-resisting performance of the third-generation NSR catalysts by Ming Meng et al at Tianjin University, China; Effects of cooking methods on the proximate composition and fatty acid composition of seabass, by S Cakli et al at Ege University, Turkey; and Biodiesel production from waste oil feedstocks by solid acid catalysis by Jin-Fu Wang et al at Tsinghua University, Beijing.
Notes to Editors
For further media information, interviews or supporting photography please contact:
Matt Stalker, Communications Manager, IChemE
tel: +44 (0)1788 534455 / +44 (0)7802 834459
email: mstalker@icheme.org
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Chemical, biochemical and process engineering is the application of science, maths and economics to the process of turning raw materials into everyday products. Professional chemical engineers design, construct and manage process operations all over the world. Pharmaceuticals, food and drink, synthetic fibres and clean drinking water are just some of the products where chemical engineering plays a central role.
About IChemE
IChemE (Institution of Chemical Engineers) is the hub for chemical, biochemical and process engineering professionals worldwide. With a growing global membership of some 30,000, the Institution is at the heart of the process community, promoting competence and a commitment to best practice, advancing the discipline for the benefit of society, encouraging young people in science and engineering and supporting the professional development of its members. For more information, visit www.icheme.org