New journal makes surprising impact in first year of publication

By Eddy Ball
August 2011

A cross-disciplinary journal with ties to a program funded by NIEHS since 1992 has achieved one of the highest impact factors of specialized journals of its type at 3.592, according to the 2010 Thomson Reuters Journal Citation Reports (JCR).

An NIEHS grant(https://tools.niehs.nih.gov/portfolio/index.cfm?action=portfolio.grantdetail&grant_number=P30ES006096) to the University of Cincinnati (UC) Center for Environmental Genetics (CEG)(http://www.eh.uc.edu/ceg) has funded research into the effects of chemical trace elements on biological systems and health by UC Professor Joseph Caruso, Ph.D., a long-time CEG member and founding and editorial board member of the journal Metallomics(http://pubs.rsc.org/en/journals/journalissues/mt) , which began publishing in 2009.

A new omics approach to analyzing metal complexes

According to a 2008 article(http://www.rsc.org/Publishing/Journals/cb/Volume/2009/5/what_is_metallomics.asp) in Highlights in Chemical Biology by Ryszard Lobinski, Ph.D., D.Sc., and colleagues at the National Research Council of France, metallomics helps fill an important gap in omics studies of biological systems. “Metallomics is the systematic study of metallomes [metal complexes] and the interactions and functional connections of metal ions and their species with genes, proteins, metabolites, and other biomolecules within organisms and ecosystems,” Lobinski wrote. Moving beyond investigations of the role and interactions of a single, or even few, metals in a protein or enzyme system, metallomics purports to study global, multi-element interactions, and relationships.

Caruso has been a leader of efforts to bring together scientists from the biological, chemical, environmental, clinical, and measurement sciences, to effect a greater understanding of the role of metals and metal compounds in many biological, chemical, environmental, and clinical systems. He has been a featured speaker at the biennial International Symposium on Metallomics(http://www.metallomics2011.org/event/Metallomics2011/Invited_speakers.html) . Caruso founded and directs the UC/Agilent Technologies Metallomics Center of the Americas, established in 2007.

Putting impact factors into perspective

Metallomics' impact factor surpasses such journals as the Journal of Biological Inorganic Chemistry at 3.287 and Biometals at 2.320. According to Caruso, the journal's performance is even more impressive because the impact factor ranking is based solely on 2010 citations to the initial six issues published in 2009. Metallomics is currently indexed in PubMed and Scopus.

JCR(http://wokinfo.com/products_tools/analytical/jcr/) impact reports are useful for libraries, publishers, authors, researchers, and information analysts in assessing the impact, immediacy, and total cites for specific journals.

"New study explores the..." - previous story  next story - "Ribonucleotide incorporation into DNA..."
August 2011 Cover Page

 Back to top

The Environmental Factor is produced monthly by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) (https://www.niehs.nih.gov/), Office of Communications and Public Liaison. The text is not copyrighted, and it can be reprinted without permission. If you use parts of Environmental Factor in your publication, we ask that you provide us with a copy for our records. We welcome your comments and suggestions. (bruskec@niehs.nih.gov)