First sitting PM at RSC event

The Prime Minister, Rt Hon Tony Blair MP, highlighted the role of science in tackling the challenges of tomorrow, when he addressed scientists and politicians, at the RSC's annual Parliamentary Links Day in the House of Commons.   

The theme, 'The science behind the G8 summit', focussed on the issues of climate change and Africa and was also addressed by the Secretary of State for International Development, the Government's Chief Scientific Adviser and the Minister for Science and Innovation. Other speakers at the event included representatives from all the UK's major scientific societies such as the Institute of Physics, the Institute of Biology, the Royal Society, Royal Academy of Engineering and the Campaign for Science and Engineering.   

In a Special Message the Prime Minister praised Links Day, calling it 'the foremost scientific gathering in the Parliamentary calendar' and the following day told a packed House of Commons that he had been very pleased to attend such a 'thriving' occasion. It was the first time in history that any sitting Prime Minister had ever attended a Society event.   

Journals launched at Utrecht and Budapest

RSC Publishing formally marked the launch of two of its new journals at international conferences held last month.     

Soft Matter was officially launched at 6th Liquid Matter conference held in Utrecht, The Netherlands.     

The meeting, like the journal, attracted much interest from specialists from a wide range of scientific backgrounds. 900 delegates at the conference marked the launch by joining the journals' editor, Carol Stanier, for a slice of celebratory cake.       

Meanwhile, the 30th FEBS Congress was the venue for the launch celebrations of Molecular BioSystems.     

The conference held in Budapest, Hungary, attracted more than 2500 delegates and featured an extensive programme of lectures and symposia on protein and peptide science. Molecular BioSystems sponsored the Theodor Bücher Lecture and Medal given by Douglas Kell, professor at University of Manchester, UK.     

Find out more about these new journals

Making an impact

The latest impact factors, released by ISI, show an impressive average increase of over 10% for RSC Journals. Calculated annually, ISI® impact factors provide an indication of the quality of a journal - they take into account the number of citations in a given year for all the citeable documents published within a journal in the preceding two years. 

Impact factors for The Analyst, Green Chemistry, Journal of Analytical Atomic Spectrometry (JAAS), and New Journal of Chemistry all rose by more than 20% whilst the nanotechnology journal, Lab on a Chip, bolstered its position as the leading publication in the field with a figure of 5.05. Building on its first impact factor, Photochemical & Photobiological Sciences  leapt to 1.80 while Organic & Biomolecular Chemistry  (OBC) received its first impact factor of 2.19, recognising the high-quality science published in the journal during its formative years. Meanwhile, Chemical Society Reviews furthered its position as the journal for high quality review material with a figure of 10.84.   

These encouraging impact factors are proof that year on year, RSC Journals make an impact. 

Data based on 2004 Impact Factors, calculated by ISI, released on 20th June 2005.