scitech library question

:: In a recent advertising insert promoting the journal, Chemistry & Biodiversity, an
apparent twig of Helvetica Chimica Acta, the claim was made that HCA was "one of the best ... full-paper primary-literature chemistry journals in the world."

This claim was based on a comparison of the 2002 ISI Impact Factor of HCA with some other journals.

• 20.993 Chem. Rev.
  
• 7.671 Angew. Chem. Int. Ed.
  
• 6.201 J. Am. Chem. Soc.
  
• 1.949 Helv. Chim. Acta
  
• 1.750 Pure Appl. Chem.
  
• 1.607 Org. Synth.
  
• 1.529 Chem. Lett.
  
• 1.260 Can. J. Chem.
  
• 1.213 Bull. Chem. Soc. Jpn.

This comparison struck me as odd for two reasons. First, because Chem. Rev., Org. Synth. and Chem. Lett. are not full-paper primary-literature chemistry journals and, more importantly, because Chem. Commun., New J. Chem. and Chem. Eur. J. were left out of the comparison.

Looking at the American Chemical Society - Committee on Professional Training's 'Journal List for Undergraduate Programs', we find that the most important 'general content' chemistry journals (with their 2002 ISI Impact Factors) are:

• 20.99 Chemical Reviews
  
• 15.90 Accounts of Chemical Research
  
• 8.718 Chemical Society Reviews
  
• 7.671 Angewandte Chemie Int. Ed.
  
• 6.201 J. American Chemical Society
  
• 4.038 Chemical Communications

with HCA, New J. Chem., and Chem. Eur. J. all in the 'Also Recommended' category.

As an aid to librarians who need to selectively subscribe to the 'general content' chemistry journals, I have listed those in the 'Also Recommended' category ranked by their 2002 ISI Impact Factors:

• 4.238 Chemistry - A European J.
  
• 2.060 New Journal of Chemistry
  
• 1.949 Helvetica Chimica Acta
  
• 1.750 Pure and Applied Chemistry
  
• 1.529 Chemistry Letters (Japan)
  
• 1.260 Canadian J. Chemistry

- contributed by Dana Roth, Caltech.

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