2 ANALYST, JANUARY 1992. VOL. 117 Editorial International Communications The dissemination of information amongst the members of the analytical chemistry community, as is no doubt the case with other communities of researchers and scholars, makes use of the international conference as a key mechanism. Such conferences operate on several levels. They enable the delegates to hear and see formal and/or semi-formal presenta- tions by the researchers who have elected to submit material for inclusion in the conference programme. They allow informal interaction between delegates when detailed discus- sion, which cannot be accommodated in the limited time available immediately after a formal presentation, may ensue. By these means it is possible for both the experienced practitioner in the field and a potential newcomer to obtain information on the state of current research activity.It is possible that by a judicious choice of invited speakers, the representatives of the host country are able to hear, first hand, of the work conducted by the leading figures in the field from other nations, it being assumed that a country with a sufficiently developed scientific infrastructure will already be holding meetings at which its own leading researchers gain national exposure. The benefits of such encounters, particu- larly for young researchers, can be considerable; organizers of such events are encouraged to facilitate the attendance of the younger generation by suitable financial incentives, such as student bursaries. As more nations seek to develop their science base, it is likely that the number of such conferences will increase, especially if the occasion is also used for the running of short courses, specialized satellite symposia and instrument exhibi- tions.It could be argued that in the field of analytical chemistry there are too many such conferences and further proliferation is to be actively discouraged. However, such proliferation is likely to be self regulating, conferences won’t run if delegates don’t go. Many conferences are seeking to link with a publisher in order to produce a more permanent and detailed picture of the current state of affairs than is normally given in the collection of snapshots issued to delegates in the form of the book of abstracts. While such a link may be motivated by financial considerations on both sides, it is clearly an attractive notion that a special issue of a research journal can make available a suite of papers concerning the actively researched areas which formed the basis of the conference, thereby making the conference contents available to a much wider audience.Such an exercise is not without its difficulties. There are many more presentations made at a conference than could be accommodated in a special issue of a journal. Fortunately, the invitation to submit to such a special issue is not answered by every presenter. Material which may be perfectly satisfactory as the basis for a conference presentation may not have reached the stage where it may be submitted in written form for scrutiny by referees.Neither The Analyst nor the Journal of Analytical Atomic Spectrometry (JAAS) makes any conces- sions on the refereeing policy when considering material submitted as the result of an invitation issued to the delegates at a particular conference, and thus there will be some disappointed authors whose material is not considered to have reached the stage of development for inclusion in a primary research journal. However, the exercise of submission and evaluation is by no means futile under such circumstances, as the referees’ comments will almost always be of a constructive nature indicating what needs to be done in order that the work may reach a stage which would be acceptable for publication. Those in the business of supervising research students will know the value of obtaining from the student a summary of the work in the form of a manuscript for publication as a means of identifying areas for further study and, while journals expect senior authors to act as an initial filter, the Royal Society of Chemistry journals consider the provision of constructive feedback through the peer review process to be an important part of the service provided by the scientific publishing arm of a professional society.The Analyst is making some effort to expand its North American referee base for two reasons: firstly, to provide a better service to the authors of an increasing diversity of topic material being submitted and secondly, to avoid overload of the existing referee base. Editors are only too aware of the considerable demand placed on referees, especially as the request to make time to review a submission is based solely on a kind of moral blackmail-‘someone was good enough to referee your paper, so would you be good enough to referee this paper, and this one, and. . .’. Referees and authors alike may be interested to know that both editorial offices of The Analyst are available by electronic mail. The US office in Amherst, MA, can receive Bitnet messages on JFTyson@UMass and Internet messages on Julian. Tyson@chemistry.umass.edu. The UK office is avail- able on Janet at RSCl@gec-b.rutherford.ac.uk. Cross-Atlan- tic communication by this medium is slower than by telephone or fax, but faster than the regular mail and is considerably cheaper than both. Special issues of The Analyst and JAAS containing papers relating to presentations made at the Colloquium Spectro- scopicum Internationale held in Bergen in June 1991 will appear later this year. Julian Tyson US Associate Editor