Analytical chemistry in Balkan and East Mediterranean countries during 1994–2001

Research activity in the Balkan and East Mediterranean countries was evaluated on the basis of publications appearing in Analytical Abstracts (AA) during the cumulative 8-year period of 1994–2001. This was accomplished by assessing the scientific publication productivity in analytical chemistry as the number of publications from each country and the number of publications per population unit. To assess the impact in the scientific community, the mean impact factor for each country was calculated. The publication productivity trend was recorded for the 7-year period 1994–2000. Moreover, the preference to publish in specific journals per country was appraised. According to the total number of publications, Egypt (765 publications) and Greece (717 publications) are the most productive countries, while Slovenia shows the highest number of publications per million of population (140). Scientists from Israel published their work in the highest impact analytical journals with a mean impact factor of 2.02, followed by Slovenia (mean impact factor of 1.67) and Greece (mean impact factor of 1.53). Studies of scientists from different countries do not show any obvious preference to a single specific journal. It is interesting to note that preference for journals reveals the research interests of scientists from each country for sub-fields of analytical chemistry.