The Iran National Nanotechnology Initiative (INIC) has released a report on the number of nanotechnology articles published in ISI (Institute for Scientific Information)-indexed journals, according to a May 28, 2014 news item on Nanowerk,

This report studies the number of nanotechnology articles published in ISI-indexed journals, and investigates the ascending or descending trend of the publication of such articles in ISI-indexed journals. The report then presents a list of conferences in which the highest number of nanotechnology articles have been presented.

A May 29, 2014 INIC news release offers some insight into the reasons for the report,

Scientific journals have always been among the most important tools in the development of science and technology, because by publishing scientific reports and articles, they demonstrate the movement of science borders. Like reliable references, the journals provide researchers with the latest scientific findings and help them achieve their research objects. The philosophy behind the publication of articles at the international level is to take out human discoveries from laboratories and scientific centers and to help the development of science by publishing them. Journals create an atmosphere to share scientific achievements and they prevent the loss or uselessness of the finding.

After less than two decades since the appearance of nanotechnology, this technology has penetrated all scientific aspects. Therefore, various journals in all sciences publish nanotechnology-related articles and reports. No comprehensive research has so far been carried out to determine the share of journals in the publication of nanotechnology articles. Introduction to nanotechnology penetration in the ISI-indexed journals is the main objective of the present study. Therefore, the following report studies the share of ISI-indexed journals in the publication of nanotechnology-related articles.

…

ISI Web of Knowledge includes 22,000 journals, 23 million patents, 192,000 articles presented in conferences, 5,500 websites and 5,000 volumes of books. Master Journal List includes the titles of all journals that are licensed by various products of Thomson Scientific Institute. The journals are annually evaluated, and according to the evaluation, approximately 8,000 to 9,000 of the journals acquire impact factor (IF) and are indexed in Journal Citation Report (JCR). JCR is in fact a databank of ISI-indexed journals. Only the articles that are published in the journals of this databank are indexed in Web of Science (WoS).

Here are some of the findings, from the news release,

Figure 1: Top 30 journals in publication of nanotechnology articles in 2001-2013 [downloaded from http://irannano.org/nano/index.php?ctrl=news&actn=news_view&id=46553&lang=2]

Figure 1 demonstrates the top 30 journals that have published the highest number of nanotechnology articles in 2001-2013. APPLIED PHYSICS LETTERS and PHYSICAL REVIEW B have ranked first and second by publishing 24,382 and 23,717 articles, respectively. These two journals have published respectively 2.9% and 2.82% of all nanotechnology-related articles in the past 13 years. The two journals are the only ones that possess a share of nanotechnology articles publication higher than 2%, and other journals are far behind them. For instance, the JOURNAL OF APPLIED PHYSICS, which ranks third in the following chart, has published 1.95% of nanotechnology-related articles in the past 13 years.Among the top 30 journals, there are only four nanotechnology specific journals classified in Nanoscience and Nanotechnology category of ISI categories. The four journals are as follows: Nanotechnology, Journal of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology, Nano Letters and ACS Nano.

I find it surprising that Nature Nanotechnology is not on the list of the top 30 journals. I’m not arguing their results, it’s just that given a specific journal dedicated to nanotechnology topics, it’s unexpected.

You can find more in the May 29, 2014 INIC news release or here at:  http://statnano.com/searchstring.