Minerals Engineering continues to lead the way

As many of you know, I have never been a great fan of journal Impact Factors (see posting of 2nd July 2009).  However, I do know that research funding bodies set great store by them, and so academics and researchers attach great importance to their value.

So I am pleased to see that Minerals Engineering continues to head the rankings of peer-reviewed mineral processing journals (see 2010 Impact Factors on MEI Online).

The number of citations that a paper receives is dependent on its subject area, hydrometallurgy papers attracting more citations than, for instance, gravity concentration papers, mainly because of the higher number of researchers in the former area. Papers in Minerals Engineering's special issues tend to be highly cited, as they are aimed directly at specialists, and the special issues provide the latest innovations and development in those specific areas. MEI Conferences are the source of the special issues, and papers for these are effectively peer-reviewed twice, firstly by discussions at the conferences, and then by regular peer-review by the journal's team of international referees.

As editor I would like to express my appreciation to my team of around 175 reviewers, who give up their valuable time to keep the wheels of the all-important peer-review process turning.