It seems appropriate for an editorial written between the calendar and lunar New Year, to describe several new initiatives with ABC. This editorial accompanies our first-time topical collection entitled Advances in (Bio-)Analytical Chemistry: Reviews and Trends. We had multiple reasons for initiating this topical collection of Critical Reviews and Trends Articles from our Editorial Team and International Advisory Board (IAB). For one, we wanted to take the opportunity to highlight ABC’s diverse international editorial and advisory leadership. Furthermore, this topical collection leverages the expertise of our leadership, pointing out important future directions in chemical and bioanalysis. Key areas in analytical and bioanalytical chemistry covered in this topical collection include biosensors, green/sustainable/environmental chemistry, reference materials, microfluidics and multi-omics. We hope that you will enjoy learning from and about the leadership team at ABC as you read this topical collection.

Also new this past year was the changeover in chair editorship of ABC from Adam Woolley to Antje Baeumner (Fig. 1). Woolley served as ABC’s first Chair Editor, from July 2017 to June 2023, and he now continues with regular editorial responsibilities at ABC. Accomplishments from Woolley’s term include increasing the quality of papers ABC publishes, speeding up the time to first decision on manuscripts, and updating our editorial team. ABC’s impact factor increased from 3.3 in 2017 to 4.3 in 2023, and ABC’s CiteScore rose from 5.9 in 2017 to 7.5 in 2023. Importantly, the time from initial assignment of a manuscript to an editor until a first decision is rendered, decreased from 22 days in 2017 to 15 days in 2023. In 2017, it would have been impossible to anticipate some of the changes and challenges the chemical analysis community would face in subsequent years, particularly the COVID-19 pandemic. Importantly, the community of analytical chemists played a major role in developing rapid, simple and accurate tests for SARS-CoV-2 that helped to save lives then, and now provide a framework for broadening the scope of point-of-care bioanalysis. ABC will be effectively led by Antje Baeumner going forward through both uncertain and exciting times.

Adam Woolley handing over chair editorship to Antje Baeumner

In 2023, we also renewed our IAB, a process we repeat every three years in which we exchange a minimum of one third of our board members. Our goals include a global representation of scientists, a diverse membership, and a reflection of the broad area of expertise encompassing ABC (Fig. 2). Members of the IAB are an invaluable resource in the editors’ decisions on new topical collections, and the identification of rising stars and young investigators to provide them with appropriate platforms for their newest research. The IAB also participates actively in peer review, like the many scientists who serve in this particular function for ABC. We are hence excited to meet with the new members at international conferences and discuss their scientific ideas for ABC. We also gratefully say good-bye to the long-serving IAB members who left after their final terms and continue to be our ambassadors in the scientific community at large.

The current IAB of ABC consists of 68 members from 24 countries around the globe

For the year 2024 specific topical collection highlights await us ranging from food safety analysis to elemental mass spectrometry for bioanalysis and lipidomics; from luminescent and optical to electrochemical and nanozyme-based sensors. Our scientific community strives to discover new scientific principles and provide novel solutions to the grand challenges. As the concepts of one-health, personalized medicine; precision agriculture; food safety from farm-to-fork; and sustainable industrial processes advance; and AI injects new paradigms to provide solutions; the generation of reliable and accurate data on-time is an ever-increasing and urgent need. ABC continues to publish the relevant research of scientists around the globe who tie novel concepts and principles with a real-world check-up and hence provide new knowledge that has the possibility of being that solution for a grand societal challenge. We look forward to all new contributions to ABC from the scientific community and the scientific discussions that come along with our quality peer review.

For now, we hope you enjoy this special topical collection by the editors and members of ABC’s International Advisory Board.