developments lead to the generation of a greater volume of data, but they also enable
examination on increasingly challenging samples. This provides us with the ability
to examine extremely small and weakly diffracting crystals and increasingly is being
used to drive the boundaries of structural science forward, e.g. the ability to collect
data extremely rapidly enables the characterisation of dynamic processes in the solid
state. However, the main, key point of this review is to demonstrate how these
technological advances provide support for the challenges modern chemistry provides and most importantly is a significant driving force behind small molecule
crystallography really becoming a more data-driven discipline.
2 The Impact of Technological Advances
2.1 The Communication of Results
Since communication in academia began, the scientific article has been viewed as the
primary form of currency. It is worth taking a brief look at the history of the article to
illustrate how it has changed over time. The first journal was the Philosophical
Transactions of the Royal Society [55], started in 1665, which did include some
‘data’ and had an element of peer review. However, over the following centuries,
there was a tendency for shorter, letter-type publications, which merely reported
some final results. It was not until well into the twentieth century that the journal
article was produced in the way we understand it today. It is interesting to note that as
late as 1938, the journal Science relied wholly on personal solicitations for its
content, while it was only in 1967 that the journal Nature introduced peer review –
prior to which articles were primarily accepted based on editorial judgement. The
following quote from Einstein relating to a Physical Review’s submission in 1936 is
particularly revealing!
We had sent you our manuscript for publication and had not authorized you to show it to
specialists before it is printed. I see no reason to address the in any case erroneous comments
of your anonymous expert. On the basis of this incident I prefer to publish the paper
elsewhere
Peer review became ubiquitous as the method of quality control in the second half
of the twentieth century not only due to the increasing specialisation of research but
also due to the sheer volume being conducted and the fact that mass printing and
distribution had become trivial. The result of these developments is the knock-on
effect that the journal article has become the primary measure of the impact of a
piece of work and now dictates much of the way the academic system operates.
Research funding, journal quality, institutional esteem, personal esteem and promotion prospects are all affected by the perceived quality and volume of publication.
Furthermore, the impact of work is judged on not only the quality of the journal but
also a whole range of other metrics, such as those based on the number of citations an
article receives. During this period the inclusion of crystal structures in articles has
Leading Edge Chemical Crystallography Service Provision and Its Impact on. . .
93
examination on increasingly challenging samples. This provides us with the ability
to examine extremely small and weakly diffracting crystals and increasingly is being
used to drive the boundaries of structural science forward, e.g. the ability to collect
data extremely rapidly enables the characterisation of dynamic processes in the solid
state. However, the main, key point of this review is to demonstrate how these
technological advances provide support for the challenges modern chemistry provides and most importantly is a significant driving force behind small molecule
crystallography really becoming a more data-driven discipline.
2 The Impact of Technological Advances
2.1 The Communication of Results
Since communication in academia began, the scientific article has been viewed as the
primary form of currency. It is worth taking a brief look at the history of the article to
illustrate how it has changed over time. The first journal was the Philosophical
Transactions of the Royal Society [55], started in 1665, which did include some
‘data’ and had an element of peer review. However, over the following centuries,
there was a tendency for shorter, letter-type publications, which merely reported
some final results. It was not until well into the twentieth century that the journal
article was produced in the way we understand it today. It is interesting to note that as
late as 1938, the journal Science relied wholly on personal solicitations for its
content, while it was only in 1967 that the journal Nature introduced peer review –
prior to which articles were primarily accepted based on editorial judgement. The
following quote from Einstein relating to a Physical Review’s submission in 1936 is
particularly revealing!
We had sent you our manuscript for publication and had not authorized you to show it to
specialists before it is printed. I see no reason to address the in any case erroneous comments
of your anonymous expert. On the basis of this incident I prefer to publish the paper
elsewhere
Peer review became ubiquitous as the method of quality control in the second half
of the twentieth century not only due to the increasing specialisation of research but
also due to the sheer volume being conducted and the fact that mass printing and
distribution had become trivial. The result of these developments is the knock-on
effect that the journal article has become the primary measure of the impact of a
piece of work and now dictates much of the way the academic system operates.
Research funding, journal quality, institutional esteem, personal esteem and promotion prospects are all affected by the perceived quality and volume of publication.
Furthermore, the impact of work is judged on not only the quality of the journal but
also a whole range of other metrics, such as those based on the number of citations an
article receives. During this period the inclusion of crystal structures in articles has
Leading Edge Chemical Crystallography Service Provision and Its Impact on. . .
93