AIP Appoints Editor for Its New Open Access Journal — Biomicrofluidics

MELVILLE, NEW YORK, 24 May 2006 — The American Institute of Physics (AIP) announced today that Prof. Hsueh-Chia Chang has accepted the position of Editor of AIP’s new rapid-publication, open access journal, Biomicrofluidics (http://bmf.aip.org). Dr. Chang is Bayer Professor of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering and Director of the Center for Microfluidics and Medical Diagnostics at the University of Notre Dame. He has done extensive work on biological applications of microfluidics and on pattern-formation dynamics driven by hydrodynamic and electrochemical, biological, thermal, and reaction-diffusion instabilities.

As an electronic-only, Web-based, open access journal with rapid publication time, Biomicrofluidics will be responsive to the many new developments expected in this field. The interdisciplinary approach, including applications, inherent in biomicrofluidics research draws scientists from diverse fields such as engineering, physics, materials science, chemistry, and biology. Biomicrofluidics will seek to unite these various disciplines that together form this vibrant field of study. The journal is scheduled for launch by January 2007.

“With the number of biomicrofluidics researchers growing exponentially, and the fast-paced development of biomicrofluidic devices, there is a strong need within the community for a widely read, rapid-publication journal such as Biomicrofluidics,” said Hsueh-Chia Chang, Editor of Biomicrofluidics. “As an inherently interdisciplinary field, open access to the journal will allow researchers to build on each others work, thereby spurring significant research activity and leading to major breakthroughs in applications such as diagnostic technologies.”

With a primary focus on original research articles, the journal also will organize special sections and issues that will help elucidate and define specific challenges unique to the field of biomicrofluidics. The journal will cover topics such as DNA and molecular manipulation, microfluidics and nanofluidics, wetting and nano-rheology, drop and digitated platform, electrokinetics and magneto-hydrodynamics, pathogen and molecular concentration, and separation and sorting devices.

“With budgetary constraints hampering the efforts of many libraries to acquire all the research their patrons need, new connections are needed between those publishing research and those needing to utilize it,” stated Marc H. Brodsky, AIP Executive Director and CEO. “In order to fulfill AIP’s mandate, which involves the diffusion of knowledge for the benefit of human welfare, we are pursuing new avenues to enhance the free flow of information. Open access publication is one such avenue.”

Organized into four issues per year, Biomicrofluidics will publish each article online in final citable form as soon as it is available. As an open access journal, the full-text version of every published article will be made freely available to any online user — no subscription is required.

The American Institute of Physics is a not-for-profit corporation with a mission to advance and diffuse the knowledge of physics and related fields of science and engineering and its applications to human welfare. Publishing and publishing services are part of that mission. In addition to publishing magazines and journals, AIP provides composition, printing, fulfillment, marketing, and other services to science and engineering publishers. AIP also fulfills its mandate by operating Scitation, the online home of more than 150 leading journals published by twenty science and engineering societies.

For further information, please visit http://bmf.aip.org or contact:

Mark Cassar

Manager, Journal Development

American Institute of Physics

Phone: +1 516-576-2219

Fax: +1 516-576-2450

Email: mcassar@aip.org