Abstract
On 2 January 1995 Martin Stutzmann became Editor‐in‐Chief of physica status solidi, replacing Professor E. Gutsche, who had led the journal through the stormy period involving the fall of the Iron Curtain, the unification of Germany and the change in its Eastern part, where physica status solidi was based, from “socialism as found in the real world” (a German concept) to real world capitalism. In 1995 it was thought that the process had been completed (we should have known better!) and after the retirement of Prof. Gutsche the new owners of physica status solidi (Wiley‐VCH) decided that a change in scientific management was desirable to adapt to the new socio‐political facts and to insure the scientific continuity of the journal.
Martin had moved in 1993 from my department at the Max‐Planck‐Institute to Munich where he soon displayed a tremendous amount of science man‐ agement ability during the build‐up of the Walter Schottky Institute. The search for a successor as Edi‐ tor‐in‐Chief was not easy: the job was not very glamorous after the upheavals which had taken place in the editorial world following the political changes. Somebody in the Editorial Boards must have suggested Martin Stutzmann. I am sure that there was opposition: one usually looks for a well‐established person ready to leave his direct involvement in science and take up a new endeavor of a more administrative nature. Nevertheless, the powers that be soon realized that Martin was an excellent, if somewhat unconventional candidate who had enough energy to remain a topnotch scientist and to lead the journal in the difficult times ahead: he was offered the job. In the negotiations that followed, he insisted in getting the administrative structures that would allow him to improve the battered quality of the journal and to continue his scientific productivity. Today we are happy to see that he succeeded in both endeavors. The journal has since grown in size and considerably improved its quality.
Martin Stutzmann's scientific output has continued and today he can be found listed among the 400 most cited physicists worldwide. According to the Institute of Scientific Information (ISI) he has published nearly 400 articles in source journals; they have been cited over 4600 times. His scientific visibility has been partly responsible for the success of the journal under his leadership. When he took over in 1995 the Impact Factors of physica status solidi (a) and (b) were about 0.5. Now they oscillate around 1.0. The journals occupy places 30 (a) and 29 (b) among the 57 condensed matter publications listed in the ISI. Six years ago these places were 34 (a) and 30 (b). The journal is even better placed with respect to the so‐called cited half‐life which is 8.2 years for pss (a) (place 16 among 57) and 6.7 years for pss (b) (place 20 among 57). Martin, of course, has contributed with his original publications to the success of the journal, having published 36 articles in pss (a) and 32 in pss (b).
I would like to some of the editorial decisions implemented under Martin's leadership. They have been largely responsible for the quantitative improvements just described.
Martin introduced international standards of peer review, usually involving two anonymous referees: The increase of the rejection rate from ca. 20% to 60% followed.
He discontinued the Short Notes, which had become nearly irrelevant, and replaced them, in 1997 by Rapid Research Notes (today Rapid Research Letters) with especially strict reviewing rules and a rather attractive layout.
Martin's participation in many international conferences and their organization gave him a handle to acquire the publication of conference proceedings. Organizing committees usually prefer publication in international journals rather than special books because of their guaranteed future availability in libraries and the partaking in the reviewing procedure. The journal became increasingly popular along these lines, a fact which moved Martin to launch in 2002 part (c) of the journal, devoted mainly, but not exclusively, to conference articles.
Martin also introduced the publication of Feature Articles, topical issues, and the instrument of the Editor's Choice to highlight articles deemed to be especially interesting.
He appointed Regional Editors (6 at this point) which represent the journal in important geographic regions. He also brought the journal online, a must these days.
The upheavals that followed the collapse of most of the communist world, the rapid development of science in many emerging nations and the enhanced competitiveness, even in the developed countries, have not ebbed out. Some of them are particular damaging to the reputation of science in a world increasingly skeptical of its values. I am thinking of scientific misconduct and outright fraud, in the form of plagiarism and data fabrication. physica status solidi was also afflicted by this plague: after all, it happened in the best of families. Two of the most notorious offenders of the past decade, J. H. Schön and Y. Park, also visited physica status solidi. In two courageous editorials Martin Stutzmann and Stefan Hildebrandt (Managing Editor of the journal) rapidly exposed these cases of misconduct together with other cases in which there was also good reason to suspect misconduct. Some of the articles involved were rapidly retracted by the authors, others were not.
It is reassuring to say that none of them had any impact worth mentioning (1–3 citations, mostly by the authors themselves or in the editorials just mentioned). Only few journal editors dared to convey to the readers a warning that some work of those authors may be faulty even if no air‐tight proof was available. However, Martin and Stefan did.
We wish that Martin will remain at the helm at least another decade, before he switches to research on the liquid state as practiced in Southern France.