The rise of atomic spectrometry in China over the past 25 years

Atomic spectrometry, as a technique, has evolved significantly in China over the past 25 years, and it can now be applied in several areas such as inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) based immunoassay, combination of atomic spectrometry with chromatography for speciation analysis, sample introduction, and advanced materials for separation and preconcentration have undergone several researches in China. The worldwide papers in atomic spectrometry that contributed to the ISI Web of Science between 1986 and 2009, includes 11.4% from China, 13.7% were from the US, 11.2% from Japan, 7.89% from Germany, 7.53% from Spain, 6.09% from Canada, and 5.12% from England. The Chinese contributions to JAAS have increased to a percentage of 8%. The laser ablation ICP-MS has been very popular in China especially for Earth Sciences, and has been widely used to do in situ elemental and isotopic ratio measurements and age dating of heterogeneous natural materials in micrometer scales.