Surface Science Spectra: a hybrid journal-database

Spectroscopy is the study of the interaction of electromagnetic radiation with matter. It is one of the principal methods used by chemists, physicists, and material scientists to identify and quantify elements and molecules and to study the structure of chemical matter. There are dozens of kinds of spectroscopy. Some spectroscopies are well established and mature, while others are developing. As a newly developed spectroscopy demonstrates its utility and becomes widely practiced, practitioners begin asking for spectral databases. Major analytical techniques such as infrared spectroscopy, mass spectrometry, and x-ray diffraction are especially noted for their large and widely used database collections. There are several reasons to have these databases. For instance, analytical spectroscopists usually want large spectral data collections to aid in characterizing or identifying unknown materials. Another intriguing use of databases is for sharing and exchanging spectral data. A traditional scientific paper can only report a small fraction of the spectroscopic measurements, and even then, the spectral data are reduced to mere figures. With a community database, larger quantities of spectral data can be published and described in greater detail. It’s often the case that spectral data are used for purposes that were not the original motivation for making a measurement, even to the extent that “one investigator’s noise is another’s signal.”1 Database collections were quite minimal in surface spectroscopies in 1990, when the American Vacuum Society (now named AVS, The Science and Technology Society) began to develop a spectral database, called Surface Science Spectra (or SSS); http://sss.avs.org. (Surface spectroscopies include xray photoelectron spectroscopy [XPS], Auger electron spectroscopy [AES], ultraviolet photoelectron spectroscopy [UPS], secondary ion mass spectrometry [SIMS], electron energy loss spectroscopy [EELS], and other spectroscopic methods.) The AVS foresaw that producing a high-quality spectral database would be a benefit to the user community (see the “Surface Science Spectra Benefits” sidebar). Furthermore, because the mission of the AVS includes education, professional growth of its members, support of research, and dissemination of knowledge,2 the society especially wanted the scientific community involved in developing and contributing to the database. The contributor, especially a student or novice user, gains in skill and proficiency through the process of producing a detailed, high-quality spectral record of a material and having that data record peer reviewed by the surface science community. The contributor also gets the satisfaction and recognition of having his or her spectral data used in laboratories around the world. Finally, the world-community standards for data reporting are elevated as more researchers use and contribute to the database. Simultaneous with the launch of Surface Science Spectra, many changes occurred—both in the pubSURFACE SCIENCE SPECTRA: A HYBRID JOURNAL–DATABASE