Scientometric Picture of the Evolution of the Literature of Automation in Spectroscopy and Its Current State

The current study focuses on the status of automation and mechanization in spectroscopy for analytical chemistry publications compiled during the period 1980–2006, in Analytical Abstracts. Flow injection analysis (FIA), sequential injection analysis (SIA), multicommutation, and monosegmented and segmented flow strategies were considered. For assessing the evolution of scientific productivity, the total number of publications concerned with the different methodologies was evaluated. In order to provide a picture of the state of the art of this field, the most important journals, the most active authors, and the most productive countries in the field of automation were evaluated in the period of the first years of this century.