20th anniversary of the journal "Liquid Crystals and their Application"

On 15 December, 2021 Nanomaterials Research Institute staff led by prof. Nadezhda V. Usoltseva held the Round Table as part of the "VII Chistyakov Readings", dedicated to the 20th anniversary of the journal "Liquid Crystals and their Application". More than 60 scientists from the cities of Russia, near and far abroad took part in the meeting in an online format.

The conference was opened by IvSU rector Aleksey A. Malygin, who highly appreciated the activities of the editor-in-chief prof. Nadezhda V. Usoltseva, the editorial board of the journal and the International Editorial Board. The journal is recognized both in Russia (included in the Supreme Attestation Committee list, indexed in the RSCI and elibrary) and abroad (included in the WoS and Scopus databases). The rector expressed confidence that the work of the conference within the framework of the Round Table would give a new impetus to the journal development. He also read out the Gratitude of the Editorial Board on the occasion of the anniversary of the journal from the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation and noted with his Gratitude the members of the International Editorial Board, who have been actively helping journal development from the very foundation.

Vice-rector for Project and Research Work Inna N. Smirnova noted the constant striving of the editorial board to improve both the content and design of the journal and its website. She also presented a sociological analysis of the survey of authors and readers of the journal, conducted up to this date. Questionnaires developed by the editors focused on both demographic indicators and questions on promising areas of the journal's development. In essence, this already meant the beginning of the discussion, since in her speech Inna N. Smirnova summarized the main proposals of scientists working in the field of liquid crystals on the development of the journal.

Journal editor-in-chief prof. Nadezhda V. Usoltseva continued the discussion. Prof. Usoltseva presented the main bibliometric indicators of the journal and their positive dynamics over the past 10 years, and also told what changes in the editorial activities were undertaken to achieve these indicators. Attention was drawn to a number of areas of joint activity between the authors and the editors, the work over which should be strengthened.

The discussion was also attended by President of the International Liquid Crystal Society prof. Ingo Dirking (University of Manchester, UK); member of the International Editorial Board prof. Duncan Bruce (University of York, UK); member of the Presidium of the liquid crystal society "Sodruzhestvo" prof. V.V. Belyaev (Moscow). Members of the International Editorial Board of the journal also made their speeches. They were corresponding member of RAS prof. V.P. Shibaev (Moscow); corresponding member of RAS prof. O.I. Koifman (Ivanovo); doctor of Chemical, Physical and Mathematical Sciences Prof. A.S. Sonin (Moscow) – and the authors of the journal prof. E.M. Averyanov (Krasnoyarsk), prof. V.Ya. Zyryanov (Krasnoyarsk), S. Stulov (Prague, Czech Republic) – and others. The work of the journal editorial staff was highly appreciated and a few proposals were made for new directions of its development.

It was recommended to present the results of the Round Table in the next issue of the journal, and the video recording of it – on the journal's website.