Gatekeeping patterns in nano-titled journals

Activities on nanoscale research have seen a skyrocketting growth beginning during the nineties. This can be documented by the birth of no less than 16 science journals dedicated entirely to this field of science. The topics of these journals reflect the true interdisciplinary character of nanoscale research. In this paper the decision-makers on what and when appears in those journals, the gatekeepers, i.e., the editorial members of those journals and their national identity are analyzed and some conclusions are drawn on the decisional power of the countries these gatekeepers are located in. It came out that although the United States is still the leading power in the nanoscale research field, the EU is strongly catching up and due to intensive efforts in this directions by some Far East countries as China and Japan but also of India, Asia is nearing and in some cases even overtaking the big powers.