PHYSICS OF FLUIDS 20, 010401 ͑2008͒ Editorial: Fifty years of Physics of Fluids John Kim1 and L. Gary Leal2 1Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, University of California, Los Angeles, 420 Westwood Plaza, Los Angeles, California 90095-1597, USA 2Department of Chemical Engineering, University of California, Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, California 93106, USA ͑Received 13 December 2007; published online 31 January 2008͒ ͓DOI: 10.1063/1.2832366͔ I. THE PAST 50 YEARS two five-year periods ͑1998–2002 and 2003–2007͒. We rec- Physics of Fluids began publication in January, 1958, as ognize that citations are only one measure of a paper’s im- a journal devoted to original contributions covering kinetic pact, and we also recognize that citations for the preceding theory, statistical mechanics, structure, and general physics year or two have little chance of being listed even in a list of of gases, liquids, and other fluids. The journal was initiated the past five years. The fact that citations build up gradually to meet the needs of the Division of Fluid Dynamics of the is a characteristic of our field, and of the lasting value of the American Physical Society ͑APS͒. In the inaugural issue of research. The subjects of these most-highly-cited papers il- Physics of Fluids, the chairman of the governing board of the lustrate the impact of Physics of Fluids on a wide variety of American Institute of Physics ͑AIP͒ and the president of the topics, and is also indicative of the evolution of subject mat- APS remarked that publication of Physics of Fluids was ter over the years from a journal that was heavily oriented unique in that the members of a division had a vital interest toward plasma physics in the early days to its current status in, and constituted a driving force for, the initiation of the as a journal that publishes broadly across the field of fluid journal. mechanics. The original scope of the journal, as noted by the Found- An important characteristic of Physics of Fluids is that ing Editor François Frenkiel, included ionized fluid and we recognize the need for rapid dissemination of new re- plasma physics, as well as basic aspects of the physics of search results and, thus, we have reduced significantly the fluids. The journal eventually split into two journals in 1989, time taken from submission to acceptance by improving our Physics of Fluids A and Physics of Fluids B. Then, in 1994, review process. In 2006, the average time from submission Physics of Fluids A became Physics of Fluids and Physics of to acceptance was 22 weeks. Papers are now published on- Fluids B became Physics of Plasmas. In this issue, the read- line first as they become available. The look and contents of ers will find some highlights of 50 years of publication in an the journal have also evolved significantly as new technolo- invited article written by John Scott, who retired in 1997 as gies have become available. Authors can display their figures Journal Publisher after 30 years of service at AIP. in color—free of charge—in the electronic version of the Physics of Fluids has grown significantly, as is evident journal. We have also added a multimedia capability that from the number of papers published over the years ͑see allows authors to display their animated movies, with a di- Table I͒, and the number of papers submitted, which has rect click-on access from the online article. All past issues more than doubled in the past decade. are available and searchable from our website. All these new The journal has also evolved from a mainly-American features have made the journal a valuable resource for au- journal to one that now serves the international thors and readers. community—70% of papers received in 2006, for example, The journal benefited tremendously from the Founding were from outside the United States. This is also reflected in Editor, François Frenkiel, whose visionary mind recognized the current makeup of the Board of Associate Editors, listed the need for a high-quality journal devoted to a special topic at http://pof.aip.org. of physics, and from the Distinguished Editor, Andreas Ac- Articles from Physics of Fluids have had a significant rivos, who established Physics of Fluids as one of the best impact on fluids dynamics research through publication of journals for fluid mechanics research. Frenkiel’s contribu- high-quality papers. A listing of the ten most-cited papers tions have been recognized by the Division of Fluid Dynam- during each of the first four decades of publication is shown ics ͑DFD͒ Frenkiel Award, which is given annually to a in Table II, along with the ten most-cited papers in the past young author of a paper that had been published in Physics TABLE I. Numbers of papers published in Physics of Fluids. 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 344 363 371 397 352 315 344 419 458 505 480 543 1070-6631/2008/20͑1͒/010401/5/$23.0020, 010401-1 © 2008 American Institute of Physics Downloaded 08 Jul 2009 to 152.3.31.135. Redistribution subject to AIP license or copyright; see http://pof.aip.org/pof/copyright.jsp 010401-2 J. Kim and L. G. Leal Phys. Fluids 20, 010401 ͑2008͒ TABLE II. Most-cited papers, 1958–31 December 2007. Title Authors Physics of Fluids 1958–1967 1 Numerical calculation of time-dependent viscous incompressible H. Harlow and J. E. Welch 8͑12͒, 2182 ͑1965͒ flow of fluid with free surface 2 Finite-resistivity instabilities of a sheet pinch H. P. Furth, J. Killeen, and M. N. Rosenbluth 6͑4͒,459͑1963͒ 3 Inertial ranges in two-dimensional turbulence R. H. Kraichnan 10͑7͒, 1417 ͑1967͒ 4 Inertial-range spectrum of hydromagnetic turbulence R. H. Kraichnan 8͑7͒,1385͑1965͒ 5 A perturbation theory for strong plasma turbulence T. H. Dupree 9͑9͒,1773͑1966͒ 6 Velocity space diffusion from weak plasma turbulence C. F. Kennel and F. Engelman 9͑12͒, 2377 ͑1966͒ in a magnetic field 7 Collisionless damping of nonlinear plasma oscillations T. Oneil 8͑12͒, 2255 ͑1965͒ 8 Stability of liquid flow down an inclined plane C. S. Yih 6͑3͒,321͑1963͒ 9 Longitudinal ion oscillations in a hot plasma B. D. Fried and R. W. Gould 4͑1͒,139͑1961͒ 10 Velocity distributions in molecular beams from nozzle sources J. B. Anderson and J. B. Fenn 8͑5͒,780͑1965͒ 1968–1977 1 Parametric-instabilities of electromagnetic waves in plasmas J. F. Drake, P. K. Kaw, Y. C. Lee, G. Schmidt, C. S. Yue, 17͑4͒,778͑1974͒ and M. N. Rosenbluth 2 Nonlinear growth of tearing mode P. H. Rutherford 16͑11͒, 1903 ͑1973͒ 3 Theory of stimulated scattering processes D. W. Forslund, J. M. Kindel, and E. L. Lindman 18͑8͒, 1002 ͑1975͒ in laser-irradiated plasmas 4 Nonlinear, three-dimensional magnetohydrodynamics H. R. Strauss 19͑1͒,134͑1976͒ of noncircular tokamaks 5 Fluid-dynamics of relativistic blast waves R. D. Blandford and C. F. McKee 19͑8͒, 1130 ͑1976͒ 6 Transport equations in turbulence B. J. Daly and F. H. Harlow 13͑11͒, 2634 ͑1970͒ 7 Small-scale structure of a scalar field convected by turbulence R. H. Kraichnan 11͑5͒,945͑1968͒ 8 Plasma transport in toroidal confinement systems M. N. Rosenbluth, F. L. Hinton, and R. D. Hazeltin 15͑1͒,116͑1972͒ 9 Tearing mode in cylindrical tokamak H. P. Furth, P. H. Rutherford, and H. Selberg 16͑7͒, 1054 ͑1973͒ 10 Kinetic processes in plasma-heating by resonant mode A. Hasegawa and L. Chen 19͑12͒,1924͑1976͒ conversion of Alfven wave 1978–1987 1 Equation of motion for a small rigid sphere M. R. Maxey and J. J. Riley 26͑4͒,883͑1983͒ in a nonuniform flow 2 Pseudo-three-dimensional turbulence in magnetized A. Hasegawa and K. Mima 21͑1͒,87͑1978͒ nonuniform plasma 3 Magnetic reconnection via current sheets D. Biskamp 29͑5͒, 1520 ͑1986͒ 4 Self-focusing of short intense pulses in plasmas G. Z. Sun, E. Ott, Y. C. Lee, and P. Guzdar 30͑2͒,526͑1987͒ 5 Coulomb solid of small particles in plasmas H. Ikezi 29͑6͒, 1764 ͑1986͒ 6 Externally driven magnetic reconnection and a powerful T. Sato and T. Hayashi 22͑6͒, 1189 ͑1979͒ magnetic energy converter 7 Coherent structures—reality and myth A. K. M. F. Hussain 26͑10͒,2816͑1983͒ 8 An electron conductivity model for dense plasmas Y. T. Lee and R. M. More 27͑5͒, 1273 ͑1984͒ 9 Self-consistent growth rate of the Rayleigh-Taylor instability H. Takabe, K. Mima, L. Montierth, and R. L. Morse 28͑12͒,3676͑1985͒ in an ablatively accelerating plasma 10 Nonlinear behavior and turbulence spectra of drift waves A. Hasegawa, C. G. Maclennan, and Y. Kodama 22͑11͒, 2122 ͑1979͒ and Rossby waves 1988–1997 1 A dynamic subgrid-scale eddy viscosity model M. Germano, U. Piomelli, P. Moin, and W. H. Cabot 3͑7͒,1760͑1991͒a 2 A proposed modification of the Germano-subgrid-scale D. K. Lilly 4͑3͒,633͑1992͒a closure method 3 Three-dimensional optimal perturbations in viscous shear-flow K. M. Butler and B. F. Farrell 4͑8͒,1637͑1992͒a 4 Development of turbulence models for shear flows by a double V. Yakhot, S. A. Orszag, S. Thangam, T. B. Gatski, 4͑7͒,1510͑1992͒a expansion technique and C.G. Speziale 5 A dynamic subgrid-scale model for compressible turbulence P. Moin, K. Squires, W. Cabot, and S. Lee 3͑11͒, 2746 ͑1991͒a and scalar transport 6 A new quotidian equation of state ͑QEOS͒ for hot dense matter R. M. More, K. H. Warren, D. A. Young, and G. B. Zimmerman 31͑10͒,3059͑1988͒b Downloaded 08 Jul 2009 to 152.3.31.135. Redistribution subject to AIP license or copyright; see http://pof.aip.org/pof/copyright.jsp 010401-3 Editorial: Fifty years of PoF Phys.