Why do you think your paper is highly cited?

This paper is a comprehensive review of a year's advances in marine natural products chemistry. I started to review "Marine Natural Products" for Natural Product Reports in 1983, with the first two reports appearing in 1984. I did so in order to make myself familiar with my subject. I was soon writing yearly updates, which gradually received increasing attention from my colleagues in marine natural products chemistry and from those chemists who sought new targets for organic synthesis.

I suppose that the reviews in this series are so highly cited because they enable an author to cite a single source rather than a long list of original papers. For those who are interested in seeing the latest marine natural products structures, each review provides a "graphical abstract" of a year's research in an easily read format. Perhaps best of all, it provides a comprehensive list of references, including some to rather obscure journals. I must therefore acknowledge the important contribution made by the librarians and the interlibrary loan department at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography Library who always seem to be able to provide me with copies of obscure papers.

D. John Faulkner
Scripps Institution of Oceanography
University of California at San Diego
3240 Sverdrup Hall
La Jolla, CA 92093-0212, USA

D. John Faulkner
8615 Discovery Way
La Jolla, CA 92037