ICON Launches Web-Based Tool for Analyzing Nanotech Risk Research

The International Council on Nanotechnology (ICON) has announced the launch of a database analysis tool that enables nanotechnology research comparisons. The tool is used in conjunction with ICON’s database of citations to peer-reviewed publications addressing the environmental, health and safety impacts of nanomaterials. According to ICON Director Kristen Kulinowski, “In addition to returning a list of abstracts that meet the criteria chosen by the user, the database now allows the user to analyze research trends across time and by
category.” The comparisons are presented as pie charts and bar graphs.

Intended users are researchers at universities, non-governmental organizations, government, and industry worldwide. They will be able to (i)
“Compare categories within a specific time range, e.g., selecting papers published between 2000-2007 and requesting the number that studied nanoscale carbons, oxides, metals and semiconductors”; (ii) “Track the progression of publications in a given category by month or year, e.g., plotting the number of publications studying nanoscale carbons and oxides by year or month between 2000 and 2007”; (iii) “Generate and export custom reports”; and (iv) “Click on a report result to generate a list of publications meeting user-defined criteria.”

ICON, an international organization “dedicated to the safe, responsible and beneficial development of nanotechnology,” established its research database in 2005 and claims that this “was the first effort to integrate the vast and diverse scientific literature on the impacts of nanoparticles.”