Essential for metrology in chemistry, but not yet achieved: truly internationally understood concepts and associated terms

Unambiguous and consistent concepts and associated terms should govern the description of the results of chemical measurements. This is not yet the case as numerous international workshops have shown over the last decade and as the chemical literature amply and continuously demonstrates. A number of concepts and associated terms in measurement are discussed, which are used ambiguously in the daily work of field laboratories, in the chemical literature, in ISO Guides and Standards, in regulatory documents, etc. They illustrate the need for clarification of their definitions. The consistent use of the recently revised edition of the 1993 ‘International Vocabulary of Basic and General Terms in Metrology’, henceforth (2007) called the ISO/IEC Guide 99:2007, ‘International Vocabulary of Metrology—Basic and General Concepts and Associated Terms (VIM)’, is a step in the direction of achieving this goal. (Some figures in this article are in colour only in the electronic version)