Review of the International Systems of Quantities and Units Usage

Abstract

The International System of Quantities has to be used by scientific and engineering journals as well as by authors of their articles, conference papers, and corresponding books, especially textbooks. This paper describes the historical development and the state of the art of international communications in science, engineering, technology, production, and sustainable development. The International System of Quantities (ISQ) which systematically elaborated on the standards of the International Organization for Standardization and International Electrotechnical Commission on quantities and units (ISO/IEC 80000) still needs to be generally accepted and used. The list of standardized base and derived quantities with their symbols, and rules for terminology of other quantities are presented. In addition, names and symbols of base, derived, and “compound” units for these quantities are given. The most frequent mistakes and some recommendations about the use of quantities, units, prefixes, quantity value expressions, numbers, and symbols of chemical elements are shown, too. The standards shall be available in open access. The lack of standardized quantities regarding science, engineering, and economics is drawn to attention. Further development of the international systems of quantities and units could bring substantial synergies worldwide.