Another problem of the parts-per notation is that it may refer to mass fraction, mole fraction or volume fraction. Since it is usually not stated which quantity is used, it is better to write the units out, such as kg/kg, mol/mol or m/m, even though they are all dimensionless. The difference is quite significant when dealing with gases, and it is very important to specify which quantity is being used. For example, the conversion factor between a mass fraction of 1 ppb and a mole fraction of 1 ppb is about 4.7 for the greenhouse gas CFC-11 in air. For volume fraction, the suffix "V" or "v" is sometimes appended to the parts-per notation (e.g. ppmV, ppbv, pptv). However, ppbv and pptv are also often used for mole fractions (which is identical to volume fraction only for ideal gases).
To distinguish the mass fraction from volume fraction or mole fraction, the letter "w" (standing for "weight") is sometimes added to the abbreviation (e.g. ppmw, ppbw).
The usage of the parts-per notation is generally quite fixed within each specific branch of science, but often in a way that is inconsistent with its usage in other branches, leading some researchers to assume that their own usage (mass/mass, mol/mol, volume/volume, mass/volume, or others) is correct and that other usages are incorrect. This assumption sometimes leads them to not specify the details of their own usage in their publications, and others may therefore misinterpret their results. For example, electrochemists often use volume/volume, while chemical engineers may use mass/mass as well as volume/volume, while chemists, the field of occupational safety and the field of permissible exposure limit (e.g. permitted gas exposure limit in air) may use mass/volume. Unfortunatelly, many academic publications of otherwise excellent level fail to specify their use of the parts-per notation, which irritates some readers, especially those who are not experts in the particular fields in those publications, because parts-per-notation, without specifying what it stands for, can mean anything.