Improvements in technology keep JEM at the cutting edge

JEM enters its fifth year of publication, with confidence in the science it is currently publishing and optimism for even better quality material in the future. The number of articles published in 2002 was a new all time high (see below),
and the journal continues to grow in size. The October and December issues are the largest we have published to date. However, this increase in size has not been allowed to affect our impressively quick publication times which average only four months from receipt.

Professor Evert Nieboer has completed his term of office as Chairman (but will continue as a member of the International Advisory Board). The Editor of the Pesticides column Dr Terry Clark has also completed his term. Both have made very substantial contributions to the successful launch and continued growth of JEM as a truly international journal. The experience, enthusiasm, energy and wisdom each brought to the JEM Board will be missed at future meetings. The new Chairman is Professor James Vincent of the University of Michigan (see www.rsc.org/is/journals/current/jem/jemase.htm#vincent). The “Pesticides in Perspective” column will be replaced by a “Metals in Perspective” column. The Column Editor will be Dr Adriana Oller who is the Manager, Mutagenicity and Carcinogenicity Program, NiPERA in Durham, NC, USA. I would like to express my thanks to all JEM Board Members on both the Editorial and Advisory Boards as they play a crucial role in promoting JEM across the globe, in supporting the journal with high quality submissions from their own groups, and in the refereeing and adjudication of articles submitted by others. There are a number of developments, some new, which JEM readers should be aware of as follows:

Electronic publishing continues to grow in impact, and JEM continues to be at the forefront of such developments. Electronic files of papers can now be uploaded directly onto our web site at www.rsc.org/submissions.

Abstracts of all JEM papers have been freely available on the web since mid-2002 and access to online JEM papers is now free to all just two years after publication.

E-mail alerts now include direct links to articles—please sign up at www.rsc.org/is/journals/current/ej_update_form.htm to take advantage of this service.

Access to the electronic form of any RSC print journal comes free with a 2003 institutional subscription, while those institutional subscribers who wish to receive just the electronic version can now subscribe and save 10%. One institutional print subscription, or online only subscription, allows site-wide access to the electronic version of that journal at no further cost.

Users of RSC journals online can now benefit from a new Reference Linking facility. This citation linking backbone is a collaborative reference linking service that allows a user to click on a citation and be taken directly to the target content. Facilities include: free access to the Chemical Abstracts Service abstract for the reference via ChemPort (http://www.chemport.org) and links to the full text of the reference, where available online, on the publisher's server (a subscription or pay-per-view may be required to access the article), via CrossRef. Future enhancements will include a mechanism to purchase a printed copy of the cited article via the RSC Library and Information Centre's Document Delivery Service and links to other resources.

Where a primary article contains chemical biology, it will be available free of charge for one month following publication in an issue through the Chemical Biology Virtual Journal (www.rsc.org/chemicalbiology). This provides an easy-to-use point of access to chemical biology literature in all RSC publications.

The Contents List of JEM will now include 30 words of text highlighting the novel aspects of the work and its relevance/value to the environmental community. Authors are requested to provide these 30 word summaries on submission.

Finally, I would like to express my sincere thanks and gratitude to everyone who has reviewed material for JEM in 2002 and responded so magnificently to allow us to maintain the fastest publication times in this sector. The reputation of the journal and, ultimately its success or failure is dependent on the reports provided by dedicated reviewers. Thus, their input cannot be underestimated. We continue to expand our database of reviewers and hope to lighten the load, a little, for many reviewers in 2003.

As always, Editorial Board members and staff welcome suggestions as to how the journal might be improved or enhanced further. I wish you all every success in 2003.

Harp Minhas

Managing Editor

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