PCCP goes from strength to strength

Welcome to the first issue of PCCP in 2004. The first issue of any new year gives us a golden opportunity to review progress during the preceding year, and to highlight changes to the journal and plans for the future. We are delighted to be able to report another year of great progress, the key achievements of which can be summarised in a single sentence: Submissions are at an all time high, yet times to publication are at an all time low!

Plate1 Some of the many covers from 2003

Fastest publication times ever

PCCP has always recognised the great importance many authors attach to the rapid publication of their work. Average times to publication in PCCP compared very favourably with those achieved by all of our major rivals at the start of 2003. During 2003 our times to publication fell even further, following the introduction of web refereeing, on-screen editing and electronic proofs. Statistics for October 2003 (the latest figures available at the time of going to press) reveal that the average [ t(50%)] time from receipt to publication of papers on the web is just 77 days. From acceptance to publication on the web the t(50%) value is now an amazing 16 days. The corresponding times for Communications are just 21 days (from receipt) and a mere 7 days from acceptance!

Changes in journal layout and content

A successful journal can never afford to stand still. Changes that allow accelerated processing of submitted manuscripts have been flagged above. A number of other changes to the layout and content of PCCP will be immediately apparent to regular readers of the print issue. The inside front cover of the journal and the contents list have both been redesigned. We hope that these changes will offer greater ease of reading, as well as being more visually attractive. Comments from readers on this (to pccp@rsc.org), and any other matters relating to PCCP, will be greatly appreciated.

Readers will also notice the new Chemical Science section. This appears at the front of the journal, immediately after the contents list. Chemical Science is an exciting new RSC venture, which aims to draw together news and research highlights from all RSC publications, thereby providing a ‘snapshot’ of the latest developments across the whole of the chemical sciences. Chemical Science will appear monthly as a free supplement in the front of PCCP and other RSC publications, and will also be available online, at www.rsc.org/chemicalscience. We very much hope that readers will find this new initiative both informative and enjoyable.

Call for Communications

To highlight Communications within PCCP, they will henceforth appear at the top of the contents list, and contain a graphical abstract to attract readers’ attention. The present issue contains the first Communications to be given such star treatment: again, feedback from readers will be most welcome. PCCP Communications are intended to report the most exciting new developments in physical chemistry and chemical physics. They can be submitted via web submissions in the same way as regular articles ( www.rsc.org/submissions), and can consist of either a complete study or a preliminary report. In either case, however, they must satisfy clearly recognised criteria of quality and urgency. Our superior times to publication make PCCP an obvious home for Communications; one recent Communication was published on the web in just 14 days from receipt! Such rapid times are achieved by affording Communications the highest priority throughout the publication process.

Editorial Board changes

Two Editorial Board members (Professors Jürgen Troe and Robert Schlögl) completed their respective terms of office at the end of 2003. Professor Troe is a past Chairman of the Editorial Board. Both he and Professor Schlögl have been key figures in helping PCCP to establish itself as the premier European based physical chemistry/chemical physics journal.

We are delighted that Professors Graham Fleming (Berkeley), Aart Kleyn, (Leiden) and Berend Smit (Amsterdam) are all joining the PCCP Editorial Board from January 2004. Each has accepted special responsibilities for promoting and encouraging Communications within PCCP. It also gives us great pleasure to welcome four new members to our Advisory Board: Professors Ernesto Calvo (Buenos Aires), Daniella Goldfarb (Rehovot), Robert Schoonheydt (Leuven) and Horst Weller (Hamburg).

Plate2 Professor Graham Fleming

Plate3 Professor Aart Kleyn

Plate4 Professor Berend Smit

Somewhat belatedly, but with no less pleasure, we are also delighted to announce that Professor Richard Zare (Stanford) accepted our offer to become a member of the PCCP Honorary Board during 2003.

Plate5 Professor Richard Zare

PCCP on the web

Many of you will already have seen that the PCCP homepage ( www.rsc.org/pccp) was re-designed during 2003 with the aim of highlighting PCCP's key attributes. One of these is, of course, the rapid time to publication in the journal: an achievement for which PCCP is becoming ever more widely known. The revised homepage also highlights more clearly the range of article types that the journal publishes. Communications are an important feature of PCCP, as noted above, but so too are our regular articles and our keynote Invited Articles.

A new feature on the homepage is the Hot Articles section. Hot Articles are identified by the editorial team, in the light of the submitted referee reports. Any such papers judged as being particularly outstanding are highlighted and then placed on the website for all to access, free of charge, for a month. Some of these articles may also be brought to the attention of journalists if it is thought that they are likely to grab the attention and imagination of the public.

RSC Journal Archive

A major development project for the RSC is the Journal Archive, in which all past RSC journal cont ent has been digitised. The archive contains all articles published by the RSC (and its forerunner societies) from 1841 (the first issue of Memoirs and Proceedings of the Chemical Society) to 1996. Now available, this fully searchable archive provides access to over 200,000 articles in 1.2 million pages. A range of purchase options and delivery methods are available. Full details may be found at www.rsc.org/archive, and in the advertisement in this journal.

Plate6 RSC Journal Archive: putting more than 150 years of chemical research at your fingertips!

It just remains for us to thank all Editorial Board members, authors and referees for their continuing support of PCCP. We look forward to receiving your Communications and regular articles during the coming year, and welcome your suggestions for possible authors of Invited Articles.

With best wishes for the New Year,

Mike Ashfold, Chairman, Editorial Board

Susan Appleyard, Managing Editor

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