Editorial 2005

The past year

2004 was an eventful year for CSR.¹ We saw the successful expansion into nine issues ensuring the journal had higher visibility and the scope to broaden our remit. We achieved a higher impact factor of 9.6 and therefore maintained our position as the third most highly cited general chemistry journal.

With the introduction of highly accessed critical reviews, our authors are now able to provide in-depth analysis and balanced assessment while maintaining the accessible nature of the journal. Examples included Harald Hofmeier and Ulrich Schubert's article on ‘recent developments in the supramolecular chemistry of terpyridine-metal complexes’,² whilst other reviews focused on subjects of social interest as in the article on sports drug testing – an analyst's perspective by Graham Trout and Rymantas Kazlaustas.³ As well as these new review types, we published a Special Issue on Current Advances in Crystallography compiled by Kenneth Harris and David Parker and provided material to be highlighted in issues of ‘Chemical Science’. Newsworthy articles were selected on mechanisms in enzyme catalysis⁴ and synthetic routes to di-substituted unsymmetrical ferrocene ligands.⁵ On the website we promoted our first web theme on physical and atmospheric chemistry. We expect to see expansion of this web facility in the future.

It is appropriate to thank again The Editorial Board, who commission much of the content, for their support and work. This year we bid farewell to A P de Silva and Steve Haswell for their diligent contributions and unswerving support of the journal. We welcome the members of the International Advisory Board who will be crucial to strengthening our coverage in key topic areas and developing our international profile further. With members of this board from China, Japan, Russia and Australia, to name a few, we anticipate both an increased representation in published articles and the development of authorship in these countries.

Clare Bostock-Smith has been the CSR Editor for the past 4 years. Earlier this year she was asked to manage Organic and Biomolecular Chemistry and very recently she has embarked upon a new career challenge. We thank Clare for her hard work and enthusiastic editorship and wish her well in her new career.

Looking to the future

In 2005 further important changes to CSR will occur. You will already have noticed the new design and format for CSR. Particularly important is the move to twelve issues which means that CSR will be hitting your desktop with greater frequency and impact than ever before. As you can see from this issue, where we review aspects of organic materials, crystal engineering and glyco-science, our scope is continuing to expand. In the near future we shall be publishing themed issues devoted to the chemistry of functional polymers and NMR of materials.

The increase in issues enables us to include ‘Chemical Science’ which draws together the news and research highlights from all RSC publications. We hope you enjoy reading it.

RSC innovation

With the introduction of ReSourCe for author and referees, the tracking of articles has become much easier. The ReSourCe services for referees were launched early in 2004 and allow referees to download articles for review, upload their reports, view their refereeing history and update research interest information. These referee services are available to any current RSC referee. Now ReSourCe has been integrated with the RSC online services for authors. New and current authors can register to use ReSourCe to view and access all the information and tools they need to submit their manuscripts.⁶

The RSC is resolved to develop other ways of helping authors with the publication process. A recent collaboration with the Unilever Centre for Molecular Science Informatics (at the University of Cambridge, UK) has resulted in the launch of the Experimental Data Checker – a java applet which analyses experimental data. Its aim is to provide helpful information which an author can use to improve a paper, a referee can use to check a paper and a reader can use to analyse a paper. A detailed study of this has been published in OBC.⁷

In conclusion, we invite comments and suggestions for coverage from you, the readers, and hope you continue to enjoy reading CSR. We wish you a successful and happy 2005.

David Parker (Chair)

Janet Freshwater (Acting Managing Editor)

References

1. D. Parker and C. Bostock-Smith, Chem. Soc. Rev., 2004, 33(1), E1.
2. H. Hofmeier and U. Schubert, Chem. Soc. Rev., 2004, 33(6), 373–399.
3. G. Trout and R. Kazlaustas, Chem. Soc. Rev., 2004, 33(1), 1–13.
4. S. Morti, M. Roca, J. Andrés, V. Moliner, E. Silla, I. Tuñón and J. Bertrán, Chem. Soc. Rev., 2004, 33(2), 98–107.
5. R. C. J. Atkinson, V. C. Gibson and N. J. Long, Chem. Soc. Rev., 2004, 33(5), 313–328.
6. J. Freshwater, Chem. Soc. Rev., 2004, 33(1), E3.
7. S. E. Adams, J. M. Goodman, R. J. Kidd, A. D. McNaught, P. Murray-Rust, F. R. Norton, J. A. Townsend and C. A. Waudby, Org. Biomol. Chem., 2004, 2, 3067–3070.

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