One small step for Soft Matter, one giant leap for research
Abstract
The first birthday of Soft Matter has been a true celebration of our successes and we look forward to the separation from our host Journal of Materials Chemistry in 2007.
Recently at Soft Matter we celebrated our first birthday. This was a truly joyous occasion as it demonstrated that the hard work of the Editorial Board, International Editorial Advisory Board, authors, referees, and staff alike had paid off and at one year on we have a healthy, growing journal that is rapidly becoming the place to publish leading research on the generic science underpinning the properties and applications of soft matter.
Since our beginning in June 2005 we have published 14 issues to date and each one has been physically bound to print issues of Journal of Materials Chemistry, the top weekly materials research journal. Online hosting of Soft Matter in three additional RSC titles (Organic & Biomolecular Chemistry, Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics and Lab on a Chip) has ensured that we have received maximum attention from a broad and interdisciplinary audience right from the beginning.
These efforts have been fruitful: Soft Matter is already recognised as a major player in the soft materials field. Our submissions are increasing month on month, web accesses to articles and our website are also on the up, and our first Immediacy Index†, announced recently by ISI, is an amazing 1.022, way above those of competitors such as Advanced Materials (0.916), and Macromolecules (0.767). The Immediacy Index is a measure of how quickly the “average article” in a journal is cited, and demonstrates that articles published in Soft Matter reach and are used by their intended audience with the minimum of delay. This high number shows that Soft Matter is already having an impact.
Table 1 shows the top ten downloaded articles from Soft Matter since the beginning—this selection by you, our readers, demonstrates both the high quality and the interdisciplinarity of the journal.
| Title | Authors | Citation |
|---|---|---|
| Nanoshells and nanotubes from block copolymers | Ian Hamley | 2005, 1, 36 |
| On water repellency | Mathilde Callies and David Quéré | 2005, 1, 55 |
| Surfactant-templated mesostructured materials from inorganic silica | Krister Holmberg et al. | 2005, 1, 219 |
| AFM study of cationically charged polymer brushes: switching between soft and hard matter | Wilhelm Huck et al. | 2005, 1, 66 |
| Controlled formulation of monodisperse double emulsions in a multiple-phase microfluidic system | Toru Torii et al. | 2005, 1, 23 |
| Nano-sized self-assemblies of nonionic surfactants as solubilization reservoirs and microreactors for food systems | Nissim Garti et al. | 2005, 1, 206 |
| Self-assembly of light-sensitive surfactants | Julian Eastoe and Ana Vesperinas | 2005, 1, 338 |
| Development and application of diazirines in biological and synthetic macromolecular systems | Anton Blencowe and Wayne Hayes | 2005, 1, 178 |
| Bioinspired colloidal systems via layer-by-layer assembly | Frank Caruso et al. | 2006, 2, 18 |
| The water/oil interface: the emerging horizon for self-assembly of nanoparticles | Dayang Wang et al. | 2005, 1, 412 |
“We're proud of the progress Soft Matter has made since its launch in 2005: article submissions show healthy growth, the quality of science is superb and feedback from readers has been overwhelmingly positive,” says Dr Robert Parker, Editorial Director at RSC Publishing, “it seems timely and appropriate for Soft Matter to go solo.”
The move away from publication with Journal of Materials Chemistry is just one small step in our evolution—but with far reaching effects for research in the soft matter community. We believe our journal has made a giant leap in bridging the gap between researchers working at the fringes of the traditional disciplines of physics, chemistry, and biology, by promoting communication in all directions.
Where do we go from here? From January 2007 Soft Matter will be a standalone publication, although the Soft Matter contents pages will continue to appear in Journal of Materials Chemistry to maintain visibility for the top class work that you send us. In addition, we will continue to work hard to ensure that your work is noticed by the people who matter—your community.
As Soft Matter Board Member Geoffrey Maitland says, “Soft Matter is really taking off”.
Dr Carol Stanier, Editor, Soft Matter
Professor Ullrich Steiner, Chair, Soft Matter Editorial Board
Footnote |
| † The Immediacy Index is calculated by dividing the number of citations to articles published in a given year by the number of articles published in that year. For more information on this please see the ISI website at http://jcrweb.com/www/help/hjcrgls2.htm |
| This journal is © The Royal Society of Chemistry 2006 |