Editorial: A new perspective

PCCP continues to enjoy considerable success. As the journal approaches its 10th year of publication, we should both reflect on the achievements of the past and look to the future to ensure that we can achieve continued strong growth in the years to come.

There are very many positives to highlight since the launch of the journal. PCCP is truly an international journal; there are now 14 learned and professional societies in the PCCP partnership, and the support of the Owner Societies helps the journal to thrive. The move to weekly publication has been a great success, and our leading and renowned times to publication are down yet again, with the median time from receipt to publication in a citable form currently just 68 days. The recent introduction of PCCP prizes and our popular series of themed issues are helping to increase our visibility still further. The journal’s impact factor is at a record high, and our long-standing commitment to publish only the best research continues.

An additional measure of the success of the journal is the level of submissions. As documented in recent Editorials, submissions to PCCP continue to rise, with a 15% overall increase in total submissions last year. Even more striking is the large rise in the number of Invited Articles published in PCCP—a record 66 Invited Articles were published last year. “Invited Article” is the name given to the review-style articles published in PCCP: Invited Articles are written by international experts in the field and present a high profile review on an area of research that is of interest to a broad spectrum of the PCCP readership.

With the increase in the number of Invited Articles, the PCCP Editorial Board feels that further clarification is needed for both authors and referees on the objectives and scope of this article-type, to ensure consistency and that our aspirations are met. Regular re-evaluations of this kind are necessary to keep the journal topical, relevant and best-placed to meet the desires of our authors and readers.

Many of the most well-received Invited Articles we have published have been rather personal accounts, where the author presents a state-of-the-art review from their authoritative viewpoint, critically analysing a topic of current interest. To emphasise these aspects in the future, we are now replacing the Invited Article with the PCCP Perspective.

The word Perspective conveys the more “personal” style of these articles. A PCCPPerspective should still be of interest to a broad spectrum of the PCCP readership: it should be tightly-reasoned, and both enticing and easily readable to the non-expert. A PCCPPerspective is not intended to offer a comprehensive review of the subject area for specialists. Given its nature a Perspective will be likely to review progress in the area by focusing on the work of the author(s); however, a balanced account of the research field should be presented. It is important that a Perspective should both place recent research in an appropriate historical context, as well as outlining controversial and emerging issues in the field. The author(s) of a Perspective may also demonstrate key developments through presentation of some new unpublished data. In view of the personal account given by a Perspective, a brief biography and photo of each author will appear with the published article.

The PCCP Editorial Board recognises that in many areas of chemistry successful research outcomes often lead to the generation of products or processes of commercial value, and that researchers are rightly encouraged to exploit such opportunities. However we will not publish material which actively promotes the interest of a process, instrument, software or other intellectual property of actual or potential commercial value. PCCPPerspectives will in general be commissioned by the Editorial Board and Editorial Office. However all suggestions for future Perspectives are most welcome; please do send your suggestions to E-mail: pccp@rsc.org.

It is very important to note that PCCPPerspectives will undergo a full and rigorous peer review procedure, in the same way as regular PCCP research papers. Full guidelines on PCCPPerspectives will be made available to authors and referees of this article type. Given our commitment to publish the best research, the Editorial Board has also recently decided to further tighten the acceptance criteria and refereeing procedure to ensure that only the highest quality work in the fields of physical chemistry and chemical physics is published in PCCP. The PCCP instructions to authors have been correspondingly changed and updated to ensure that this aspiration is met. The updated instructions formalise our requirement that papers must contain sufficient information to ensure reproducibility, must contain significant new scientific insights rather than being more “instruction style”, and indeed must be written in a format compatible with our Society-backed commitment to publishing the very best scientific research. I encourage you to view the latest version of the instructions to authors on the PCCP website, http://www.rsc.org/pccp.

I also draw your attention to two changes that have been made to the RSC’s Ethical Guidelines for Publication in Journals and Reviews, which apply to all RSC journals. Firstly, the corresponding author now has the obligation to provide a statement specifying the contribution of each co-author when there are more than ten co-authors on the manuscript. Secondly, we thank referees for their considerable support, but remind them that they have the responsibility to ensure that neither the manuscript nor its existence is shown to, disclosed to, or discussed with others, except in special cases, where specific scientific advice may be sought; in that event the Editor must be informed and the identities of those consulted disclosed. The RSC’s Ethical Guidelines are available in full at http://www.rsc.org/Publishing/ReSourCe/EthicalGuidelines/EthicalGuidelinesandConflictofInterest/index.asp—please do take a look.

We very much hope that PCCPPerspectives will be popular and help PCCP to go forward successfully in the future. If you have any comments please do contact the Editorial Office at E-mail: pccp@rsc.org. I would also like to take this opportunity to offer my sincere thanks to everyone who has supported the journal over the past years; to our authors, referees and readers alike. The reputation of the journal and its continuing success is dependent on the quality of work submitted by supportive authors, the detailed reports provided by dedicated referees, and the valuable feedback and support given by our readers.

With best wishes,

Bert Weckhuysen

Chair, PCCP Editorial Board

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