NJC = chemistry interfacing with biology, materials, physics…

10 years of collaboration

After celebrating the 30th Anniversary of the journal throughout 2007, January 2008 marks another milestone. Ten years ago this month, the CNRS and the RSC began their collaboration in publishing NJC. This partnership has been extraordinarily successful, with the number of submissions to the journal more than tripling and the number of subscribers increasing significantly. The two teams involved in the publication of NJC (the CNRS team in Montpellier and the RSC team in Cambridge) have learned to work closely together to constantly improve the journal in terms of content, presentation, visibility and impact. We look forward to this collaboration continuing for many more years.

Interfaces and chemical biology

In 2008, we return to the roots of the journal and reinforce the position of NJC at the interfaces between disciplines and fields related to the chemical sciences. In particular, we will be focusing on opening-up the journal towards chemical biology and related areas. To help us in this strategy, we have appointed two new members to the NJC Editorial Board, Prof. Yasuhiro Aoyama of Kyoto University (biorecognics) and Dr Helen Hailes of University College London (organic and biological chemistry). Along with Dr Barbara Nawrot of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Łódź (nucleic acids research), they form a strong team to help develop the chemical biology content of the journal.

Plate1 Recently appointed NJC Editorial Board members Dr Helen Hailes (left) and Prof. Yasuhiro Aoyama (right).

In 2007, NJC published a number of important papers in the field of chemical biology: we can mention reviews on dendritic vectors for gene transfection by François Diederich and colleagues, on dendrimers in MRI by Bert Meijer and co-workers, and on zinc complexes as catalysts for phosphate cleavage by Paolo Tecilla and Fabrizio Mancin, as well as an article on new potential anti-Alzheimer agents by the group of Bernard Meunier.

In addition to chemical biology, we will continue to grow other interface areas of chemistry that are already well-represented in the journal, such as materials science and supramolecular chemistry.

Special issues and conferences

In 2008, we will be continuing many of the initiatives of recent years: a number of special issues are in preparation and a strong conference attendance is scheduled, with NJC Invited Speakers and NJC Interface Poster Prizes planned. The first conferences of the 2008 season, at which NJC will be represented, will be three Zing conferences on heterocyclic and heteroatomic chemistry, coordination chemistry, and solid state chemistry. Dr Denise Parent, Editor in the Montpellier office, will be in attendance at each of these conferences in Cancun in February and March 2008 and looks forward to meeting those of you present at these meetings.

Award-winning technology and enhanced HTML articles

Launched in February 2007, RSC Project Prospect has had an exceptional first year. Bringing science alive via enhanced HTML articles in RSC journals, the project delivers hyperlinked compound information (including downloadable structures) in the text, links to IUPAC Gold Book terms, ontology terms linked to definitions and related articles, plus RSS feeds that include structured subject and compound information, enabling at-a-glance identification of relevant articles. As the only publisher able to offer these enhancements, we were delighted to be awarded the 2007 ALPSP/Charlesworth Award for Publishing Innovation, where the judges described RSC Prospect articles as “delightfully simple to use … benefits to authors and readers are immediately obvious.” Around 1400 articles have now been published with enhanced HTML—to see for yourself, look out for the RSC Prospect icon on our website. Further developments of the project will be announced in 2008. Many of you have already told us how impressed you are with the project—www.projectprospect.org has examples of enhanced articles, feedback from the scientific community, plus the latest news.

Following feedback from journal readers, a number of changes have been introduced across all RSC journals. The NJC homepage now contains the contents list for the current issue, delivering the content you want to see as soon as you arrive at the site. Graphical abstracts are included as standard, allowing you to browse content much more conveniently. A more prominent and easy-to-use search box also makes finding published research much more intuitive. Advance Articles will soon also be available in pdf format.

For authors, the RSC journal templates have been revised in a format similar to the journal layout and updated to assist submission. Guidelines for the use of colour in RSC journals will be relaxed during 2008, and the decision on the free use of colour will be based on whether the use of colour enhances the scientific understanding of articles (the old policy required colour to be essential). In addition, for the online version of journals, colour will be introduced at no cost in both the pdf and html versions.

Energy & environmental science

RSC Publishing will be launching a new journal in summer 2008. Energy & Environmental Science will cover all aspects of the chemical sciences relating to energy conversion and storage, and environmental science. Visit the website for the latest news: www.rsc.org/ees

‘NJC book of choice’ scheme

Launched in Spring 2007, the RSC eBook Collection offers scientists across the globe online access to a prestigious and wide-ranging portfolio of chemical science books that span 40 years of research and opinion.

The RSC eBook Collection is testament to the RSC’s publishing innovation, as well as the high quality of the content contained within our books. With further technical developments and new 2008 content being uploaded throughout the year, the RSC eBook Collection is set to become a key resource. To search the Collection or for further information, visit www.rsc.org/ebooks

Scientists from all four corners of the earth are taking advantage of the free first chapter downloads, and from January 2008, NJC will regularly highlight a book specifically for our readers through our ‘NJC book of choice’ scheme. More information is available on the NJC website.

25% book discount for RSC authors, editors and referees

If you would like to buy a print copy of the ‘NJC book of choice’ or other titles from the RSC, and you are an RSC author, editor or referee, you can enjoy a special 25% discount on your book purchase. You can redeem this offer online through the RSC Online Shop. To find out how to claim your exclusive discount, visit www.rsc.org/shop

Denise Parent

(Editor, CNRS)

Sarah Ruthven

(Editor, RSC)

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