ChemComm – making an impact

doi:10.1039/B820081P

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DOI: 10.1039/B820081P (Editorial) Chem. Commun., 2009, 17-19

ChemComm– making an impact

Abstract

Happy New Year and welcome to the first issue of ChemComm for 2009. In this Editorial we reflect on what was another exciting year for ChemComm with our impact factor now at 5.14 and look to the future and the exciting developments in RSC Publishing.

Introduction

2008 proved to be a really successful year for ChemComm. We received our highest ever impact factor and continue to be the fastest publisher of urgent high quality communications from across the chemical sciences.

Impact factor

In June 2008 there was cause for celebration as the ChemComm impact factor was published with an impressive increase of 13% on the previous year. The impact factor now stands at 5.14 and this represents a 29% growth over the past three years.

The impact factor provides an indication of the average number of citations per article. Produced annually by ISI®, impact factors are calculated by dividing the number of citations in a year by the number of citeable articles published in the preceding two years. Our high impact factor reinforces ChemComm’s position as the best journal for publishing urgent new work of the highest quality.

ChemComm International Symposia

ChemComm International Symposia bring together scientists in a stimulating environment that fosters collaboration between the visiting researchers and universities involved. Each symposium is devoted to a topical area of the chemical sciences and consists of three one-day meetings at selected locations in the host country. Lectures are given by visiting keynote speakers and by scientists from the host institutions.

Following a first very successful symposium in China in December 2007 on Polymers and Polymer Science (see www.rsc.org/Publishing/Journals/cc/News/symposium.asp), the Second ChemComm International Symposium was held from 17–20 November 2008 in Korea at Yonsei University in Seoul, KAIST in Daejeon and Postech in Pohang. The theme for the meeting was Supramolecular Chemistry and speakers included Professors Jonathan Sessler, M. Wais Hosseini and Neil Champness. We are extremely grateful to Professors Kimoon Kim, Ryong Ryoo and Myongsoo Lee who kindly hosted the meeting and provided valuable help and support. The symposium was extremely well attended and met with an overwhelmingly positive response from all who took part (for details visit www.rsc.org/Publishing/Journals/cc/IntSymp2.asp).

This year in February we will be returning to China to hold the Third ChemComm International Symposium. The theme this time will be Organic Chemistry and the three meetings will be taking place at the SIOC in Shanghai, Peking University in Beijing and Sichuan University in Chengdu. Visiting keynote speakers have been confirmed as Professors Susan Gibson, Peter Kündig and Keiji Maruoka. Hosting and helping with the organisation are Professors Kuiling Ding, Jianbo Wang and Xiaoming Feng. For more information please visit the website at www.rsc.org/chemcommsymposia.

New ChemComm Editorial Board member

This year we are very pleased to welcome Professor Wilfred van der Donk to the ChemComm Editorial Board. Professor van der Donk is the Richard E. Heckert Endowed Chair in Chemistry at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. His research focuses on the discovery and design of new antibiotics and anti-inflammatory agents. This combines synthetic organic and protein chemistry to address problems at the interface of chemistry and biology. We very much look forward to working with all our board members in the coming year.

RSC’s Hot Prospect

The competition is hotting up as other leading scientific publishers announce plans to follow the RSC’s lead and apply semantic technologies to add value to journal articles. Three years on from launch, award winning RSC Prospect—the service we use to structure the science within ChemComm and other RSC Journal html articles—is setting the standard in offering new ways to discover, use, understand and analyse research articles that weren’t previously possible. For the latest innovations and news visit www.projectprospect.org

Same great ReSourCe – just better!

During 2009 we will release a new version of ReSourCe, our system for online manuscript submission and peer review (www.rsc.org/resource). ReSourCe is already popular with authors and referees, but we’ve listened to your feedback and made further improvements to our service. We’re keen to build on your experience of ReSourCe, so if you would like to help us shape the next release by taking part in beta-testing or by supplying your comments and suggestions please contact resourcesupport@rsc.org

More papers and greater impact

The successful growth in submissions and impact factor has not just been seen on ChemComm. As we look forward to 2009, RSC Publishing is working with more authors than ever before – 2008 saw the number of authors published in RSC Journals increase by 30%. Meanwhile titles from across the collection recorded impressive rises in impact factors, and the latest immediacy indices confirm the relevance and topicality of research published by the RSC.

RSC Publishing is committed to providing a world-class publishing service and global visibility to its authors. With the number of citations increasing and immediacy and impact factors rising it is clear to see that ChemComm and RSC Publishing are recognised by researchers throughout the world as a key resource to publish the very best research.

Your RSC subscriptions and free content

We know that it can be difficult to keep track of online resources that are available to you. So, we’ve introduced a special web page to help you to find out exactly what RSC content you can access. This new page is called Your RSC Subscriptions (www.rsc.org/Publishing/your_access.asp) and it lists all products for which your organisation has a current subscription, plus other content which may be available to you, such as the RSC Journals Archive and the RSC eBook Collection.

You can also find out about RSC content that is available free – including: research articles that are free for a limited time; news articles in magazines; and free chapters from the RSC eBook Collection. Visit www.rsc.org/Publishing/freeRSCcontent.asp

New journals

The RSC journal portfolio has expanded with the launch of three new journals. Energy & Environmental Science, launched in July 2008, publishes research from all aspects of the chemical sciences relating to energy conversion and storage, alternative fuel technologies and environmental science. www.rsc.org/ees

Metallomics: Integrated biometal science covers the research fields related to metals in biological, environmental and clinical systems. www.rsc.org/metallomics

Integrative Biology: Quantitative biosciences from nano to macro is a unique, interdisciplinary journal covering quantitative multi-scale biology using enabling technologies and tools to exploit the convergence of biology with physics, chemistry, engineering, imaging and informatics. www.rsc.org/ibiology

The current issues of all three journals are freely available online. Free online institutional access to all 2009 content is available for registered users – full details are on the website.

eBook Collection

The RSC eBook Collection has become a world-class electronic resource with licences being signed to leading institutions across the globe. New content continues to be uploaded regularly and this comprehensive resource now includes over 800 quality titles. Electronic book publications are uploaded within days of print publication, effortlessly disseminating extensive, high-quality, scientific content direct to scientists, libraries, students, teachers and researchers around the world. Please visit www.rsc.org/eBooks for further information or to visit the RSC eBook Collection.

Over 80 new print books will be published in 2009 as our list continues to grow in size and importance in the international market. Keep up to date with all the latest cutting edge titles being published by the RSC by visiting www.rsc.org/ej_alert and subscribing to our eAlerts. We send regular information on discount offers, print books and new electronic content throughout the year.

ChemComm around the Web

ChemComm is very fortunate to have the enthusiastic backing of a supportive community and we’re excited to offer our readers new ways to engage with our journal on the wider Web.

You can keep up to date with the latest research appearing in ChemComm by adding our Google gadgets to your desktop. We’ve got a great RSC Journal gadget¹ that delivers journal RSS feeds straight to your Google desktop and a journal search gadget² that allows you to search articles appearing in RSC Journals directly from your desktop.

To find out more about how you can engage with ChemComm around the Web, bookmark the homepage at www.rsc.org/chemcomm

And finally…

We thank all our authors, referees and readers for their enthusiastic and continued support. On behalf of the Editorial Board and Editorial Staff at the RSC, we would like to wish you all a very happy and successful 2009.

Peter Kündig

Chairman, ChemComm Editorial Board

Sarah Thomas

Editor, ChemComm

Kathryn Sear

Deputy Editor, ChemComm

References

RSC Journal RSS feeds Google gadget http://www.google.com/ig/adde?moduleurl=hosting.gmodules.com/ig/gadgets/file/115321514350875010675/rsc_journals.xml&source=imag.
RSC Journals search Google gadget http://www.google.com/ig/adde?moduleurl=hosting.gmodules.com/ig/gadgets/file/115321514350875010675/rsc_ajax_search.xml&source=imag.