Five years on

More frequent

With Soft Matter firmly established as the publication for the soft matter community, it's perhaps hard to believe that the journal is celebrating only its fifth year of publication in 2009. And what better way to illustrate this success than the announcement that Soft Matter will now publish 24 issues per year? This move is prompted by the rapid increase in high-quality submissions witnessed by the journal over the past 12 months. By doubling the number of issues we ensure that your work really will reach the community with maximum momentum, at the earliest possible opportunity. Increased traffic to the website, prompted by twice the number of new issues, correspondingly means increased visibility for both the journal and your research. And with articles appearing in print more quickly we are able to provide our authors with page numbers and free paginated pdf reprints even sooner too.

We'd like to offer our sincere thanks to you—the soft matter community—for your support (as authors, referees and readers), which has been instrumental in our success. We aspire to build on this important relationship in the months and years to come, developing the journal in answer to your needs.

Higher impact

As we look forward to 2009, both Soft Matter and RSC Publishing are 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.

With its best ever impact factor of 4.70, Soft Matter is still the number one journal in the field. This impressive value represents a rise of more than 7% over the 2006 value and clearly reinforces Soft Matter's position as the best journal where biologists, colloid scientists, physicists, polymer scientists, chemical engineers, chemists, and materials scientists can present work for interdisciplinary inspiration. Soft Matter also continues to have highest immediacy index in the soft matter field with this year's value at 0.784.

Fig. 1 2007 impact factors for Soft Matter and related journals (released June 2008).

Fig. 2 2007 immediacy indices for Soft Matter and related journals (released June 2008).

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

New designs

During 2009 we will release a new version of ReSourCe, our system for online manuscript submission and peer review (www.rsc.org/resource). Already popular with authors and referees, 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 you like to help us shape the next release by taking part in beta-testing or by supplying your comments and suggestions please contact mailto:resourcesupport@rsc.org.

New ventures

Our 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 issue of all three journals is freely available online. Free online institutional access to all 2009 content is available for registered users—full details are on the web site.

Journal award

Also new in 2009 is the first Soft Matter Award. This newly established prize will be presented by the journal on an annual basis to honour a younger scientist (typically within 15 years of attaining their doctorate or equivalent degree) who has made a significant contribution to the soft matter field. Nominations are now open and details of the nominee, including a brief C.V. together with a letter supporting the nomination, should be sent to the Soft Matter Editorial Office by 6 February 2009.

eBook Collection

The RSC eBook Collection has become a world-class electronic resource with licenses 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.

Fig. 3 Soft Matter covers from 2008.

Keeping track

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

Food for thought

In 2009, the theme for RSC public engagement activities will be food; looking at all aspects of the supply chain from field to fork and eventually to waste disposal and recycling. Planned activities include the launch of a major report into securing a sustainable food supply; the publication of a new edition of the ground-breaking book Kitchen Chemistry; lectures and events at the new Chemistry Centre at Burlington House—the world's foremost venue for showcasing chemistry; and Chemistry Week 2009 (7th–15th November), when practicing scientists and science teachers will engage in a week-long festival for the chemical sciences. Please get in touch with us (mailto:food@rsc.org) if you would like to be involved.

Soft Matter also recently launched its first web theme issue in 2008 on Food Science. Guest edited by Professor Peter Fryer (University of Birmingham, UK), this collection of articles explores fundamental interdisciplinary research into the field and covers a variety of areas including food biophysics, food colloids and emulsions, and complex food structure. You can access the web theme and related content at www.rsc.org/softmatter/food

Fig. 4 Advertising for the Soft Matter web themed issue on Food Science.

And finally

With all these recent, and forthcoming, developments, Soft Matter will continue to strive to offer a valuable service to the community. Let us know your thoughts on the journal, and shape its future! We welcome your comments at mailto:softmatter@rsc.org..

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

Plate1 Katie GibbCommissioning Editor, Soft Matter

Plate2 Professor Ullrich SteinerChair, Soft Matter Editorial Board

---

Footnotes

† Impact factors provide an indication of the average number of citations per paper. Produced annually by ISI®, they are calculated by dividing the number of citations in a year to articles published in the preceding two years, by the number of citeable articles published in the preceding two years.

‡ The journal immediacy index, produced by Journal Citation Reports®, indicates how quickly articles in a journal are cited. For comparing journals specializing in cutting-edge research, the immediacy index can provide a useful perspective.

---