Polymer Chemistry: lighting the way

2010 - The launch of Polymer Chemistry

It is hard to believe that we are now writing the Editorial for the second volume of Polymer Chemistry. It feels like only a short time ago since the journal was announced and the support from the community since then has been overwhelming. We would like to thank you, our authors, readers and referees, for your contributions towards the success of Polymer Chemistry's first volume!

We set out with the aim to publish the best polymer chemistry in the world and, in particular, work from emerging and rising stars in our field. Following the efforts from our Associate Editors, Editorial Board members and Editorial team, the first issue was published earlier this year and is packed full of fantastic articles such as Andrew Lowe's Review on thiol-ene “click” reactions, Yongrong Lia and Tsuyoshi Michinobu's Communication on a highly efficient post-functionalisation method for optoelectronic polymers, and many more! We are delighted with the quality of the first volume and we hope you'll agree it reflects our aim to become the place to publish the very best polymer chemistry. It would seem we are reaching our expected audience - for example, one article in issue 1 has already had over 25 citations 8 months after being published! The appointment of Associate Editors Eva Harth and Yuliang Yang has given us a high profile in both the US and China. This, coupled with our Editorial and Advisory Boards of internationally renowned scientists, gives us an excellent global presence and sets the high standards we require.

In July, Macro2010: 43rd IUPAC World Polymer Congress was held in Glasgow, UK. This conference was a huge success with excellent presentations from leading polymer scientists. We chose this meeting to officially launch Polymer Chemistry and what better way to celebrate than with a pink, sparkly cake! This conference represented what we envisage the future of Polymer Chemistry to be: a forum for polymer chemists to disseminate their high quality work to an international audience in a dynamic and vibrant manner.

Looking forward to 2011

Early in 2011, Polymer Chemistry will publish its first themed issue. This issue will be dedicated to emerging investigators in polymer chemistry with guest editors Rachel O'Reilly and Andrew Dove. We are committed to highlighting the best work from researchers in the early stages of their careers. Our second themed issue on polymer bioconjugates will follow later in 2011. Editorial Board members Jan van Hest and Brent Sumerlin will be the guest editors of this issue which will showcase the latest research and importance of this field. If you would like to contribute to this themed issue, you can find further information on our blog.

To keep up to date with all the latest news from Polymer Chemistry, check our blog (http://blogs.rsc.org/py/) or sign up to the blog's RSS feed (http://blogs.rsc.org/py/feed/). Here you can find out about the latest Hot Articles, most accessed articles, Editorial Board news, themed issues and all other journal news. We will also be letting you know which conferences we will be attending throughout 2011 so get in touch if you would like to meet us to discuss the journal. You can also follow us on Facebook and Twitter @polymchem, in addition to signing up to receive Polymer Chemistry Post (www.rsc.org/ej_alert), our monthly newsletter.

We hope that you have enjoyed reading Polymer Chemistry and will continue to do so. Don't forget that all articles published in 2010 and 2011 are free to access for institutions which complete a simple registration form at www.rsc.org/free_access_registration.

We look forward to the future successes of Polymer Chemistry and hope you continue to enjoy contributing to the journal over these exciting times for our field.

Liz Davies, Managing Editor
Dave Haddleton, Editor-in-Chief

More news from RSC Publishing

Quality and growth continues

It's quality that really matters at RSC Publishing. And the 2009 Journal Citation Reports ® proved that our quality is better than ever as our average impact factor (IF) rose from 4.9 to 5.4. It's an impressive figure, especially when compared with the average for a chemistry journal of 2.4.

But we don't rely on just one or two titles to boost our average. It's our entire collection that counts: of the top 20 journals in the multidisciplinary chemistry category, 25% are from RSC Publishing; and 90% of our titles have an IF over 3.

Our list of titles continues to grow: Food & Function and Catalysis Science & Technology are the latest titles to join our expanding portfolio. Plus, the number of articles we've published has increased by 74% in the last 2 years alone. We remain committed to providing a world-class publishing service to our authors, and delivering cutting-edge chemical science to readers throughout the world.

The IF and article growth figures provide a clear indication that more researchers than ever before are recognising journals from the RSC as a key resource to access the very best research.

2011 books

With steady front-list growth and cutting-edge content, delivering excellence and authority, the RSC is one of the world's leading chemical science print and online book publishers.

Nearly 1000 eBooks equating to one third of a million pages, the RSC eBook Collection delivers outstanding online research and opinion in a multitude of areas of the chemical sciences. Nine new RSC eBook Subject Collections offer additional flexibility.

With over 90 new print titles planned for 2011, including second editions of seminal texts and new RSC Polymer Chemistry and RSC Metallobiology series launching, our contribution to chemistry collections worldwide is diverse, topical and high impact. Expect another first class collection of best selling chemical science titles in 2011.

www.rsc.org/books

NEW RSC Publishing Platform

Access one million journal articles and book chapters in one simple integrated search.

The new RSC Publishing Platform has been developed in consultation with the international scientific and librarian community. Together we have identified the best and most valued interface and features that connects you with the highest quality scientific research. With one single search box, easily access our books, journals and databases for students, academics, researchers, scientists and professionals.

www.rsc.org/platform

Free online access

Free online access is available to all our newest journals, and more—all you need to do is register for an RSC Publishing personal account. Then, when you are logged in, you will be able to access all our free content. Currently this includes:

• All content of our newest journals for the first 2 volumes

• Any articles that are part of a special free access promotion (e.g. ‘hot’ papers, web theme issues, etc)

• All journal content published more than two years ago (dating back to 1997)

• A sample chapter from each book in the RSC eBook Collection

With your username and password you can access the free content any time, any place – all you need is internet access. Register at www.rsc.org/personalregistration.

If your institution is a current customer with IP registered, you will be able to access all free content. Other institutions can apply for free online access to our newest journals using our online form: www.rsc.org/freeaccess.

ChemSpider

Have you heard about the RSC's award winning chemical structure and text based search engine—ChemSpider? It's FREE!

ChemSpider provides access to:

• millions of chemical structures

• an abundance of additional property information

• tools to upload, curate and use the data

• a multitude of other online services like the RSC Publishing Platform

ChemSpider is one of the richest single sources of structure-based chemistry information.

Visit www.chemspider.com (for mobile devices: cs.m.chemspider.com)

RSC 2011 conferences and events

As a learned society the RSC hosts more than 300 international conferences and events, the following have been outlined as areas you may find of interest. Visit www.rsc.org/ConferencesAndEvents to view the complete schedule of events for 2011.

6th International Symposium on Macrocyclic and Supramolecular Chemistry (6-ISMSC)

Brighton, UK, 3–7 July

10th International Conference on Materials Chemistry (MC10)

The flagship event of the Materials Chemistry Division

Manchester, UK, 4–7 July

Challenges in Organic Materials & Supramolecular Chemistry (ISACS6)

Beijing, China, 2–5 September

International Year of Chemistry 2011

IUPAC (in conjunction with the UN and UNESCO) have proclaimed 2011 as the International Year of Chemistry (IYC), the goals of which are: to increase the public appreciation of chemistry in meeting world needs; to encourage interest in chemistry among young people; and to generate enthusiasm for the creative future of chemistry.

The RSC will be leading the way in IYC 2011, supporting this important initiative through a series of events and activities.

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