Recognising our Reviewers for Chemical Science

We would like to take this opportunity to thank all of Chemical Science’s reviewers. In particular, we would like to highlight the outstanding reviewers for the journal from 2018, for their significant contribution to Chemical Science.

We announce a selection of our highest-contributing reviewers annually and each receives a certificate to give recognition for their contribution. These reviewers have been chosen based on the number, timeliness and quality of the reports completed during 2018.

Outstanding Chemical Science Reviewers in 2018

Professor Christian Hackenberger

Leibniz-Institut für Molekulare

Pharmakologie and Humboldt

Universität zu Berlin, Germany

ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7457-4742

Professor Ben Zhong Tang

The Hong Kong University of Science

and Technology, Hong Kong

ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0293-964X

Professor Huimin Ma

Institute of Chemistry,

Chinese Academy of Sciences,

China

ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6155-9076

Professor Juyoung Yoon

Ewha Womans University,

Republic of Korea

ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1728-3970

Professor Lingxin Chen

Chinese Academy of Sciences,

Yantai Institute of Coastal Zone

Research, China

ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3764-3515

Professor Zhuang Liu

Soochow University, China

ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1629-1039

Dr Lin Yuan

Hunan University, China

ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1015-5319

Professor Dr Frank Glorius

Universität Münster, Germany

ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0648-956X

Dr Phillip Christopher

University of California Santa Barbara,

USA

ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4898-5510

Dr Xinliang Feng

TU Dresden, Germany

ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3885-2703

Dr Xiong Wen Lou

Nanyang Technological University,

Singapore

ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5557-4437

Dr Gustav Berggren

Uppsala University, Sweden

ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6717-6612

Professor Abhishek Dey

Indian Association for the Cultivation

of Science, India

ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9166-3349

Professor Shunichi Fukuzumi

Osaka University, Japan

ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3559-4107

Dr David Harris

Northwestern University, USA

ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4144-900X

Professor Jian-Hui Jiang

Hunan University, China

ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1594-4023

Professor Jong Seung Kim

Korea University, Republic of Korea

ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3477-1172

Professor Dr Burkhard Koenig

Universität Regensburg, Germany

ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6131-4850

Professor Bo Tang

Shangdong Normal University, China

ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8712-7025

Professor Francois Gabbai

Texas A & M University, USA

ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4788-2998

Professor Ramesh Giri

University of New Mexico, USA

ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8993-9131

Professor Chuan He

University of Chicago, USA

ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4319-7424

Dr Weiying Lin

University of Jinan, China

ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8080-4102

Dr Zhihong Nie

Fudan University, China

ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9639-905X

Dr Yoshiaki Nishibayashi

University of Tokyo, Japan

ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9739-9588

Professor Zhiyong Tang

National Center for Nanoscience

and Nanotechnology, China

ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0610-0064

Dr Igor Alabugin

Florida State University, USA

ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9289-3819

Professor Chris Chang

University of California, Berkley, USA

ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5732-9497

Professor Dr Martin Oestreich

Technische Universität Berlin,

Germany

ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1487-9218

Dr Kanyi Pu

Nanyang Technological University,

Singapore

ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8064-6009

Professor Jeremy Smith

Indiana University, USA

ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3206-4725

Professor Lai-Sheng Wang

Brown University, USA

ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1816-5738

Dr Xinchen Wang

Fuzhou University, China

ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2490-3568

Dr Julia Weinstein

University of Sheffield, UK

ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6883-072X

In past years, we have highlighted ten of our outstanding reviewers, however this year we would like to do something a little extra for Chemical Science. Not only have we extended this list to include more of our exceptional reviewers, as above, but we would also like to offer them the option of accepting a digital badge from us.

What are Digital Badges?

A growing list of employers, funders and associations are starting to use digital badges to help individuals show evidence of their experience and expertise online, in a simple, easy-to-digest way.

Through recognising a small section of our most dedicated reviewers for the journal from 2018, we will be exploring whether the use of digital badges is a valuable way of acknowledging the considerable efforts of our reviewers, over the course of a six-month trial.

For the purposes of the trial, we will be awarding an Exceptional Peer Reviewer badge to a selection of reviewers who have completed three or more reviews in the last 12 months. We’ll be aiming to offer additional badges to those reviewers who pass this milestone on a regular basis throughout the trial.

• A badge acts as a verifiable, online certificate of achievement.

• It describes the nature of a credential, and in this case will provide evidence that someone has completed a high level of reviewing for Chemical Science.

• This information sits locked behind and securely linked to the badge image, making the badge unique to the reviewer.

• Badges use the Open Badge Standard, which means that while anyone clicking on your badge can read the information to find out more about your credential, they cannot access or change it.

A digital badge can be displayed and shared as part of a reviewer’s professional record, and can identify them as someone who has contributed a high level of reviewing for our flagship journal, Chemical Science. The badge can be shared on social media (including Facebook and LinkedIn), on blogs and personal websites, and in email signatures.

As the badge is awarded for the level of reviewing over a period of 12 months and there is no information given on individual manuscripts or when reviews were completed, the anonymity of the reviewer is maintained at all times.

We will shortly be contacting a selection of our reviewers from last year, with how they can claim their digital badge, and details of how this can be shared online. The digital badges will be provided by our partner company, https://www.digitalme.co.uk/about/, who have experience and expertise in enabling organisations to offer digital credentials.

At the end of this pilot, we will be gathering reviewers’ experience of using these digital badges to consider whether to use this more widely, to create a consistent system of recognition for our reviewer community.

What else do we offer our reviewers?

There is also an alternative way of recording the reviewing work that you do for Chemical Science, and other RSC journals. Following positive feedback from community, we are continuing our partnership with Publons by making this service available across all of our journals.

Publons is a service that reviewers can sign up for and record their peer review history, as a way of “getting credit for peer review”. Their mission is to speed up research by harnessing the power of great peer review, working with publishers, institutions and researchers to turn peer review into a measurable output that can be used to demonstrate a researcher’s standing, impact and influence in their field.

How does Publons work?

When submitting a review for an RSC journal, reviewers are asked if they want to opt in to Publons; they can then instantly start building a verified peer review and editorial record to showcase the full extent of their contributions. Publons tracks reviews without compromising reviewer anonymity, by default, only the year of the review and the journal title will be shown on reviewer profiles for our journals.

Publons gives access to a range of tools and data to benchmark reviewing and editorial activity, and provides up-to-date verified evidence of peer review contributions, which can be included on CVs and in funding applications. There is also the option to link your Publons record to your ORCID account to show your publication and peer review activity together.

Interested in becoming a peer-reviewer?

With a pool of over 5000 reviewers for Chemical Science in 2018 alone, they are drawn from across the chemical sciences community. However we are always looking for new reviewers for our journals, so if you are interested in reviewing for us, please do contact the relevant journal office and provide up-to-date CV or résumé. Reviewers are selected for their expertise and experience and as a minimum, we are looking for people who:

• are qualified to PhD level (or equivalent) or above in a relevant subject.

• are current active researchers.

• have one or more recent publications in peer-reviewed journals of comparable impact and reputation to our journals.

General guidance for reviewers on the procedure and requirements to assess manuscripts submitted to journals published by the Royal Society of Chemistry, can be found on our website, where you can read and download our guide providing our top tips for peer reviewers.

Further benefits for being a reviewer for our journals include a 25% discount on all books published by the Royal Society of Chemistry.

To find out more about how we are using digital badges or any other ways we are recognising our reviewers, please do not hesitate to get in touch at E-mail: chemicalscience-rsc@rsc.org.

May Copsey

Executive Editor, Chemical Science

---