Editorial pubs.acs.org/Langmuir
Changes and Titles Langmuir to make significant improvement by their support and contributions.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank the entire Langmuir community for their help and support during the 17 years I have served as Editor-in-Chief. I would also like to welcome Francoise Winnik as the incoming EIC effective January 1, 2015. The past 17 years have seen some amazing changes in scientific publishing that have in part led to remarkable changes in Langmuir. During this time we have gone from a print-only journal with all manuscripts coming via hard copy mail submission and mail reviews. Today almost everything is done electronically through the Web. We had ∼1400 submissions the year before I became EIC, and now we’re steadily around 5000. Other things have of course also changed: the accept/reject ratio, the impact factor, and the country of origin of our manuscripts. In an effort to help our authors produce better manuscripts, more useful to our readers, we have developed new and more detailed author guidelines. Finding that our readership values Invited Feature Articles, we have added two additional classes of manuscripts, Invited Historical Reviews and Invited Instructional Reviews. Our contributors from countries around the world not only have increased but the proportion of international contributions has grown significantly. During this period we have added editors in Canada, China, Japan, Spain, and Brazil. Our incoming Editor-in-Chief has what is surely a uniquely international perspective and experience. Francoise grew up in France, receiving her undergraduate education there in chemical engineering before moving to Canada where she obtained her Ph.D. degree at the University of Toronto. After experience in industry she joined the faculty of McMaster University before moving to the University of Montreal where she remains today. She has additional affiliations as Principal Investigator at the WPI Centre for Materials Nanoarchitecture in the National Institute for Materials Science in Tsukuba, Japan and as Finnish Distinguished Professor at the University of Helsinki in Finland. She has been a Senior Editor of Langmuir for 14 years and Executive Editor for the past several years. It has been a great pleasure to work with her during this time. She will be an outstanding Editor-in-Chief, and I am delighted that she is willing and enthusiastic about serving Langmuir. Our office at the University of New Mexico has seen several changes in the last year in our operations. In addition to changes discussed above in classes of manuscripts and new guidelines, I’d like to mention to prospective authors the need for short succinct titles. We have noticed during the past several months a number of titles that appear to be something in between an abstract and a conclusion. The long titles tend not to be illuminating and at the same time not inviting to the broad audience that constitutes our readership. I have truly enjoyed working with the Langmuir editorial team and the Langmuir community of authors, reviewers, and editors during my time as EIC. I would like to thank the Senior Editors who have worked together as a team in enabling © 2015 American Chemical Society
David Whitten Langmuir will turn 30 years old in 2015! As I am about to assume the position of Editor-in-Chief of Langmuir, I find it appropriate to recall here the insightful editorial written by Arthur Adamson, the founding father of Langmuir (Adamson, A. A Journal Is Born. Langmuir 1985, 1, 1). The original intent of Langmuir’s founders was to create a journal that covers all areas of surface and colloid science, from theory to experiment. This approach countered the prevailing trend in the 1980’s toward the creation of highly specialized journals. Langmuir has adopted this objective wholeheartedly and successfully, crossing the boundaries of standard disciplines. As such, it has played a pivotal role during the birth of nanoscience, where the emergence of new properties and functions relies extensively on interactions on interfaces and among nanoparticles (colloids). Adamson and his team also wanted Langmuir to be a friendly, collegial journal. I strongly believe that Langmuir and its editorial team must remain aware of the needs of authors and readers, listen to their criticisms and praise, and show flexibility and adaptability. Attending meetings and visiting universities or institutes around the world has given me invaluable opportunities to listen to authors on a one-to-one basis. I have learned a lot from them. From its inception, Langmuir aimed to be an international journal. The original issue of Langmuir had contributions from seven countries! Now, authors from more than 51 countries regularly publish in Langmuir. Our advisory board is international, and so is the team of Senior Editors. We encourage authors and readers to communicate with the members of the advisory board and to contact the Senior Editors with comments, concerns, and suggestions. To facilitate exchanges, a direct line through social media will open soon. In early December, I spent a few days with Dave Whitten and the members of the New Mexico editorial team. It gave me the opportunity to learn the technical aspects of running an editorial office, but most importantly it gave me time to exchange with Dave ideas and views on Langmuir today and how it will evolve over the next several years. I can sense the responsibility I have to ensure the growth of Langmuir in the spirit of its founders, the pursuit of excellence and breadth. The team of Senior Editors and I will work hard together to ensure that Langmuir will foster new ideas and stimulate interdisciplinary exchanges. Francoise Winnik
Published: January 13, 2015 1
dx.doi.org/10.1021/la5047386 | Langmuir 2015, 31, 1−2
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Views expressed in this editorial are those of the authors and not necessarily the views of the ACS.
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dx.doi.org/10.1021/la5047386 | Langmuir 2015, 31, 1−2
