CRYSTAL GROWTH & DESIGN 2004 VOL. 4, NO. 1 1
Editorial Crystal Growth & Design on an Upward Track Welcome to Volume 4 of Crystal Growth & Design! It is indeed a pleasure to update you on the exciting happenings for CGD in 2003 and to provide you with a preview of 2004. The past year saw an increase of 49% in the number of journal pages to 1153; the publication of our first special issue (on Polymorphism, Volume 3, Issue 6); and of course, our first opportunity to receive ISI ranking. The coming year promises to be even better. After only two years in publication, CGD received its first impact factor of 2.186 from the ISI 2002 Journal Citation Report. This was the second highest ranking in the category of crystallography. The Journal also received respectable rankings in the two other broad categories: 21st out of 119 in “Chemistry, Multidisciplinary” and 20th out of 121 in “Materials, Interdisciplinary”. CGD also provides quick publication times for authors. In 2003, the average time for a full article to appear on the Web from receipt was only 13 weeks and only nine weeks from receipt to acceptance, on average. The rankings and statistics are indicators of the strong commitment the Editors, Advisory Board members, Topic Editors, and Referees have to ensuring the high quality the Journal has enjoyed thus far. With your help, CGD has embraced and achieved the ACS Publications motto of “High Quality, High Impact”. CGD continues to be interdisciplinary and international. Last year, 26.7% of the papers published were from U.S. authors, while the remaining 73.3% were from 24 different countries. The scope of these papers truly fits the broad definition of crystallography and moves us toward building a diverse worldwide community. The Journal published its first special issue in 2003: Issue 6 on Polymorphism. This issue arose from interactions with the ACS ProSpectives conference series under the direction of John Katz. The Journal helped organize the 2003 conference entitled “Polymorphism in Crystals: Fundamentals, Prediction, and Industrial Practice” in Tampa, FL last February and has helped organize a follow-up conference “Polymorphism and Crystals” scheduled for February 8-11, 2004 in Tampa. For more information and a list of speakers, please navigate to the ACS ProSpectives website through the ACS portal at http://www.chemistry.org. This promises to be an exciting event! Having reviewed 2003, it is time to look at 2004 and the changes in personnel. Prof. Ken Seddon is stepping down as Associate Editor in 2004 to become a member of the Advisory Board. Dr. Tona Bradley, his assistant, has returned to teaching chemistry at Wallace High School in Lisburn, County Down, Ireland. It is with heartfelt gratitude that I acknowledge Ken’s invaluable contribution to initiating, launching, and ensuring the success of CGD.
However, Ken has assured us that he will continue to bring his considerable talents to the growth of CGD during its next critical phase of development; we look forward to working with him via the Advisory Board. Thank you Ken and Tona! A few changes have been made for 2004 among the Advisory Board and Topic Editors. Leslie Leiserowitz and Joel Bernstein have agreed to exchange roles, Leslie stepping into a vital role as Topic Editor and Joel becoming an Advisory Board member. Lynn Boatner, David Oxtoby, and Lori Wilson have completed terms as Topic Editors. I would like to thank all these people; their service to the Journal has been outstanding and has contributed significantly to the total effort to grow and improve CGD. Dr. Donna Estill, Coordinating Editor of CGD since its inception, has returned to teaching as Assistant Director of the Alabama Center for Literary Arts at Alabama Southern Community College in Monroeville, AL. For the past three years, Donna has been the glue that kept CGD on track and on schedule. I know many of you will miss her and join me in wishing her well in her exciting new position. It is a pleasure to be able to introduce the new Coordinating Editor, Ms. Sara Day Hatton. Sara joins us from her position as Information and Documentation Manager at the Program for Rural Services and Research here at The University of Alabama. Previously, she was Director of Communications for Foxfire, Inc. and oversaw the publication of a journal there. Please feel free to welcome Sara at
[email protected]. Although our progress in 2003 and our first impact factor and rankings are remarkable, the Editors, Advisory Board, and Topic Editors are dedicated to raising the page numbers, the impact factors, and the rankings. This will be accomplished by continuing to solicit your best papers for CGD where they will receive close attention, be processed quickly, and be available on the Web ASAP. To make an even greater impact, however, we would also like to encourage all authors to consider Web enhanced objects (WEOs) for their papers. Web-only aspects of papers can include not only rotatable figures, but video, animations, spectra, etc. It is apparent that much more information of relevance to the readers can be conveyed through WEOs than can be published on the written page, and we encourage you to take advantage of this valuable ACS resource. Finally, let me thank all the authors whose manuscripts were published in CGDsand our readerssfor helping to make 2003 such a great year and for making our work so enjoyable. Robin D. Rogers
10.1021/cg030040p CCC: $27.50 © 2004 American Chemical Society Published on Web 01/07/2004
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