Editorial pubs.acs.org/cm
We Are the Community, Too
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AUTHOR INFORMATION
Notes
Views expressed in this editorial are those of the author and not necessarily the views of the ACS.
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REFERENCES
(1) https://scholarlykitchen.sspnet.org/2016/05/12/the-power-ofcommunity-why-much-of-scholarly-publishing-is-unlikely-to-changequickly/. (2) Definition from the Merriam-Webster dictionary. http://www. merriam-webster.com/dictionary/community.
Chemistry of Materials is a society journal, in the sense that we belong to the family of ACS Publications, and hence are a product of the American Chemical Society. Every single editor at our journal, and at all ACS journals, is a practicing scientist. We run research groups, attend conferences, apply for grants, write papers, and know as well as anyone the sting of rejection, as well as the joy of acceptance, of a manuscript. As hackneyed as it sounds, the editors at Chemistry of Materials take on the daily task of editing to give back to the community and to support and uphold standards out of our belief that peer review leads to better papers. Thus, the aspect of publishing that we at Chemistry of Materials take very seriously is that of serving the community. In a blog post, Kent Anders eloquently describes “The Power of Community” of scientific journals, which he writes are akin to community newspapers but with a specialized, global audience.1 The word “community” is heavily used, and perhaps overused, but part of the reason that chemists have held very strongly onto their familiar journals is due to this deep-seated sense of community or association with scientists in a specific area of science. We often choose ACS journals as the venue for our manuscripts because the editors are experts within their scientific trenches and are themselves authors, and thus they are intimately familiar with the area and practice of science, first-hand. The very definition of community is one of a group of people having the same interests,2 and we at Chemistry of Materials are certainly interested in the chemistry of materials, like our authors and readers. At this point, the hoopla of the annual June release of impact factors from Thomson-Reuters, and its Journal Citation Reports, will have faded, and while we are proud that our impact factor has increased to an all-time high of 9.4, we of course recognize that there are other journals in the area of materials, broadly defined, that have higher impact factors. As a community journal, our goal is to publish creative research in chemistry of materials of the highest standards. We do not favor (or disfavor!) research in “hot” areas of science simply to game the impact factor. One can never predict the future of science, and so our goal has always been, and always will be, to publish your thoughtful and original papers that are of interest to the community of materials chemists. Of course, as a community journal, we always would like to hear from youfind us at a conference, or contact us via email or Twitter (@ChemMater).
Jillian M. Buriak, Editor-in-Chief
© 2016 American Chemical Society
Published: July 12, 2016 4523
DOI: 10.1021/acs.chemmater.6b02545 Chem. Mater. 2016, 28, 4523−4523
