Editorial pubs.acs.org/JPCL
Increasing the Impact of Published Work. Introducing ACS LiveSlides The Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters (JPCL) is now in its fourth year of publishing groundbreaking articles in physical chemistry with the fastest publication time. Our streamlined editorial and publication processes have allowed JPCL to make a huge impact among physical chemists, chemical physicists, biophysicists, and material scientists and engineers. Web of Science (Thomson Reuters) recently released the 2012 impact factor for JPCL of 6.585 another testimonial of our efforts to publish the highest-quality scientific papers reporting important scientific advances. The 1164 Letters and Perspectives and 50 Editorials and Commentaries published in 2010 and 2011 garnered 7765 citations in 2012 (Source: Web of Science, Thomson Reuters). JPCL is ranked number one in the Physics− Atomic Molecular and Chemical category.
Figure 1. The launch of ACS LiveSlides (http://pubs.acs.org/page/ jpclcd/ACSLiveSlides.html) offers an easy-to-use platform for authors to disseminate their significant findings using a format that engages readers in a new way.
The 2012 impact factor for JPCL of 6.585 is another testimonial of our efforts to publish the highestquality scientific papers.
authors are integrated into a user-friendly ACS LiveSlides format, which can be played on a number of web-based platforms and devices. These slideshows are directly linked to the author’s published paper through the Supporting Information. There is also a catalog of ACS LiveSlides presentations available in the “Multimedia” tab of the JPCL homepage (http://pubs.acs.org/page/jpclcd/acsliveslides. html). This new presentation concept provides readers with the opportunity to quickly capture the essence of a research project through the vision of authors. The preparation of an ACS LiveSlides presentation only requires authors to submit five to six PowerPoint slides and an MP4 audio file. “Playing” a presentation can be done using almost any web browser. ACS LiveSlides can also be accessed on mobile-friendly devices, thus offering the convenience of accessing research highlights from any location with ease. Direct links to share ACS LiveSlides with colleagues and friends on social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter is yet another feature that authors can use to promote their research. As the discussions of scientific papers in social media get tracked by sites such as Altmetric (www. altmetric.com), the necessity of integrating published work with multimedia will likely become a necessary part of scientific communication. All JPCL authors will be invited to participate in this new multimedia presentation following acceptance of their Letters. We would like to extend our sincere appreciation to all the authors who made contributions during the early phase of this project. All presentations will be available in the ACS LiveSlides collection. Why should authors consider a multimedia presentation? The vast number of scientific publications that appear today makes it difficult to track important published papers quickly. Many authors assume that publication in a high impact journal is the only way to make their work known. It is interesting to consider that when even a few of the published papers in a particular journal draw a disproportionately high number of citations, it can result in that journal being crowned with a high
The changing publication landscape and the wide availability of new electronic tools have made it increasingly important to explore new ways to disseminate published research. Since JPCL’s inception in 2010, we have been constantly working with and engaging authors to publicize their research published in JPCL in new ways. For example, Perspective videos offer a unique opportunity for authors to communicate their involvement in a particular research theme and discuss issues related to an emerging topic. So far, more than 70 videos have been catalogued on the journal homepage (http://pubs.acs. org/page/jpclcd/video/perspectives.html), as well as on the ACS Publications YouTube Channel. The more than 50 000 views that these videos have received demonstrates the increasing popularity of disseminating research through multimedia and the effectiveness that JPCL has in helping authors get their research out in this social media space. The JPC Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/ JournalofPhysicalChemistry), updated regularly with news about the journal and other interesting bits about physical chemistry and physical chemists, is another informal platform where our authors and readers can explore new physical chemistry highlights and participate in relevant discussions.
The launch of ACS LiveSlides offers an easy-to-use platform for authors to disseminate their significant findings using a format that engages readers in a new way. Recently, we introduced a new multimedia feature, ACS LiveSlides, to allow all JPCL authors to present their published work in an easy-to-prepare, short presentation format (Figure 1). The PowerPoint slides and audio narrations prepared by the © 2013 American Chemical Society
Published: July 18, 2013 2377
dx.doi.org/10.1021/jz401301z | J. Phys. Chem. Lett. 2013, 4, 2377−2378
The Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters
Editorial
impact factor.1 Also, the citations received for Reviews, Perspectives, and (for some journals) editorial matter are included in the journal impact factor calculation. It is worth noting that the citations recorded for about half of the published papers remain below the impact factor level of the corresponding journal. Interestingly, 1−3% papers fail to record even a single citation, and 15−30% of papers receive less than five citations.4 What criteria should authors take into consideration when publishing their work? Even a paper in a high impact journal might lead to few, if any, citations if the topic is not relevant to that journal’s readership, whereas a specialized or topical journal may draw the desired attention by readers of the appropriate scientific community. As noted in a recent editorial in Science, the journal impact factor should not be used to gauge the impact of any given published work.2 Impact factors are meant to assist librarians in selecting journals and not meant to judge the specific impact of individual papers. The real impact of a published work lies in its scientific (and perhaps commercial) merit, carefully executed study, and its ability to attract broad interest from researchers.
magnetochemistry using the examples of metal porphyrins and metal phthalocyanines containing first-row transition-metal ions. We would like to thank the ACS Publications staff for their efforts in bringing the ACS LiveSlides feature to the JPCL readership. It is our hope that the JPCL authors will embrace ACS LiveSlides as an easy way to gain an edge in raising the impact of their published work.
Prashant V. Kamat, Deputy Editor
University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, Indiana
George C. Schatz, Editor-in-Chief
■
Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois
REFERENCES
(1) Editorial, Beware the Impact Factor. Nat. Mater. 2013, 12, 89, DOI: 10.1038/nmat3566. (2) Alberts, B. Impact Factor Distortions. Science 2013, 340, 787− 787. (3) Kamat, P. V.; Schatz, G. C. How to Make Your Next Paper Scientifically Effective. J. Phys. Chem. Lett. 2013, 4, 1578−1581. (4) On the basis of citations of 2011−2012 papers published in a few leading journals with impact factors greater than 6 (as of May 30, 2013). Source Web of Science. (5) Be Found or Perish: Writing Scientific Manuscripts for the Digital Age. Bio-Journals, ACS Publications Link; http://pubs.acs.org/bio/ ACS-Guide-Writing-Manuscripts-for-the-Digital-Age.pdf (2013).
This new presentation concept provides readers with the opportunity to quickly capture the essence of a research project through the vision of authors.
■
EDITOR'S NOTE Views expressed in this editorial are those of the authors and not necessarily the views of the ACS.
It is essential that all published work receives well-deserved attention. In a previous JPCL Editorial, we discussed important points for authors to consider in composing effective scientific papers.3 Even after publication, authors and journal editors and publishers can take additional steps to promote the published research findings. A recent ACS Publications guide explains why authors should take additional measures to publicize their research findings and thus increase the impact of their published work.5 The use of multimedia platforms, such as ACS LiveSlides (introduced by JPCL) and JPCL Perspective videos, provide new and exciting ways for authors to draw the attention of Internet and mobile app-savvy readers to their work.
The real impact of a published work lies in its scientific (and perhaps commercial) merit, carefully executed study, and its ability to attract broad interest from researchers. The current issue of JPCL highlights a Perspective on the topic of magnetochemistry. In their Perspective, Ballav and coworkers discuss recent advances in on-surface magnetochemistry (Ballav, N.; Waeckerlin, C.; Oppeneer, P.; Jung, T. Emergence of On-Surface Magnetochemistry. J. Phys. Chem. Lett. 2013, 4, 2303−2311). Careful manipulation of coordination chemistry of surface-supported complexes offers a distinctive possibility of controlling their magnetic properties. It is interesting to note that surface−molecule interactions, which play an important role in dictating magnetochemical effects, arise beyond those known from classical coordination chemistry. The Perspective authors present recent advances in 2378
dx.doi.org/10.1021/jz401301z | J. Phys. Chem. Lett. 2013, 4, 2377−2378
