DOI: 10.1021/cg101671k
2011, Vol. 11 1–3
Ten Years of Experience: How Can We Put It to Good Use?
Welcome to the second decade of Crystal Growth & Design! You have probably already noticed our new cover design, a reflection of our move into our 11th year of publication, but before I explain the cover image, let me briefly comment on the past, present, and future of CGD. Are there lessons learned that will help the Journal and our community grow? The Past I spent some time in my January 2010 editorial1 describing the history and growing impact of Crystal Growth & Design as it entered its 10th anniversary year, but let’s briefly review the status of CGD as exemplified with statistics. As Figure 1 shows, there has been excellent growth in the total number of citations to CGD and the Impact Factor has held relatively steady as the number of papers has climbed. Importantly, there has been tremendous growth in the number of articles viewed on the web, with usage more than doubling in the last five years alone! It is clear that Crystal Growth & Design has become a journal of choice for many interested in the science and engineering of the crystalline state of matter. A review of the CGD’s Top 10 Most Cited Articles and the Top 10 Most Prolific Authors (see Tables 1 and 2) provides
clear evidence that this scientific community has diverse and interrelated interest. I find this gratifying since this was the original intent in founding CGD. The Journal’s aim remains the same as it was 10 years ago and is just as valid today as it was then: The aim of Crystal Growth & Design is to stimulate crossfertilization of knowledge among scientists and engineers working in the fields of Crystal Growth, Crystal Engineering, and the Industrial Application of Crystalline Materials. Table 1. Top 10a Most Prolific Crystal Growth & Design Authors 1 2 5 6
Nangia, A. Bu, X. H. Du, M. Roberts, K. J. Vlieg, E. Hong, M. C.
7 8
Raston, C. L. Qian, Y. T.
9 10
Davey, R. J. Batten, S. R. Zaworotko, M. J. a
University of Hyderabad Nankai University Tianjin Normal University University of Leeds Radboud University Nijmegen Fujian Institute of Research on the Structure of Matter, Chinese Academy of Sciences University of Western Australia University of Science and Technology of China University of Manchester Monash University University of South Florida
11 as a result of ties.
Figure 1. Growth in CGD citations and Impact Factor. r 2011 American Chemical Society
Published on Web 01/05/2011
pubs.acs.org/crystal
2 Crystal Growth & Design, Vol. 11, No. 1, 2011
Table 2. Top 10 Most Cited Papers in the History of Crystal Growth & Design 1 Brammer, L.; Bruton, E. A.; Sherwood, P. Understanding the behavior of halogens as hydrogen bond acceptors. Cryst. Growth Des. 2001, 1, 277-290. DOI: 10.1021/cg015522k 2 Fleischman, S. G.; Kuduva, S. S.; McMahon, J. A.; Moulton, B.; Walsh, R. D. B.; Rodriguez-Hornedo, N.; Zaworotko, M. J. Crystal engineering of the composition of pharmaceutical phases: Multiplecomponent crystalline solids involving carbamazepine. Cryst. Growth Des. 2003, 3, 909-919. DOI: 10.1021/cg034035x 3 Atwood, J. L.; Barbour, L. J. Molecular graphics: From science to art. Cryst. Growth Des. 2003, 3, 3-8. DOI: 10.1021/cg020063o 4 Trask, A. V.; Motherwell, W. D. S.; Jones, W. Pharmaceutical cocrystallization: Engineering a remedy for caffeine hydration. Cryst. Growth Des. 2005, 5, 1013-1021. DOI: 10.1021/cg0496540 5 Walsh, R. B.; Padgett, C. W.; Metrangolo, P.; Resnati, G.; Hanks, T. W.; Pennington, W. T. Crystal engineering through halogen bonding: Complexes of nitrogen heterocycles with organic iodides. Cryst. Growth Des. 2001, 1, 165-175. DOI: 10.1021/cg005540m 6 Weissbuch, I.; Lahav, M.; Leiserowitz, L. Toward stereochentical control, monitoring, and understanding of crystal nucleation. Cryst. Growth Des. 2003, 3, 125-150. DOI: 10.1021/cg0200560 7 Bhogala, B. R.; Nangia, A. Cocrystals of 1,3,5-cyclohexanetricarboxylic acid with 4,40 -bipyridine homologues: Acid center dot center dot center dot pyridine hydrogen bonding in neutral and ionic complexes. Cryst. Growth Des. 2003, 3, 547-554. DOI: 10.1021/ cg034047i 8 Zhang, H.; Yang, D. R.; Li, D. S.; Ma, X. Y.; Li, S. Z.; Que, D. L. Controllable growth of ZnO microcrystals by a capping-moleculeassisted hydrothermal process Cryst. Growth Des. 2005, 5, 547-550. DOI: 10.1021/cg049727f 9 (tie) Lu, Y.; Xu, Y.; Wang, E. B.; Lu, J.; Hu, C. W.; Xu, L. Novel twodimensional network constructed from polyoxomolybdate chains linked through copper-organonitrogen coordination polymer chains: Hydrothermal synthesis and structure of [H2bpy][Cu(4,40 -bpy)]2[HPCuMo11O39]. Cryst. Growth Des. 2005, 5, 257-260. DOI: 10.1021/cg0498960 (tie) Chang, Y.; Zeng, H. C. Controlled synthesis and. self-assembly of single-crystalline CuO nanorods and nanoribbons. Cryst. Growth Des. 2004, 4, 397-402. DOI: 10.1021/cg034127m
For a more in-depth look at the scope, depth, and breath of Crystal Growth & Design, I invite you to read the series of commissioned Perspectives highlighting the 10 years of publication of CGD. These articles are available free of charge on CGD’s 10th Anniversary Web site, URL: http://pubs.acs.org/ page/cgdefu/anniversary/10/index.html. The Present I must admit that 2010 has proven to be quite a whirlwind year for Crystal Growth & Design. While we have been celebrating our past, there has been a tremendous amount of effort to ensure the Journal’s future. We have been going to specialty meetings around the world to understand future needs, sponsoring major conferences in the field, engaging in strategic planning, and developing new web-based tools to foster the growing number of CGD contributors. Let me review a few of these activities before discussing the future. 2010 saw further development of our Virtual Special Issues (VSIs) as a ready mechanism to collect and highlight related articles in a readily accessible format. Virtual special issues are collected and indexed on the CGD Web site at URL: http:// pubs.acs.org/page/cgdefu/vi/index.html. Each issue is complete with a special cover, a table of contents, and an introduction by the Guest Editors. This is a great way to highlight emerging fields, conference activities, or state-of-the-art contributions. The papers are rigorously reviewed in our normal process and published as soon as the galleys are accepted by the authors, thus not delaying publication. The extra attention these papers and a field can receive using the VSI approach
Rogers
makes this a valuable tool. I encourage you to continue to send me your ideas for new VSIs. 2010 also provided some very interesting conference opportunities. In June, Professor Gautam Desiraju chaired the first ever Gordon Research Conference on Crystal Engineering (June 6-11, 2010) in Waterville Valley, NH.2 Conferees included 158 participants from 21 countries and 5 continents; the largest first time Gordon Research Conference (GRC) ever held. Students were well represented with over 21% of the total attendance. The large turnout and vigorous discussions (including over 110 posters) provided further evidence that the field of Crystal Engineering (the design and synthesis of functional solid-state structures based on a bottom-up approach from smaller building blocks such as neutral organic molecules and organic or inorganic ions) is one of the more contemporary areas of chemical research today. The discussions were a very eclectic blend of ideas, techniques, and strategies, including organic molecular crystals and metal-organic framework solids. The success of the 2010 GRC prompted approval of a new feature for the 2012 GRC on Crystal Engineering. A special Gordon Research Symposium, organized by and for students and postdoctoral associates has been approved for the Saturday and Sunday preceding the 2012 meeting (dates and location to be announced). This “GRS” will only have student and postdoctoral speakers providing them an opportunity to interact in the traditional GRC style. This is important to the future development of the next generation of crystal engineers and one of a number of new initiatives we are taking to encourage and foster the development of the younger generation of scientists. I will discuss this more below in the context of the CGD Network. First, let me finish my review of highlighted meetings with two countries (among many!) very important to Crystal Growth & Design and the scientific community, China and India. I have personally observed excellent and innovative structural science emanating from both countries. I was therefore quite pleased to be invited to a fascinating joint meeting between the two countries moderated by Singapore. The First China-India-Singapore Symposium on Crystal Engineering was held July 30-August 2, 2010, in Singapore and I invite you to read my recent editorial on this meeting.3 The Singapore meeting led me to realize that the structural science in India may not be getting the same level of attention as that in China, while the science is just as innovative. In order to address this, Gautam Desiraju and I organized the Crystal Growth & Design-India Summit and Current Trends in Crystal Engineering Research symposium in Bangalore, India, December 2-3, 2010. CGD will also be hosting an invitation-only virtual special issue “Structural Chemistry in India - Emerging Themes” edited by Prof. Gautam Desiraju and me. Watch for this important VSI in early 2011 and learn more about how a scientific discipline can help one chemical industry grow from $1.9M in exports to over $60B in less than 10 years! The Future Birthdays and anniversaries are times not only for reflection, but also for looking forward. In 2010, CGD engaged in strategic planning to help chart our future course. What I enjoyed about this process was that it encompassed not only the status of CGD and the fields of science we cover, but also reviewed how people publish, read, and conduct
Editorial
science today. It allowed me to more clearly understand the relationship between social networking as it was when I was growing up and as it is today. Two of the major goals developed are essential to maintaining the overall quality of the Journal and in essence have driven CGD from the beginning of its existence: • CGD will remain the flagship publication in the community, through improved publication standards and faster publication times; • CGD will capture emerging topic areas and strengthen loyalty in existing ones. However, one of the goals has new meaning in today’s society: • CGD will foster and engage the expanding community of researchers exploring the crystalline state of matter. Ten years ago, this meant providing high quality publication services, supporting meetings where scientists could meet and interact, and encouraging young professionals to expand their knowledge. Today, I believe this means all of the above and providing new means of communication, particularly expression, visibility, and networking. Thus, our fourth goal: • CGD will lead in web-based technologies and innovations, to better serve the needs of its community. While meeting this goal will require constant effort, I do want to bring your attention to what I consider to be a valuable tool for everyone in our community: the CGD Network (URL: https://communities.acs.org/community/cgdnetwork). The CGD Network is a new online science and engineering community that enables one to keep up with the latest research, share thoughts and opinions, and interact with scientists from around the world. It has been designed to give voice and visibility to our scientific community. The CGD Network is being led by a world leader in the field, Prof. Mike Zaworotko (University of South Florida), who serves as Community Editor. He leads a carefully selected Board of Editors made up of leading scientists from around the world including: € Almarsson, Alkermes Inc. • Orn • Stuart Batten, Monash University • Kumar Biradha, Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur • Roland Boese, University of Duisburg-Essen • Susan Bourne, University of Cape Town • Ling Chen, Fujian Institute of Research on the Structure of Matter, Chinese Academy of Sciences • Graeme Day, University of Cambridge • Javier Ellena, University of S~ ao Paulo • Vladimir Fedin, Nikolaev Institute of Inorganic Chemistry • Jason Leonard, Fitzpatrick, Cella, Harper & Scinto • Shilun Qiu, Jilin University • Jagadese J. “JJ” Vittal, National University of Singapore
Crystal Growth & Design, Vol. 11, No. 1, 2011 3
This new online forum allows one to connect, communicate, and collaborate via a dynamic mix of constantly updated features including: • Discussions on the latest research and hot-button issues in the field • Weekly highlights and reviews of groundbreaking papers and patents • “Structure of the Week” competition • Research funding opportunities • Job and postdoc placement opportunities • Conference promotion and highlights The CGD Network is a forum within the ACS Network, a social network designed for the chemical community. While viewing all content is free and requires no logon credentials, you will need to login and create a profile (also free) so that you can participate in the discussions, comment on the content available, and receive notifications and news from the CGD Network. Let me finish by highlighting a benefit to participating in the CGD Network that may not be intuitively obvious to everyone, especially our next generation of scientists and engineers. “Rising through the ranks” in previous times often meant high quality publications, grants, etc., but it also meant gaining stature and visibility through presentations at meetings with the accompanying interactions with other participants. In today’s society, the latter can now be accomplished by taking a proactive role within the social media available. Younger scientists can and should take advantage of this and become active in the international scientific community. Find your voice, create your own visibility, and help build and nurture your own community. Leaders are always needed. I invite your feedback on other ways we can work to improve Crystal Growth & Design. While everyone’s input is encouraged, I am particularly interested in comments from our next generation related to how we can improve the delivery of content and networking opportunities within our field that suits the ever changing ways of conducting and communicating science. The next 10 years promise to be very exciting as new science and new applications emerge from the growth in our understanding of the crystalline state of matter and our ability to thus design crystalline materials for exacting technological needs. Please continue to allow Crystal Growth & Design to represent and communicate your science, by sending us your best papers and continually updating us on your needs.
References (1) Rogers, R. D. 10th anniversary anticipation. Cryst. Growth Des. 2010, 10, 1–2. (2) See the conference report Ramana, A.; Rao, B. G. GRC 2010 on crystal engineering - a crystallizing experience. Curr. Sci. 2010, 99, 271–272. (3) Rogers, R. D. When giants cooperate instead of collide. Cryst. Growth Des. 2010, 10, 4671.
Robin D. Rogers Editor-in-Chief The University of Alabama
