ACS’s creative innovation in information services made the International Year of Chemistry 2011 a banner year for chemists to find and publish groundbreaking research.
ACS Publications developed and published two new titles, ACS Catalysis and ACS Medicinal Chemistry Letters, and completed an early editorial and marketing launch of ACS Macro Letters and ACS Synthetic Biology.
In 2011, ACS extended its mobile program to the Android environment. Like the Apple iOs version, ACS Mobile for Android provides mobile telephone and tablet users with an up-to-the-minute live stream of peer-reviewed research published in ACS journals and is augmented with the latest news from Chemical & Engineering News (C&EN). In August 2011, a free dedicated C&EN Mobile app was introduced for iPhones, iPads, and Android mobile devices. The app makes C&EN Online Latest News, the CENtral Science network of blogs, and online job postings available to anyone. In October, subscription access to C&EN content via C&EN Mobile was established as a new, free ACS member benefit. Members can access all new C&EN issues on their smartphone or tablet at no charge.
With a record 78 million full-text downloads from the ACS Publications Web Editions platform and #1 rankings in 14 subject categories by ISI Impact Factor or total citations, ACS journals are affirmed by the global chemistry community as the most trusted, most cited, and most read publications.
ACS Publications launched a new educational, web-based video series, Publishing Your Research 101, designed to support researchers with the process of writing, reviewing, submitting, and editing original scholarly research for publication in peer-reviewed journals.
Editorially, C&EN made three significant contributions to the celebration of the International Year of Chemistry. First, the cover story of the June 27, 2011, issue, “Celebrating IYC 2011,” contained five essays by prominent scientists on ways chemistry contributes to the well-being of humanity; a biographical profile of Marie Curie, who received her Nobel Prize in Chemistry one hundred years ago in 1911; a comment on IYC by ACS President Nancy Jackson; and an editorial on the celebration by Editor-in-chief Rudy Baum. Second, C&EN carried a series of 12 “IYC Profiles” of ACS members native to foreign countries where there are very few ACS members. The chemists profiled work in Cuba, Fiji, Lebanon, Burkina Faso, Moldova, Azerbaijan, Vietnam, Ghana, Mauritius, Bosnia, Mongolia, and Honduras. Finally, CENtral Science introduced an IYC 2011 blog to chronicle events associated with the celebration throughout the year.
The Chemical Abstracts Service (CAS) set new milestones for database growth, analyzing more than 1.5 million patents, journal articles, and other disclosed research sources, for a new total of more than 35 million indexed records. CAS’ reaction database saw even greater gains, with growth exceeding 8.7 million new reactions. Thanks to the more than 1,000 scientists around the world who assemble, curate, and assure the quality of the CAS databases, researchers can also explore the largest collection of disclosed chemical synthesis information, including more than 38 million single- and multi-step reactions from 1840 to the present.
CAS added more than 1.6 million reaction experimental procedures for all ACS journals and English language patents from major patent offices (i.e., USPTO, CIPO, EPO, UK-IPO, and WIPO) from 2000 through 2011. CAS also reached agreements with other publishers to add more experimental procedures that will be made available in SciFinder in early 2012. In 2011, the CAS REGISTRYSM, the world’s largest collection of small molecules, celebrated registration of the 60 millionth substance.
CAS continued to innovate. SciFinder Mobile® was launched in April to provide SciFinder users with convenient smartphone access to the world’s best chemical and related information.
More than 24,185 people participated in ACS National Meetings in Anaheim and Denver in 2011. Participants presented more than 16,700 papers at these two meetings. For those unable to attend or who missed a presentation, ACS posted 929 presentations online after the meetings concluded. In all, 23,897 unique visitors viewed these online presentations by year-end.
The Board of Directors initiated a new format for Open Board meetings in Denver to broaden ACS member participation. The meetings were changed to limit the number of oral reports and to focus on engaging ACS members in open forum discussions of meaningful topics. The new more flexible format encourages dialog based on a theme. The theme for the Denver meeting was, “What the ACS is doing or could do to assist members who are facing employment challenges in uncertain economic times.” More than 200 members participated. This new format will continue in 2012.
The ACS Petroleum Research Fund’s 55th Annual Report is yet another source of important scientific information available online. In 2011, the ACS PRF funded 184 grants, totaling more than $16 million. In 2012, ACS PRF anticipates awarding up to $18 million in fundamental research grants.
With these resources and continuing advances, ACS is truly “home” for chemical professionals to find the latest and most authoritative scientific information in the world.