ACS – Global Authority for Chemical Information
ACS continues to be the most authoritative, comprehensive, and indispensable provider of chemistry-related information through its Publications division, Chemical Abstracts Service, National Meeting programs, and the Petroleum Research Fund.
ACS Publications maintains its reputation as “Most Trusted. Most Cited. Most Read” by publishing groundbreaking research in its premier journals in chemistry and related sciences, Chemical & Engineering News (C&EN) and books.
In 2012, ACS members received a valuable new member benefit: expanded access to more than one million articles and book chapters from ACS publications. This new benefit is offered exclusively to ACS members. Publications, working in close collaboration with Membership and Scientific Advancement (M&SA), introduced the ACS Member Universal Access program, which is a significant expansion in ACS journal subscription options for ACS members. As part of an annual membership, this program includes options ranging from online access to any 25 articles from all ACS journals, ACS Symposium Series e-Books, C&EN Archives, and book collections, to new “Passport” collections that duplicate access rights previously limited to institutional libraries. More than 14,000 ACS members downloaded journal, book and C&EN Archive content via this program in 2012. In a survey of members conducted by M&SA six months after the introduction of the program, more than 54 percent of respondents said that this benefit made them more likely to renew their ACS membership in future years.
ACS Publications continued to innovate through the development and launch of two new peer-reviewed journals, ACS Macro Letters, and ACS Synthetic Biology, and engaged in an early editorial and marketing introduction of ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering prior to its subscription-based availability in 2013.
In 2012, ACS Publications received several recognitions. ACS won the American Association of Publishers’ Professional and Scholarly Excellence (PROSE) award for Best eProduct in Physical Sciences & Mathematics. The free C&EN Mobile app for ACS members was recognized for its innovative capabilities that provide access to daily news updates from C&EN Online, analysis and commentary from the CENtral Science blog network, and the latest chemistry job postings. Published issues automatically update to the user's device regardless of whether or not they are running the application. In addition, we have added a yearly subscription model for non-ACS members.
ACS Journals continued their preeminence in citations and Impact Factors. The 2011 Journal Citation Reports® was released by Thomson Reuters in June 2012. The ACS journal portfolio continued to perform extremely well, receiving more than 2 million total annual citations and posting a #1 ranking in either Impact Factor and/or Total Citations in 16 categories.
In 2012, CAS continued extraordinary database growth, analyzing more than 1.4 million patents, journal articles and other disclosed research sources, for a new total of more than 36 million records. Updated daily, the CAS reaction database saw even greater gains, with growth exceeding 9.1 million new reactions.
The CAS REGISTRY℠ is the world’s largest collection of small molecules. In December 2012, CAS celebrated registration of the 70 millionth substance in the CAS REGISTRY℠, just 18 months after registering the 60 millionth substance. The 70 millionth substance − a potential T-type calcium channel blocker − was disclosed in the patent application published by KIPO in Korea, and may be useful in the treatment of epilepsy, Parkinson's disease, dementia and other conditions.
CAS patent authority coverage expanded to include Eurasia in 2012. CAS now covers 63 patent authorities worldwide to ensure comprehensive patent information within its databases.
More than 30,000 people participated in ACS National Meetings in San Diego and Philadelphia in 2012. Participants presented more than 19,000 papers at these two meetings – significantly expanding the body of knowledge in dozens of chemistry-related fields.
At the 2012 ACS National Meetings, the highly anticipated and well-received Kavli Foundation Lectures continued to grow. ACS worked with The Kavli Foundation to establish a new Kavli-sponsored lecture series for 2013-2015 titled “Emerging Leader in Chemistry Lecture,” which identifies and acknowledges outstanding young scientists with exceptional individual achievements in scientific or engineering research. This new series launches in 2013 at the ACS National Meeting in New Orleans.
The National Meetings program also won the prestigious 2012 Green Leader Award offered by the Professional Convention Management Association, the leading meetings industry group.
The Petroleum Research Fund (PRF) provided more than $16 million to fund 178 grants to support basic research and advanced education in the field of petroleum and related fields. The ACS Petroleum Research Fund’s 56th e-Annual Report was posted online. This online e-annual report includes the impacts and benefits of the Fund reported by each investigator.
With so many achievements in 2012, it is clear why ACS is truly “home” for chemical professionals!