Program Highlights

Living up to their reputation as “most trusted, most cited, and most-read,” ACS Publications developed new and enhanced content and delivery options. At the same time, its 47 peer-reviewed journals continued their preeminence in citations and Impact Factors. According to 2014 Journal Citation Reports®, which were released by Thomson Reuters in June 2015, ACS journals continued to perform extremely well. They lead 14 categories in either citations or Impact Factor, including six core chemistry areas, and received more than 2.4 million total annual citations.

ACS Publications advanced the Society’s mission through the publication of new peer-reviewed journals and books. The Publications Division completed the successful first full calendar year of publication of ACS Biomaterials Science & Engineering and ACS Infectious Diseases, expanding into these key scientific fields. The Division also successfully launched its first completely open access journal, ACS Central Science, first publishing content in March 2015. As the capstone of the ACS Open Access programs, ACS Central Science provides a venue for the publication of exceptional multidisciplinary research. Marked by high editorial rigor, the journal debuted in March 2015 under the leadership of Editor-in-Chief Carolyn Bertozzi, Stanford University Professor and Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator in chemical biology.

The journal published more than 50 high-quality research articles from across chemistry and the allied sciences, including two articles authored by Nobel Laureates. ACS Central Science collaborated with C&EN staff to publish more than 20 feature articles and interviews in the journal. In collaboration with the ACS Office of Public Affairs, the journal introduced embargoed press releases to bolster media coverage, resulting in significant global media coverage, with more than 250 news stories published across more than 150 different media outlets with a combined total circulation of more than 500 million people. The journal also upheld rapid time from submission to publication of just 9 weeks, faster than all competitors, and engaged global readers with published articles. ACS Central Science is already laying claim to be a top-tier multidisciplinary journal that will rival the elite weekly science journals.

The Division’s “ACS is Open” initiative successfully expanded the Society’s position as an Open Access Publisher by growing its various open access initiatives. ACS Editors’ Choice continued making available one noteworthy article from the portfolio each day as open access, selected by the journals’ chief editors. ACS Editors’ Choice featured articles from every ACS journal and those articles attracted almost 2 million page views in 2015. Starting in January 2015, authors were able to redeem their ACS Author Rewards credits which were provided to more than 40,000 corresponding authors in 2014. The ACS ChemWorx app enabled authors to easily track their available vouchers throughout the year. 2015 also saw significantly more authors choosing ACS AuthorChoice open access licenses.

ACS Publications strengthened connections around the world through key strategic outreach initiatives and a strong presence at conferences and exhibits. In 2015, an ACS Publications delegation visited Hong Kong, Shanghai, and Beijing to build relationships with more than ten leading universities, institutes, and organizations. Three ACS on Campus events convened in Hong Kong, Harbin and Changchun in conjunction with this delegation. ACS Publications also maintained strong ties with researchers in India and in other key regions. These outreach trips have resulted in new editorial appointments and manuscript submissions from around the world. ACS Publications also expanded its global customer reach in 2015 with the hiring of Market Development managers in Hong Kong and India.

Usage of the ACS Publications web platform continued to rise. In 2015, the platform delivered over 1 million original research articles, book chapters and news stories, and registered over 300 million page views each year from a global community of scientists. ACS ID registrants now exceed 400,000 individuals thanks in part to a new internally developed e-alert registration widget that simplified the process. This audience collectively received over 50 million e-alerts with reading recommendations tailored to their preferences.

In 2015, the Division introduced ACS2Go, its new mobile delivery capability that enables users complete access to the ACS Publications suite of journals on smartphones and tablets even when not directly connected to their campus network. ACS2Go enables users to browse journals and articles; download articles to mobile devices for offline reading; search journals by keyword, author or title; scan recently published ASAP articles; view and search references and related links; share articles and links via email; and select journals/articles as favorites for quick reference from a user’s home screen. To enhance the mobile user experience even further, ACS upgraded its proprietary ACS ActiveView document viewer to support HTML, offering device independent screen configuration, high resolution image handling and display and faster document load time.

ACS Publications implemented a strategic partnership with Figshare, an open repository that promotes broad discoverability of scientific research data. The ACS-Figshare partnership provides for improved archiving and access to open data sets and other supporting information that often accompanies articles published in ACS journals. The new technology also enables interaction with the research material via a new visualization tool on journal websites. This new functionality has been extended for compatibility with crystallographic data and many other file formats, including video and other multimedia.

ACS Publications integrated the use of social media to reach audiences beyond its typical marketing outreach. In 2015, the Division’s total “followers” on Twitter and Facebook increased significantly. A key new effort in social media is the new content marketing blog, ACS Axial. Patterned after the award winning “Marketing Elements” blog launched by C&EN in 2014, this program encourages engagement with ACS as users subscribe to receive information in their areas of interest.