Fiona McKenzie, Executive Editor – Chemical Society Reviews Blog

Author Archive

Chem Soc Rev now features Altmetrics

10 Dec 2013

We are pleased to announce the inclusion of Altmetrics on Chem Soc Rev.

With a constantly changing publishing landscape and changes to the way people use scientific literature, altmetrics is a measure that can monitor the level of conversation and interest in a particular piece of research at the article level. Thus altmetrics provides an additional modern metric for our authors to measure the impact of their work, rather than rely solely on citations and impact factor.

To view altmetrics on Chem Soc Rev articles, use the Metrics tab as pictured below on the article landing page.

A press release from Altmetrics is available on our website.

What do you think? We are interested to hear your feedback on this new development and how you are utilising these new types of metrics. Please leave your comments below.

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Tailoring nanoparticles: Suits you sir!

07 Feb 2012

There are many diagnostic and therapeutic applications within medicine where nanoparticles can find use, as Chem Soc Rev’s forthcoming Nanomedicine issue demonstrates. Nanoparticles made from a diverse range of materials such as gold, iron, silica and polymers bring specific benefits to the medical field. However, these nanoparticles need to be designed so that they can be delivered to and interact with the target biosystem. This is achievable by changing the nanoparticle surface coating as Vincent Rotello and co-workers illustrate in their Highlight review.

Graphical abstract: Surface functionalization of nanoparticles for nanomedicine Just as you would dress up to go to a 5 star restaurant, swapping your jeans and T-shirt for a suit jacket and tie, a nanoparticle’s coating needs to be tailored to suit the application. Nanoparticle ‘coats’ can be made from a variety of ‘fabrics’ which include small molecules that change the surface charge and therefore the cellular uptake properties. Polymer coatings can create ‘stealth’ nanoparticles, preventing serum protein adsorption thus increasing circulation times in the body, whilst other polymers act as gate keepers allowing drugs to escape from nanocages only when desired. If the coat is made from biomolecules, they can be selected so the resulting nanoparticle will actively target specific cancerous tumours.

Those researchers who modify the surface functionality of nanoparticles can be considered as master tailors who must make sure that the coat they prepare is appropriate for the occasion. This means ensuring it is stable in biological media; is non-cytotoxic; and specific for particular cells or tissues. For those starting out in this field, Rotello’s Highlight review article provides a general overview of the materials/fabrics available for preparing nanoparticle coats. When you discover a surface coat that improves the efficiency of your nanoparticles to treat a disease, you can’t help but say “Suits you sir!”

Read ‘Surface functionalization of nanoparticles for nanomedicine’ >

The Nanomedicine themed issue will be online soon. Sign up to the Chem Soc Rev e-alert to be notified when it is available.

Posted on behalf of Iain Larmour, Chem Soc Rev web science writer.

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Chem Soc Rev in a nutshell. Fact number 24

23 Dec 2011

As of 2012, Chem Soc Rev now publishes 24 issues per year making us the most frequently published chemistry review journal.

How far we have come considering 10 years ago, we only published 6 issues and 36 reviews a year!

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Chem Soc Rev in a nutshell. Fact number 23

22 Dec 2011

It is at the end of this calendar year that we sadly say farewell to Editorial Board member, Professor Carsten Bolm, who has now completed his term of service on the Board after 10 years.

Carsten is based at RWTH Aachen University and his research interests include asymmetric synthesis using organometallic reagents and organo- and metal-mediated catalysis.

Carsten has been instrumental in raising awareness of Chem Soc Rev across Germany and the organic community. We sincerely thank him for all of the advice and expertise that he has offered over the years, including his support as guest editor, alongside fellow Editorial Board member, Professor Huw Davies, for the 2007 themed issue on Organometallics in Heterocyclic Chemistry.

A big thank you and goodbye from all of us at Chem Soc Rev!

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Chem Soc Rev in a nutshell. Fact number 22

21 Dec 2011

The Chem Soc Rev Advisory Editorial Board was only introduced 8 years ago. And on a personal note, I don’t know what we would do without them now! Our Advisory Board help support the Editorial Board, encouraging top quality submissions and publications and driving up awareness of Chem Soc Rev across the community.

We have 43 Advisory Editorial Board members, based all over the world. To find out who’s on our Editorial and Advisory Editorial Boards, visit our staff pages.

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Chem Soc Rev in a nutshell. Fact number 21

21 Dec 2011

The most cited article in Chem Soc Rev from the last 10 years is Stuart James’ 2003 review article on Metal–organic frameworks, which has received 1,265 citations to date (Thomson Reuters®).

Over the past 10 years, research efforts towards metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) have increased rapidly, and in response to this, Chem Soc Rev published the 2009 themed issue on Metal-Organic Frameworks, guest edited by Professors Jeffrey Long and Omar Yaghi. To find out more about the design and synthesis of these materials, their properties and applications, read the articles today…

For some more recent MOF reviews, why not download Ch. Wöll’s review, MOF thin films: existing and future applications, or Seth Cohen’s review on Postsynthetic modification of metal–organic frameworks—a progress report?

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Chem Soc Rev in a nutshell. Fact number 20

20 Dec 2011

The institutions publishing the greatest number of reviews (Scopus^®) in Chem Soc Rev over the past 3 years are:

Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA

Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium

University of Oxford, UK

University of Cambridge, UK

Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences, People’s Republic of China

…and of course, many more..!

At Chem Soc Rev, we are pleased to continue attracting authors from leading institutions as well as keeping our content and readership totally international.

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Chem Soc Rev in a nutshell. Fact number 19

19 Dec 2011

Chem Soc Rev, alongside ChemComm and Chemical Science, has recently recruited 5 new community science writers for our blogs – we are pleased to welcome Alice Williamson, Cally Haynes, Sarah Brown, Iain Larmour and Scott McKellar.


Alice Williamson	Cally Haynes	Sarah Brown	Iain Larmour	Scott McKellar

Read Iain’s latest blog to hear his thoughts on Fraser Stoddart, Bartosz Grzybowski, and Dean Astumian‘s Tutorial Review: “Great expectations: can artificial molecular machines deliver on their promise?“.

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Chem Soc Rev in a nutshell. Fact number 18

16 Dec 2011

Chem Soc Rev publishes more review articles than any other chemistry review journal. In 2011, we published 315 review articles – more than doubling our content from 5 years ago.

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Chem Soc Rev in a nutshell. Fact number 17

14 Dec 2011

Deputy Editor, Joanne Thomson, has a black belt in Karate.

Joanne showing off some Karate moves in the early days

Also on a belt-theme (although unrelated to martial arts), David Eisenberg, Roy Shenhar and Mordecai Rabinovitz have published a Tutorial Review on “Synthetic approaches to aromatic belts: building up strain in macrocyclic polyarenes”.

Here, Rabinovitz and colleagues discuss synthetic strategies towards aromatic belts, defined as double-stranded conjugated macrocycles, such as [n]cyclacenes, [n]cyclophenacenes, Schlüter belt, and Vögtle belt.

Download the article today to read more…

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