To further thank and recognise the support from our excellent reviewer community, we are highlighting reviewers who have provided exceptional support to the journal over the past year.

This month, we’ll be highlighting Dr Alexa Kuenstler, Dr John Mack, Professor AnnMarie O’Donoghue and Professor Nathalie Steunou. We asked our reviewers a few questions about what they enjoy about reviewing, and their thoughts on how to provide a useful review.

Dr Alexa Kuenstler, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (USA).  My group works at the intersection of polymer chemistry and polymer physics to develop soft materials that address challenges in sustainability, energy, and human health.

Dr John Mack, Rhodes University (South Africa). I use molecular modelling to guide the rational selection of porphyrins and their analogues for applications, often in the context of their nanoparticle conjugates. The applications include use as photosensitizer dyes in photodynamic therapy against cancer cells and antibiotic-resistant bacterial strains, and as optical limiting materials for attenuating intense incident laser pulses.

Professor AnnMarie O’Donoghue, Durham University (United Kingdom). I am a physical organic chemist focused on the detailed understanding of reaction mechanism in organo- and enzymatic catalysis. Following decades of impressive developments and identification of many new catalysts, I strongly believe that further progress will depend on in-depth understanding of mechanism and is particularly important in addressing sustainability goals.

Professor Nathalie Steunou, Université de Versailles – Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (France). The research of Nathalie Steunou is focused on the design of hybrid inorganic-organic materials including MOFs and composites for energy, health and environment related applications.

What encouraged you to review for Chemical Science?

Dr Alexa Kuenstler: Chemical Science publishes work at interdisciplinary interfaces – I both value this scientific ethos and appreciate the opportunity to serve the greater scientific community.

Dr John Mack: The very high quality of this journal means that almost all manuscripts sent out for review are likely to be on the cutting edge in terms of the fields I am involved in.

Professor AnnMarie O’Donoghue: Chemical Science is one of the flagship international RSC journals. It is good to support both the journal and the chemistry field more widely through provision of reviews.

Professor Nathalie Steunou: Reviewing articles is one of the scientific activities a researcher must carry out, and it’s always very interesting to read articles covering interdisciplinary topics in chemistry and materials science and to have the opportunity to exchange scientific views with the authors.

What do you enjoy most about reviewing?

Dr Alexa Kuenstler: I enjoy the opportunity to engage with cutting-edge work that is cross-disciplinary.

Dr John Mack: Although it can be time-consuming at times, it does provide an opportunity to stay current on how a broader scientific field is developing with regards to what experiments are possible with regards to the characterization of compounds and the analysis of their properties and utility for applications while providing a service to the broader scientific community as part of the basic obligations of being an academic.

Professor AnnMarie O’Donoghue: I enjoy the insights provided of current state-of-the-art developments and concepts in chemistry. I also learn from the different presentation styles of Chemical Science authors. I am always impressed by the creative graphics included by authors!

Professor Nathalie Steunou: It’s very important to read the recent works submitted by my scientific community and to keep abreast of scientific advances. It’s also a time for scientific exchanges and, of course, a time for reflection on one’s own work.

What advice would you give a first-time author looking to maximise their chances of successful peer review?

Dr Alexa Kuenstler: Good papers tell good stories – use compelling figures to present interesting data and use the text to place these into the broader context of the work. Above all, make sure the work teaches the community something!

Dr John Mack: It is extremely important to master how to use software such as Excel and Powerpoint to present their data sets as clearly as possible to the reviewer.

What makes a paper truly stand out for you when reviewing a paper?

Professor AnnMarie O’Donoghue: It can be difficult to give the necessary time to providing detailed, constructive, balanced reviews as we are all time-pressed, however, it is one of the most important contributions we can make to the community. Particularly for Early Career Researchers, I think it is very important to maintain a positive, constructive tone and highlight positive aspects of a manuscript in addition to potential areas for improvement.

Do you have any advice to our readers seeking publication in Chemical Science on what makes a good paper?

Professor Nathalie Steunou: I don’t have any advice to give, just an opinion. To write a good article is to concisely tell a creative scientific story and, as a result, send a message that is likely to be of interest to the entire chemistry community.

Are there any steps that reviewers can undertake to improve the quality of their review?

Dr John Mack: I think it is important to avoid only being harshly negative when it becomes necessary to outright reject a paper. Time should be taken to leave the corresponding author with a clear picture of what you think they will need to do in future to reach the level that they aspire to.

Professor AnnMarie O’Donoghue: It can be difficult to give the necessary time to providing detailed, constructive, balanced reviews as we are all time-pressed, however, it is one of the most important contributions we can make to the community. Particularly for Early Career Researchers, I think it is very important to maintain a positive, constructive tone and highlight positive aspects of a manuscript in addition to potential areas for improvement.

Did reviewing for Chemical Science affect how you approached preparation of your recent publication with us?

Professor Nathalie Steunou: Writing a really good article isn’t easy, and you learn a lot about writing by reading and assessing the work of others.

Tune in next month to meet our next group of #ChemSciReviewers!

If you want to learn more about how we support our reviewers, check out our Reviewer Hub.

Interested in joining our ever-growing reviewer community? Apply here now!

To further thank and recognise the support from our excellent reviewer community, we are highlighting reviewers who have provided exceptional support to the journal over the past year.

This month, we’ll be highlighting Professor Anna Pasternak, Dr Joshua Barham and Professor Abhishek Dey. We asked our reviewers a few questions about what they enjoy about reviewing, and their thoughts on how to provide a useful review.

Professor Anna Pasternak, Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry, Polish Academy of Sciences. The research of Professor Anna Pasternak’s group is focused on development of novel, nucleic acid based therapeutics, such as ASOs, SSOs, aptamers, triplexes and G-quadruplexes, targeted towards cardiovascular and cancer diseases. The particular interest includes not only their biological activity but also structural aspects which are crucial to understand their action within living cells.

Dr Joshua Barham, University of Regensburg. Dr Joshua Barham’s research uses emerging technologies for chemical synthesis that are powered by safe, sustainable energy sources like visible light and electricity. His research group develops catalysts that harness these energy sources to access highly reactive chemical intermediates under very mild conditions. Their vision is to valorize this technology to streamline the synthesis of active pharmaceutical ingredients, utilize biomass feedstocks, and recycle persistent pollutants.

Professor Abhishek Dey, Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science. Professor Abhishek Dey is interested in understanding and facilitating chemical reactions involving multiple electron multiple electron reductions of small molecules.

What encouraged you to review for Chemical Science?

Dr Joshua Barham: Chem. Sci. is the RSC’s flagship journal and it is diamond open access. It is rare for a Chemistry journal with international visibility and impact as high as Chem. Sci. to be open access, and I strongly support this principle. Therefore, I want to contribute to maintaining the high standards of Chem. Sci. by providing an appropriately high level of scrutiny and thoroughness during the peer-review process.

Professor Abhishek Dey: It’s one of the top journals in chemistry where I enjoy publishing. I feel responsible to ensure that the scientific quality of the article and inclusive nature of this journal is maintained. Hence I review for Chemical Science.

What do you enjoy most about reviewing?

Dr Joshua Barham: I particularly enjoy when authors take critical reviewer comments seriously and approach the response in a collaborative rather than combative way. For example, I have reviewed papers where the proposed mechanism was initially surprising or key control reactions were missing, and once authors addressed this it changed the story of the manuscript in a major way. Such experiences show the crucial importance of peer review. It was highly satisfying for me as a reviewer to see the value and impact that my comments had on the final manuscripts.

Professor Anna Pasternak: The possibility to verify quality of the research and improvement of the articles, if necessary, is the most satisfying for me.

Professor Abhishek Dey: Being able to contribute to the scientific thinking of peers across the world.

What advice would you give a first-time author looking to maximise their chances of successful peer review?

Professor Anna Pasternak: Do not rush, make a story – write in such way that the reader will be interested in the article, use logical interpretation of the results, never over-interpret the data, support discussion with already published facts, and last but not least – ask a friend to read the draft critically and give you advice before submission – another point of view is invaluable.

Tune in next month to meet our next group of #ChemSciReviewers!

If you want to learn more about how we support our reviewers, check out our Reviewer Hub.

Interested in joining our ever-growing reviewer community? Apply here now!

We are delighted to announce our themed collection in Chemical Science on Emerging Frontiers in Aromaticity. Guest edited by Prof. Gabriel Merino, Cinvestav Mérida (Mexico), Prof. Miquel Solà, Universitat de Girona (Spain), and Prof. Israel Fernández, Universidad Complutense de Madrid (Spain), this collection highlights the most recent methodological developments and unique aspects of aromaticity.

Read the guest editor’s insights and summary of the collection in the accompanying editorial.

The collection features a combination of Review, Perspective, Focus and Edge articles covering a variety of topics within the field of aromaticity, including metalla-aromaticity, macrocyclic aromaticity, 3D-aromaticity, Möbius aromaticity, and the aromaticity of polycyclic conjugated hydrocarbons and nanographenes.

Browse the collection, including:

Aromaticity: Quo Vadis
Gabriel Merino, Miquel Solà, Israel Fernández, Cina Foroutan-Nejad, Paolo Lazzeretti, Gernot Frenking, Harry L. Anderson, Dage Sundholm, Fernando P. Cossío, Marina A. Petrukhina, Jishan Wu, Judy I. Wu and Albeiro Restrepo
Chem. Sci., 2023, 14, 5569-5576, DOI: 10.1039/D2SC04998H

In this Perspective article, the authors aim to reflect where the aromaticity community is currently, and where it is going.

Synthesis of octagon-containing molecular nanocarbons

Greco González Miera, Satoshi Matsubara, Hideya Kono, Kei Murakami and Kenichiro Itami
Chem. Sci., 2022,13, 1848-1868, DOI: 10.1039/D1SC05586K

This Review describes the synthetic achievements that the scientific community has performed to obtain curved polycyclic nanocarbons with 8-membered rings, building blocks that could potentially give access as templates to larger nanographenes, and eventually to Mackay-Terrones crystals.

A focus on aromaticity: fuzzier than ever before?

Henrik Ottosson

Chem. Sci., 2023,14, 5542-5544, DOI: 10.1039/D3SC90075D

In this Focus article, the author poses the question: Who utilises the aromaticity concept, and who benefits from it? Especially, who benefits from it being overly fuzzy, and who goes the opposite?

The smallest 4f-metalla-aromatic molecule of cyclo-PrB₂⁻ with Pr–B multiple bonds

Zhen-Ling Wang, Teng-Teng Chen, Wei-Jia Chen, Wan-Lu Li, Jing Zhao, Xue-Lian Jiang, Jun Li, Lai-Sheng Wang and Han-Shi Hu

Chem. Sci., 2022,13, 10082-10094, DOI: 10.1039/D2SC02852B

The authors report the discovery of a doubly aromatic triatomic lanthanide-boron molecule PrB₂⁻ based on a joint photoelectron spectroscopy and quantum chemical investigation in this Edge article.

Aromatic heterobicycle-fused porphyrins: impact on aromaticity and excited state electron transfer leading to long-lived charge separation

Austen Moss, Youngwoo Jang, Jacob Arvidson, Vladimir N. Nesterov, Francis D’Souza and Hong Wang

Chem. Sci., 2022,13, 9880-9890, DOI: 10.1039/D2SC03238D

This Edge article reports a new synthetic method to fuse benzo[4,5]imidazo[2,1-a]isoindole to the porphyrin periphery at the β,β-positions, and its impact on the aromaticity and electronic structures is investigated.

Substituent effects on aromatic interactions in water

Gloria Tobajas-Curiel, Qingqing Sun, Jeremy K. M. Sanders, Pablo Ballester and Christopher A. Hunter

Chem. Sci., 2023,14, 6226-6236, DOI: 10.1039/D3SC01027A

In this Edge article, the authors describe a supramolecular system for measuring aromatic interactions in water and show that substituents have a remarkable effect on interaction strength, with an increase of three orders of magnitude in the stability of a complex when a single nitro group is added to one of the aromatic rings.

Mining anion–aromatic interactions in the Protein Data Bank

Emilia Kuzniak-Glanowska, Michał Glanowski, Rafał Kurczab, Andrzej J. Bojarski and Robert Podgajny

Chem. Sci., 2022,13, 3984-3998, DOI: 10.1039/D2SC00763K

The authors of this Edge article introduce the first comprehensive analysis of non-redundant Protein Data Bank (PDB) macromolecular structures investigating anion distributions around all aromatic molecules in available biosystems, including ligands.

We hope you enjoy reading this themed collection in Chemical Science!

Publishing practices you can rely on

Open access research benefits everyone around the planet. It makes research more widely accessible, which can lead to positive change in many areas of daily life. As a diamond open access journal, Chemical Science makes this form of publishing an easy option. We cover all publication costs, so our community can read and publish with us for free.

We are real advocates for open access, and in this blog post, we will explain how it can improve research culture and benefit every single one of us. Interested in learning more? Explore our research or submit your article today.

Discover what you could achieve with open access

Greater impact for you

As a researcher, you will find that the biggest benefit of publishing open access is increasing the discoverability of your work. The number of potential readers of your publications increases significantly with open access. If anyone can access your research – including other scientists, funders, policymakers and the general public – then it is more likely to be cited and make an impact.

Every article we publish is diamond open access, but we don’t only rely on our publications being available to all to make an impact. We celebrate our community, offering promotional opportunities like #ChemSciVoices where our authors can discuss their research in a video or blog post. When you publish with us, you can trust that your research will find the communities it needs to.

Better research culture for all

The benefits of open access for individual researchers are clear – but how can it improve research culture too? Open access helps make sure that publications are visible, reliable and reproducible. Ensuring research findings are available to everyone, in any part of the world is the key to building a fairer, more equitable society – one where everyone can access and benefit from discoveries. Open access can also encourage greater multi-disciplinary collaboration, as scientists in all disciplines and subjects can access and inspire each other, so driving scientific progress faster. Chemical Science harnesses these benefits of open access for everyone, by publishing leading-edge articles that have undergone rigorous peer review, at no cost to the author.

What makes Chemical Science different?

Our diamond open access policy sets us apart from other journals. This policy means that our community can read our articles and publish with us for free. We cover all of the publication costs, so everyone can choose an open access path for their research. And this is only a possibility because we are a society publisher with a mission to disseminate scientific knowledge.

Fair and rigorous peer review

We see open access as part of a larger vision to improve research culture. It’s not enough to increase the accessibility of articles – we need to make sure that our publications are reliable and reproducible too. Providing a robust peer review process is one way we make sure our publications are reliable. In every submission, our peer reviewers are looking for novel ideas, progressive thinking and research that can make a real-world difference. This approach means that Chemical Science is a home to both accessible and impactful work.

The choice of transparent peer review

We are continually looking for ways in which we can increase the quality of our peer-review. For this reason, we now offer our authors the choice of transparent peer review, which aims to cultivate a more open and robust peer-review process. If an author chooses this option, the peer reviewers’ reports, authors’ responses and editors’ decision letters are published alongside the accepted article. Transparent peer review can:

• encourage fair and rigorous peer review
• amplify the hard work of our editors and reviewers
• allow scientists to learn from the published reports
• promote more constructive reviewer comments

Transparent peer review is compatible with both single- and double-anonymised peer review. And if you are a reviewer, you will stay anonymous during the process by default. As an author, you can opt in for transparent peer review at any stage before publication.

FAIR publications

Reproducibility is a key part of the open access picture for Chemical Science. We encourage our authors to make sure that the data in publications is FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Reusable), and we also ask authors to provide a data availability statement in their article. This can improve research culture by:

• supporting the validity of data and maintaining research reproducibility
• increasing transparency and encouraging trust in the scientific process
• enabling and encouraging the reuse of new findings
• giving authors credit through the formal citation of data

Author Contributions

We also ask all authors to provide an Author Contribution Statement as part of their article as standard. Author contribution statements are important as they can:

• provide transparency about who contributed to the research and in what capacity. It allows readers to understand the specific roles of each author in the study, which can be helpful for assessing the validity and reliability of the research findings. 
• promote inclusion and diversity by acknowledging the different types of contributions made by each author. 
• ensure that all authors are given credit for their work, and that those who did not contribute significantly are not listed as authors. 

Start your journey

We are ready when you are. Explore some of these resources to get started with confidence and inspire a global audience.

Get to know our flagship journal

In this blog post, we explain how our journal, Chemical Science, can support you as a member of the scientific community. Learn more about our diamond open access policy, our video series, ChemSci Voices, and our blog series, Reviewer Spotlight.

What does it mean to be diamond open access?

Chemical Science is an innovative journal made up of people who are passionate about chemistry. We are always thinking of new ways to support you and build upon our purpose – to help the chemical science community make the world a better place.

To aid this mission, we believe that opening up research to everyone is crucial. The work we publish is impactful. It can inspire new discoveries, change how people look at the planet, and challenge standard thinking. Everyone deserves to have access to this research as it could benefit us all, and this is why Chemical Science has been open access since 2015.

We also take things one step further. Our diamond open access policy means that you can publish in Chemical Science for free. The submission process remains the same as any other Royal Society of Chemistry journal. We cover any article processing charges if your work is accepted, so you can make an impact without any barriers.

This is ChemSci’s back story, and why we publish your research diamond open access.

Get to know more about ChemSci.

How can diamond open access benefit you?

Diamond open access publishing benefits everyone. It means that you can read all of our articles and publish with us for free. By removing barriers, we foster collaboration between disciplines and welcome anyone around the world to publish with us.

Need extra information? Learn more about diamond open access.

Introducing ChemSci Voices

The chemical science community is a thriving network of incredible scientists. We publish work in a broad range of areas and from researchers all over the world. But how can we make sure that everyone has a chance to be heard?

ChemSci Voices is a new video series that gives researchers a platform to talk about their discoveries. We are interested in hearing every voice from around the globe. Help us celebrate and promote your future discoveries.

Watch our new ChemSci Voices videos.

What is our Reviewer Spotlight?

Our peer reviewers have a significant impact on the work we publish, helping us make sure that every article is accurate and of high quality. Our blog series, Reviewer Spotlight, recognises this important work and highlights some of the benefits of being a reviewer.

If you have ever been interested in becoming a reviewer, we recommend reading some of our blog posts. You can learn what our reviewers enjoy about assessing research and how this work contributes to their career paths.

Read our Reviewer Spotlight blog.

Become a peer reviewer.

We want to thank everyone – our authors and peer reviewers – for being part of our journey to an open, equitable society where science can thrive.

From all of us here at Chemical Science, we would like to wish you a Happy Year of the Rabbit! In celebration we are delighted to present a special collection of our most popular recent articles, highlighting the work of authors from across China.

You can find the full collection here and we have highlighted a selection of these below.

Read our Chinese New Year collection here

We also have four dedicated Chinese Associate Editors: Prof. Jinlong Gong at Tianjin University, Prof. Zaiping Guo at the University of Adelaide, Prof. Ning Jiao at Peking University and Prof. Yi-Tao Long at Nanjing University. Professor Gong is interested in heterogeneous catalysis and kinetics with a focus on catalytic conversions of small molecules, production of hydrogen energy, and syntheses and applications of nanostructured catalytic materials. Professor Guo’s research interests include the design and application of electrode materials and electrolyte for energy storage and conversion, including rechargeable batteries, hydrogen storage, and fuel cells. Professor Jiao’s current research efforts are focused on new methodology development in atom-incorporation reactions, first-row transition metal catalysis and inert chemical bonds functionalization, and the synthesis of bioactive compounds and drug discovery. Professor Long is interested in the development of new electrochemical measurement methods to reveal the characteristics and dynamics of single entities.   Prof. Jinlong Gong Prof. Zaiping Guo Prof. Ning Jiao Prof. Yi-Tao Long

We hope you enjoy reading this selection of articles from our collection celebrating the Chinese New Year.

Recently, Chemical Science author Professor E. W. Bert Meijer (Eindhoven University of Technology, The Netherlands) sent us a video which showcased his first paper published in Chemical Science ‘Macrocyclization of enzyme-based supramolecular polymers, Chem. Sci., 2010,1, 79-88’ (https://doi.org/10.1039/C0SC00108B).

His paper was also the first paper published online in Chemical Science when the journal launched in 2010.

Thanks to Professor Meijer for sharing the video with us!

Keep up to date with our latest articles, reviews, collections & more by following us on Twitter. You can share your first Chemical Science publication by posting on Twitter with the hashtag #MyFirstChemSci.