Shelley D. Minteer named editor in chief of ACS Au journals

Shelley D. Minteer, the Dale and Susan Poulter Endowed Chair of Biological Chemistry and associate chair of chemistry at the University of Utah, has been named editor in chief of the ACS Au portfolio of nine fully open-access journals, which the American Chemical Society is launching this year. Submissions to ACS Au begin Jan. 21.

These journals include ACS Bio and Med Chem Au, ACS Engineering Au, ACS Environmental Au, ACS Materials Au, ACS Measurement Science Au, ACS Nanoscience Au, ACS Organic and Inorganic Au, ACS Physical Chemistry Au, and ACS Polymers Au. “I am very honored to be named the editor in chief of these new journals,” Minteer says. “Open access is clearly the future of scientific publishing, so I am excited about the opportunity to help ACS journals move in this new direction with a new set of subdiscipline-specific journals.”

Minteer’s immediate plans are to appoint deputy editors for each of the nine journals and to work with them to appoint associate editors. “These choices are critical to building the reputation and communities for these journals. Similarly, choosing strong and supportive editorial advisory boards and early-career advisory boards is critical to the first year of the journal,” she says. “The long-term goal is to have nine journals with similar impact factors and respect as their sister hybrid journals.”

Minteer earned a BS in chemistry from Western Illinois University and a PhD in chemistry from the University of Iowa. Her research interests include electrocatalysis, batteries, organic electrosynthesis, synthetic biology, and biosensors.

“This ambitious portfolio is a significant investment in ACS’ belief in an open access future, and a new commitment to our authors,” James Milne, president of ACS Publications, says in a press release. “As more of our author community wants or needs to publish in gold open access journals, we are dedicated to providing them with a range of high-quality publications in which to propel their research forward.”

“ACS has a fantastic reputation in the chemistry community for its high-quality and dependable peer review and speedy publication times,” Minteer says. “My vision is to translate these qualities to each of the open-access journals.”