Open-access Organic Chemistry Journal Debuts

SCIENTIFIC PUBLISHING

The Beilstein Institute for the Advancement of Chemical Sciences, in Germany, with help from online publisher BioMed Central, is launching the Beilstein Journal of Organic Chemistry. The peer-reviewed publication will be the first major open-access journal in this field, its sponsors say.

"Open-access journals, which are freely available to readers online, enhance the journal publishing process without compromising its important quality-control function," the institute says in an online introduction to the journal. The debut coincides with an escalating debate around open access as NIH and the American Chemical Society and other publishers recently unveiled policies to broaden access to research articles (C&EN, March 7, page 10).

Beilstein Institute Director Martin G. Hicks announced the new journal last week at the ACS national meeting in San Diego. The institute will cover publishing costs to make the journal's content available without charge. Individual issues will be freely available, while an annual print archival edition can be purchased at cost.

Jonathan Clayden, professor of chemistry at the University of Manchester, in England, is editor-in-chief. An international advisory board is being appointed, the institute says. The journal will begin publishing this year, with a call for papers to come in May. It will cover original research in organic chemistry, including synthesis, reactions, and mechanisms; natural product chemistry; chemical biology; macro- and supramolecular organic chemistry; and organic materials.