Journal Of Physical Chemistry Expands Landing Page

Physical chemistry is a hot field that's attracting new researchers. The American Chemical Society plans to make room for the growing number of papers in the field by adding a third weekly section to its two-part Journal of Physical Chemistry in January 2007.

The original single-section Journal of Physical Chemistry split into Parts A and B in 1997. "Since then," Editor-in-Chief George C. Schatz says, "Part B has more than doubled in size." The growth of Part B has coincided with expanded research in areas such as materials, surfaces and interfaces, catalysis, membranes, and biophysical chemistry, he explains.

The total number of articles and pages in the two parts has been expanding rapidly over the past several years. "We have this supersize journal, but it is not satisfying all the needs of the community," says Schatz, a chemistry professor at Northwestern University.

By expanding into three parts, the journal can fit in many more feature articles. It can also increase the number of special issues focused on topics of particular interest, he adds.

Schatz hopes the reorganization of the journal will "raise the profile of some topics that are currently distributed throughout Parts A and B of the journal. For example, in the revised journal, we're going to have a section on energy conversion and storage, including photovoltaics, hydrogen storage, catalysis related to things like CO₂ reduction, and battery manufacturing." Another section in the revised journal will be dedicated to electron transport, which plays a role in such topics as electron-transfer reactions in molecules, electrochemistry, and leading-edge electronic devices. Schatz and ACS are now deciding what will go in each part of the revised journal.

This year, an institutional subscription to the two-part journal costs $4,274. In 2007, a subscription to the three-part journal will cost $5,850.