ACS Wins Publishers Awards

A new ACS journal and the ACS website have garnered professional recognition. The Professional & Scholarly Publishing (PSP) Division of the Association of American Publishers last week named the journal ACS Nano and the ACS website, plus its delivery platform, as winners of 2008 American Publishers Awards for Professional & Scholarly Excellence (PROSE).

ACS Nano was recognized by PSP as the "Best New Journal" in the science/technology/medicine category. Paul S. Weiss, distinguished professor of chemistry and physics at Pennsylvania State University, is editor-in-chief of the interdisciplinary monthly publication. ACS Nano includes peer-reviewed articles and reviews, as well as perspectives and conversations with leaders in nanoscience and nanotechnology.

The second award from PSP was in the "Best eProduct/Website or Platform" category. ACS was recognized for its journals' Web delivery platform, the Web edition of Chemical Abstracts Service (CAS) product SciFinder, and the society???s enhanced Web presence with www.acs.org and the ACS Member Network.

Also recognized were the underlying technologies and services of the new journals platform, including the ACS Paragon Plus Web-based peer-review system and the experimental Journal of the American Chemical Society Beta site—a new testing ground for innovation.

"This is a tremendous accolade that recognizes the quality and innovation of our products, and just as importantly, it rewards the tremendous and exemplary teamwork that involved the ACS Publications Division, CAS, Membership & Scientific Advancement, and Information Technology," says Madeleine Jacobs, ACS's executive director and chief executive officer.

"My gratitude goes to all who helped make these products worthy of these awards. In challenging economic times, it is particularly rewarding to see our ACS colleagues rise to the top and to be able to celebrate these kinds of exciting accomplishments," Jacobs says.

This year's winners were determined by a distinguished panel of 15 PROSE judges that included publishing professionals from such PSP member companies as McGraw-Hill, Wiley-Blackwell, and Johns Hopkins University Press, as well as librarians and academics from such universities as the University of Arizona, the University of Toronto, New York University, and Columbia University.