Sharon Hammes-Schiffer joins Chemical Reviews as new editor-in-chief

WASHINGTON, Dec. 2, 2014 — The American Chemical Society (ACS) announces that Sharon Hammes-Schiffer, Ph.D., has been appointed editor-in-chief of Chemical Reviews, effective January 1, 2015. Hammes-Schiffer is Swanlund Professor of Chemistry at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and a member of the National Academy of Sciences.

“As editor-in-chief, I will maintain and solidify high-quality content in the core areas of chemistry  while also pushing the conventional boundaries of chemistry in an effort to enhance the topical diversity by expanding the scope to capture multidisciplinary research and emerging areas,” says Hammes-Schiffer.

Her appointment represents the return of Chemical Reviews to its home. William Albert Noyes, former head of the chemistry department at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, was the founding editor of Chemical Reviews, first published in 1925. To honor his work, the Noyes Laboratory at the University of Illinois is an ACS National Historic Chemical Landmark. 

Hammes-Schiffer received her B.A. in chemistry from Princeton University and her Ph.D. in chemistry from Stanford University. Her broad research interests span biochemistry, inorganic chemistry, physical chemistry and physical organic chemistry. Hammes-Schiffer investigates proton, electron and proton-coupled electron transfer reactions, and her work involves the development of analytical theories and computational methods. As a theoretician, she collaborates with experimentalists and interacts with chemists from many disciplines.

Through her service as a senior editor of the Journal of Physical Chemistry suite and currently as deputy editor of the Journal of Physical Chemistry B, Hammes-Schiffer has long been associated with ACS Publications. She also has been on the editorial advisory boards of Accounts of Chemical Research, the Journal of Chemical Theory and Computation and the Journal of the American Chemical Society. “We are honored to welcome Dr. Hammes-Schiffer to her new role as editor-in-chief of Chemical Reviews. Dr. Hammes-Schiffer’s broad research interests, her standing in the scientific community and her editorial experience will lead Chemical Reviews to continuous success and growth in topical diversity, content visibility and educational impact,” says Susan King, senior vice president of the Journals Publishing Group at ACS.

Hammes-Schiffer will succeed Editor-in-Chief Josef Michl, Ph.D., professor of chemistry at the University of Colorado, Boulder, and a member of the National Academy of Sciences, who has served in this position since 1984. King expressed gratitude for Michl’s commitment to the journal. “We are grateful for Dr. Michl’s distinguished leadership at Chemical Reviews and his service to ACS over the past three decades. With his vision and dedication, Dr. Michl has established the journal as the premier resource for authoritative and comprehensive review content across chemistry and related disciplines,” she says.

Chemical Reviews publishes comprehensive, critical, authoritative and accessible reviews of important research in all areas of chemistry, including thematic issues focusing on a single theme or direction of emerging research. Chemical Reviews has the highest Impact Factor in Chemistry at 45.661 and is also a highly cited journal in the category of Multidisciplinary Chemistry with 124,463 total citations in the 2014 release of the Journal Citations Reports^® from Thomson Reuters.

The American Chemical Society is a nonprofit organization chartered by the U.S. Congress. With more than 161,000 members, ACS is the world’s largest scientific society and a global leader in providing access to chemistry-related research through its multiple databases, peer-reviewed journals and scientific conferences. Its main offices are in Washington, D.C., and Columbus, Ohio.