ACS Central Science names Carolyn Bertozzi as its founding editor-in-chief

WASHINGTON, Sept. 25, 2014 — The American Chemical Society (ACS) announced today that internationally renowned chemist Carolyn Bertozzi, Ph.D., will take the helm as editor-in-chief of its first fully open access journal, ACS Central Science, which is set to launch in early 2015. Currently a Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) investigator at the University of California at Berkeley, Bertozzi is widely recognized as one of the most accomplished and respected chemists of her generation.

“My goal is to make ACS Central Science a highly selective journal and the primary venue for reporting the most important advances in chemistry and in allied fields where chemical approaches play a major role,” Bertozzi said. “Now is the time for innovative publishing strategies that focus and elevate the visibility of chemistry as ‘the central science.’”

The term ‘central science,’ coined some 40 years ago, is commonly used to describe the focal role of chemistry in bridging the physical and life sciences, as well as the basic sciences, with applied disciplines like medicine and engineering. Thus, the aptly named ACS Central Science will publish exceptional, peer-reviewed research articles, reviews and commentary across the broad spectrum of chemistry and interdisciplinary sciences. There will be no restrictions on access to the full text of the articles.

“ACS Central Science provides the ideal, high-profile opportunity for researchers working at the interface of chemistry and other disciplines to publish their best, cutting-edge research in a high-profile, open access journal,” ACS Executive Director and CEO Madeleine Jacobs said. “The quality and spirit of this journal is exemplified by the new editor-in-chief, Carolyn Bertozzi, who is an astonishing interdisciplinary researcher.”

Bertozzi’s research focuses on creating new technologies for the development of medicines and diagnostics that will improve human health. This work spans a number of technologies and approaches at the interface of chemistry and biology.

“We are absolutely delighted that Carolyn Bertozzi has agreed to serve as the founding editor-in-chief of ACS Central Science,” said Kevin Davies, Ph.D., vice president of business development for ACS Publications. “All along we hoped to recruit a world-class scientist, someone whose own research interests epitomize the kind of cross-disciplinary research we intend to showcase in ACS Central Science, as well as someone who is excited about the benefits of open access in raising awareness of cutting-edge chemistry research among the broader scientific community. Nobody checks those boxes like Carolyn Bertozzi.”

“Carolyn will no doubt be remarkable and inspiring in this role, as she has been in many others, profoundly impacting chemistry — and science writ broadly,” said George M. Church, professor of genetics at Harvard Medical School.

In addition to being an HHMI investigator, Bertozzi is co-director of the University of California at Berkeley Chemical Biology Graduate Program, co-director of the Berkeley Nanosciences and Nanoengineering Institute, a professor at the University of California at San Francisco and a senior faculty scientist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. In April 2015, she will move to Stanford University as professor of chemistry and a member of Stanford’s new ChEM-H (Chemistry, Engineering and Medicine for Human Health) institute.

Bertozzi earned her A.B. in chemistry at Harvard University and her Ph.D. from the University of California at Berkeley. She has received numerous prestigious fellowships and awards, including a MacArthur Foundation “Genius” Award and a Presidential Early Career Award in Science. She’s an elected member of the National Academy of Sciences and a fellow of the ACS.

ACS Central Science is one of four components of the society’s far-reaching expansion of its open access publishing options. The journal will be the first fully open access journal in the society’s history, meaning that the full text of all its articles will be freely available to the public. The other open access initiatives are: ACS Editors’ Choice, a service that openly publishes one article daily from its traditional journals to highlight innovative research of broad public interest; ACS Author Rewards, a program that grants authors credit for articles published in ACS journals in 2014 that can be used toward any ACS open access option; and ACS AuthorChoice, a fee-based program that gives authors the option to make their article publicly available either immediately or after a one-year delay.

For interviews with Carolyn Bertozzi or other ACS officials, as well as for additional information, please contact newsroom@acs.org.

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.