FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE | June 19, 2015

ACS journals are again the most cited journals in chemistry

WASHINGTON, June 19, 2015 — The peer-reviewed journals of the American Chemical Society are the most-cited and/or impactful scientific journals in 14 scientific categories, including six core chemistry categories, according to the 2014 Journal Citation Reports® (JCR), released on Thursday, June 18, by Thomson Reuters. The citation-based rankings underscore the depth, breadth and quality of the research published across the Society’s preeminent portfolio of journals, as well as the mission served by ACS Publications in partnership with the global community of scientists.

Seventy percent of the 44 ACS journals featured in the report had a JCR Impact Factor of 4.0 or higher, with a portfolio median of 4.762. In total, ACS journals were cited more than 2.6 million times in 2014, up from 2.4 million citations in 2013, for an increase of 8 percent. ACS journals published more than 40,000 articles in 2014, continuing the Society’s trend of 5 percent annual growth in article output.  

The latest Journal Citation Reports® affirm the continued importance of ACS’ oldest and most renowned peer-reviewed journal — the Journal of the American Chemical Society (JACS) — as a forum for publishing essential, fundamental research. JACS recorded its highest-ever Impact Factor at 12.113, and ranks ahead of both Wiley’s Angewandte Chemie (11.261) and the Royal Society of Chemistry’s Chemical Science (9.211). JACS continues to be the Society’s flagship, as the most-cited journal in chemistry, with 489,761 total citations in 2014, up 6 percent from the prior year.

Chemical Reviews achieved its highest Impact Factor ever at 46.568, placing it No. 1 in Multidisciplinary Chemistry and No. 3 out of all 8,618 journals covered by the Journal Citation Reports®. This underscores the journal’s role as the authoritative source for comprehensive and critical reviews of important research in all areas of chemistry and related sciences, and as an essential resource for researchers in all scientific disciplines.

“These latest citation and Impact Factor results illustrate the value of ACS journals and their rightful reputation as the most influential publications of record in chemistry and related sciences. They reflect both the rigor of the editorial process and the attention with which ACS editors, themselves active research scientists, select independent reviewers who have the relevant domain expertise to evaluate the work of their peers,” said Brian Crawford, Ph.D., president of ACS Publications. “ACS is fortunate to partner with an engaged global community of editors, authors and reviewers in providing a respected and dynamic forum to communicate research advances, and is pleased to disseminate broadly discoveries of such significance and impact.”

ACS journal highlights from this year’s Journal Citation Reports® include the following:

  • ACS journals are No. 1 in Impact Factor or citations in six core chemistry categories: Analytical, Applied, Inorganic & Nuclear, Medicinal, Multidisciplinary and Organic.
  • Five of the top 10 journals in Impact Factor in the Multidisciplinary Chemistry category are from the ACS: Chemical Reviews (No. 1), Accounts of Chemical Research (No. 4), Nano Letters (No. 8), ACS Nano (No. 9) and JACS (No. 10).  No other publisher is as highly represented in this category.
  • Five ACS journals are in the top 10 in Impact Factor in the Organic Chemistry category: Organic Letters (No. 4), Biomacromolecules (No. 5), The Journal of Organic Chemistry (No. 7), Bioconjugate Chemistry (No. 8) and Organometallics (No. 9). ACS is the only publisher with more than one journal in the top 10.
  • Seven ACS journals are in the top 20 in Impact Factor in the Medicinal Chemistry category: Journal of Medicinal Chemistry (No. 3), ACS Chemical Neuroscience (No. 4), Journal of Natural Products (No. 7), Journal of Chemical Information and Modeling (No. 9), Chemical Research in Toxicology (No. 10), ACS Medicinal Chemistry Letters (No. 14) and ACS Combinatorial Science (No. 16). This notable showing is unique to ACS journals.
  • Three ACS journals are in the top four in total citations in the Nanoscience & Nanotechnology category: Nano Letters (No. 2), The Journal of Physical Chemistry C (No. 3) and ACS Nano (No. 4).
  • Sixteen ACS journals received their highest-ever Impact Factors: ACS Catalysis (9.312), ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces (6.723), ACS Chemical Neuroscience (4.362), ACS Macro Letters (5.764), ACS Nano (12.881), ACS Synthetic Biology (4.978), Chemical Reviews (46.568), Crystal Growth & Design (4.891), Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research (2.587), Journal of Chemical Theory and Computation (5.498), Journal of the American Chemical Society (12.113), The Journal of Organic Chemistry (4.721), The Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters (7.458), Langmuir (4.457), Nano Letters (13.592) and Organic Letters (6.364).

Four of the Society’s newer journals that achieved notable Impact Factors are:

  • ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering with an impressive debut Impact Factor of 4.642.
  • ACS Macro Letters’ Impact Factor is 5.764, up from 5.242 in 2013.
  • ACS Synthetic Biology’s Impact Factor is 4.978, up from 3.951 in 2013.
  • ACS Catalysis’ Impact Factor is 9.312, up from 7.572 in 2013.

This year’s citation and Impact Factor results reinforce the American Chemical Society’s commitment to be the most authoritative, comprehensive and indispensable provider of chemistry-related information — in keeping with the Society’s vision of improving people’s lives through the transforming power of chemistry.

For full Journal Citation Report results for ACS journals visit: http://connect.acspubs.org/jcr.

The ACS Publications Division currently publishes 47 leading peer-reviewed journals in the chemical and related sciences, including the flagship Journal of the American Chemical Society, as well as Chemical & Engineering News, the Society’s weekly newsmagazine.

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