James Milne named senior vice president of American Chemical Society’s Journals Publishing Group

WASHINGTON, May 12, 2016 —The American Chemical Society’s (ACS’) Publications Division has appointed James Milne, Ph.D., as senior vice president in charge of its Journals Publishing Group. Milne will direct the strategic planning and the development of all business-related operations for the Society’s nearly 50 peer-reviewed journals.

“I’m gratified for this opportunity to be part of the ongoing effort to expand and diversify the ACS publishing program,” Milne says. “ACS Publications is number one in chemistry publishing in terms of quality and reach of its journal publishing. Yet there are many additional avenues for ACS to explore as a global publisher that will advance its mission. I look forward to leading these exciting developments in the years ahead.”

Milne has more than 20 years of experience in scientific publishing. Most recently, he was global publishing director at John Wiley & Sons, based in the United Kingdom. There, he was responsible for the financial performance and editorial success for more than 200 of Wiley’s journals in the physical sciences, and latterly their significant portfolio of professionally edited journals. He led a team of more than 200 employees based in Germany, China, the United States, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. Prior to that, he served as managing and executive director of Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) Publishing, leading the organization to being awarded the 2013 Queen’s Award for Enterprise for sustained and impressive international growth in scientific publishing. He began his career at Pergamon Press and later worked at Elsevier where he was subsequently a publisher and business developer.

Milne earned his bachelor’s degree in civil engineering and Ph.D. in computational structural engineering at Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh. He will continue living in Oxford with his family, with offices in Oxford and Washington, D.C.

“James Milne is a highly regarded executive in the scientific publishing field, and we are delighted that he is bringing his extraordinary talents to ACS,” says Brian Crawford, Ph.D., president of ACS Publications. “His sound track record in launching new information products and services, his firm foundation in editorial innovation, and his strong management and leadership expertise honed by years of working in globally-diverse and dispersed organizations are all invaluable assets that will help him to spearhead the continued growth and success of ACS journals.”

About ACS Publications

ACS Publications, a division of the American Chemical Society, is a nonprofit scholarly publisher of nearly 50 peer-reviewed journals and a range of eBooks at the interface of chemistry and allied sciences, including physics and biology. ACS Publications journals are among the most cited, most trusted and most read within the scientific literature. Respected for their editorial rigor, ACS journals offer high-quality service to authors and readers, including rapid time to publication, a range of channels for researchers to access the Society’s cutting-edge Web and mobile delivery platforms and a comprehensive program of open access options for authors and their funders. ACS Publications also publishes Chemical & Engineering News — the Society’s newsmagazine covering science and technology, business and industry, government and policy, education and employment aspects of the chemistry field.

The American Chemical Society is a nonprofit organization chartered by the U.S. Congress. With nearly 157,000 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.