ACS Chemical Biology Launches

ACS Chemical Biology, the newest journal published by the American Chemical Society, launched on the Web on Jan. 24. Laura L. Kiessling, a professor of chemistry and biochemistry at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, and a MacArthur Fellow, is the editor-in-chief. ACS describes the journal as “an international forum for biologists and chemists working together to understand cellular processes.”

“If the ACS is going to actively serve the broadly defined chemical-related community, then we have to be involved in this field of inquiry,” says Robert Bovenschulte, president of the ACS Publications Division. In addition, “we are thinking about the Web from the start as the primary means of disseminating information,” he says. “We expect to learn a great deal about what researchers want to do with the Web and take some of those lessons and apply them to our other journals.”

Along with peer-reviewed research, ACS Chemical Biology provides viewpoints, commentaries, and highlights from the field. It will appear in print monthly, starting in mid-February. Online features will be updated weekly and are open to all scientists whether or not they subscribe to the journal or are ACS members. Such features include “Ask an Expert,” which provides new insights and perspectives, and a “Wiki,” an interactive discussion forum, both designed to stimulate communication among members of the chemical biology community.

Executive Editor Evelyn Jabri, a former senior editor with Nature Structural & Molecular Biology, and managing editor Sarah B. Tegen, a former recruiting editor for the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, worked together to develop the journal’s website. In addition to Kiessling, the journal’s board of editors includes six chemists and biologists. Eighteen additional scientists sit on the editorial advisory board.