JACS Au is a monthly open access multi-disciplinary journal devoted to the publication of manuscripts reporting significant research discoveries in all fields of chemistry. The journal considers submissions in traditional core fields such as analytical, physical, inorganic, and organic chemistry, as well as areas such as biological, medicinal, environmental, catalytic, computational, and theoretical chemistry; materials and nanoscience; chemical engineering, chemical education, and other multidisciplinary research as it applies to chemistry. Articles, Letters, and Perspectives are published. More information can be found here.

Articles should report a significant advance in a subfield of chemistry, being characterized by the editor and referees as an advance representing the top 10% of articles published annually in that field. Articles must be of high scientific quality, originality, significance, and conceptual novelty. Articles that mainly expand findings that were previously published as Letters in JACS Au or elsewhere and that only incorporate experimental data, without greatly expanded scope and without providing new insights or conceptual breakthroughs, will be declined or recommended for Manuscript Transfer to specialized journals. Similarly, articles that are mainly routine extensions of previously published related work will be declined or recommended for Manuscript Transfer to specialized journals.

Use of the template for Articles is strongly encouraged but is not required. If an author chooses not to use a template to prepare an Article, only Times and Symbol fonts and 1.5 or double line spacing should be used. Other fonts may cause problems when the PDF files used for review are created. Also, if the template is not used, the document mode or its equivalent in the word-processing program should be used; i.e., files should not be saved in “Text Only” (ASCII) mode. If a non-Western version of word- processing software is used to prepare the manuscript, the file should be saved in rich-text format (RTF).

Articles should cover their subjects with thoroughness, clarity, and completeness but should be as concise as possible. Abstracts to Articles are typically limited to 300 words and should summarize the significant results and conclusions.

Letters are short publications that report results whose immediate availability to the science and engineering community is deemed important. A Letter must convey the scientific findings concisely in a brief abstract, main text, and graphical elements as determined by word count not exceeding 2,200 words, including titles/footnotes/captions of approximately five graphics (typically 2 inches long in a single column). References are not included in word count to allow article titles to be included at submission. To calculate word count within the word processing application, select all text from abstract through end of main text (excluding title, authors, affiliations, and content after main text) and view the word processor’s word count data. Letters exceeding the word count limit must be shortened before acceptance. Note: JACS Au encourages submission of Letters ranging from approximately 1,200-2,200 words (equivalent to 2-4 formatted journal pages), with more concise submissions appropriate for the most urgent new findings of exceptional significance.

All graphics and tables must be placed near the point of first mention in the text of the manuscript (not grouped at the end of the document) and must be sized according to current guidance. Long notes are not permitted in the References section; information not directly germane to the Letter can be included as Supporting Information. Letters can be complete publications, but follow-up publication may be justified when the research is continued and a more complete account of the work is deemed necessary, especially for the most urgent concise Letters noted above. Special efforts will be made to expedite the reviewing and the publication of Letters. The time for proofreading the galley proofs is relatively short. For this reason, authors of Letters should ensure that manuscripts are in final, error-free form when submitted. A template for Letters is available.

Perspectives are personal reviews of a field or area by one or a small team of authors, and they are focused rather than comprehensive. Perspective authors are asked to assess the current status of the field with an emphasis toward identifying key advances being made or those advances that are needed, and with an eye to the future. The JACS Au Perspective should touch base with the current literature, including key contributors and references, but will primarily serve to inspire and help direct future research efforts. Authors may be invited by the Editor to submit Perspectives. Authors interested in submitting a Perspective are strongly encouraged to contact the Editor prior to manuscript preparation and submission, to seek conditional approval of the proposed topic. One-page proposals should be sent to the Editor, Christopher W. Jones ([email protected]), for consideration. Perspectives may not exceed 10,000 words in abstract, main text, and graphical elements.

Correspondence/Rebuttal. Correspondence is a technical contribution providing, with supporting material, a respectful but alternative point of view to a publication that has appeared in JACS Au. The author of the original publication may be invited to write a Rebuttal. The Correspondence and Rebuttal will appear in the same issue of the journal, when possible.

While this document will provide basic information on how to prepare and submit the manuscript as well as other critical information about publishing, we also encourage authors to visit the ACS Publishing Center for additional information on everything that is needed to prepare (and review) manuscripts for ACS journals and partner journals, such as

All ACS journals and partner journals have simplified their formatting requirements in favor of a streamlined and standardized format for an initial manuscript submission. Read more about the requirements and the benefits these serves authors and reviewers here.

Manuscripts submitted for initial consideration must adhere to these standards:

The templates facilitate the peer review process by allowing authors to place artwork and tables close to the point where they are discussed within the text. Learn more about document templates here.

General information on the preparation of manuscripts may also be found in the ACS Guide to Scholarly Communication.

See the list of Acceptable Software and appropriate File Designations to be sure your file types are compatible with ACS Paragon Plus. Information for manuscripts generated from TeX/LaTeX is also available.

A cover letter must accompany every manuscript submission. During the submission process, you may type it or paste it into the submission system, or you may attach it as a file.

The letter must provide the corresponding author’s name, title, affiliation, and e-mail address. All Editorial correspondence concerning receipt, status, review, revision, and publication of a manuscript will be sent only to one person who has been designated as the corresponding author during the evaluation period. The corresponding author is responsible for communicating the manuscript status to all co-authors of the manuscript and for obtaining the co-authors’ assent to any substantial changes of content or interpretation made during revision. While a cover letter with designate a single corresponding author who serves as the primary contact during the submission and review process, additional corresponding authors may be designated with asterisks in collaborative manuscripts, with the number of corresponding authors not to exceed three.

The cover letter must include a paragraph explaining why your manuscript is appropriate for JACS Au. This paragraph should clearly indicate what key advance(s) is/are described in the work. The letter may suggest the name of an appropriate JACS Au Associate Editor. However, manuscript assignment to an Associate Editor is ultimately at the discretion of the Editor-in-Chief. Non-preferred Associate Editors and reviewers may be denoted in the cover letter, along with a reason for their designation.

The cover letter should provide explicit assurance that the manuscript is not under consideration for publication and has not been published elsewhere. Please note any submission to a preprint server such as ChemRxiv, bioRxiv, or arXiv in the cover letter and include a link to the preprint, and as appropriate, state how the manuscript has been adjusted/updated between deposition and submission.

Title. Titles should clearly and concisely reflect the emphasis and content of the manuscript. Titles are of great importance for current awareness and information retrieval and should be carefully constructed for these purposes. Titles of manuscripts may not contain the words “New” or “Novel” nor any part number or series number without permission from the Editor. Claims of precedence should not be made in a title, so use of “First” in titles for this purpose is prohibited. Additionally, “Superb”, “Excellent”, “Exceptional”, “Outstanding” or other similar descriptive words, are strongly discouraged. Acronyms and abbreviations are not permitted in manuscript titles, unless they are broadly familiar to readers in all disciplines of chemistry. Titles should not be phrased as a question.

Author List. Bylines should include all those who have made substantial contributions to the work. To facilitate indexing and retrieval and for unique identification of an author, use first names, initials, and surnames or first initials (e.g., Jody R. Smith), second names, and last names (e.g., J. Riley Smith). Do not use only initials with surnames (e.g., J. R. Smith). Deceased persons who meet the criteria for inclusion as coauthors should be included, with an Author Information note indicating the date of death. Do not include professional or official titles or academic degrees. At least one, or optionally more than one but fewer than four authors must be designated with an asterisk as the author(s) to whom reader correspondence regarding the published manuscript may be addressed.

The full names and e-mail addresses of all co-authors must be provided on the Authors & Institutes page upon submission of the manuscript in ACS Paragon Plus. Use of ORCID identifiers is encouraged.

Addition or deletion of an author or authors after submission of the manuscript requires justification from the corresponding author and is subject to approval by the Editor.

Institution Address. The author affiliation(s) listed should be the institution(s) where the work was conducted. If the present address of an author differs from that at which the work was done, that address should be given in an Author Information note.

Many Funders and Institutions require that institutional affiliations are identified for all authors listed in the work being submitted. ACS facilitates this requirement by collecting institution information during manuscript submission under Step 2: Authors and Affiliations in ACS Paragon Plus.

Abstract. All Articles, Letters, and Perspectives) must be accompanied by an abstract, including an Abstract (TOC) graphic, which should state briefly the purpose of the research, the principal results, and major conclusions. Abstracts of manuscripts may not contain the words “superb”, “excellent”, “exceptional”, “outstanding”, or other similar descriptive words unless rigorously supported by a thorough comparison with the state-of-the-art in the manuscript. Like manuscript titles, the words “New”, “First”, or “Novel” are also generally disallowed in the abstract. The abstract should not generally exceed 200/300 (Letter/Article) words. Pasting the abstract in the text box on the Web submission page does not replace the need for including an abstract in the manuscript document.

Keywords. All Articles, Letters, and Perspectives must be accompanied by 5–8 keywords. These keywords will appear in the PDF version of the article and will also be used as a search term in the HTML version of the article.

Text (Articles). The first paragraphs of an Article should explain the motivation for and import of the work, where it fits in the development of the field and of chemistry, and perhaps why it should be of interest to chemists in other areas. It should be possible to do this without excessively increasing the length of the Article. Extensive reviews of the literature cannot be accepted. Thoughtful use of schemes and figures (with well-composed captions) is recommended, so that even casual browsers can discern the nature of the work. Well-known procedures should be designated by name, or literature references to them should be given. Experimental results are of lasting value and should be clearly and logically presented in a separate section. Standard Article format must be used for preparing a manuscript for submission as an Article, including section headings and a proper Introduction, a complete Experimental Section (unless placed in the Supporting Information), Results, and Discussion. The addition of a Conclusion section at the end of the manuscript, which briefly summarizes the principal conclusions of the work, is recommended. If desired for clarification, section headings may be given Arabic numbers and subsections numbered in decimals (e.g., subsection 2.1 and subsection 2.2).

Text (Letters). Section headings (Introduction, Experimental Section, Conclusion, etc.) should not be used in a Letter.

Safety. Authors must emphasize any unexpected, new, and/or significant hazards or risks associated with the reported work. For each manuscript that reports experimental procedures, authors must include an affirmative statement about safety in the Experimental Section of the full article or the main text of a Letter. Further information may be included or re-introduced in the Supporting Information.

Appendices. Appendix sections must be placed in the Supporting Information.

Dedications. All dedications must appear in the Acknowledgment section and are subject to approval by the Editor.

Abbreviations. Acronyms and abbreviations that are not broadly familiar to readers in all disciplines of chemistry should be introduced in parentheses following the full term on its first appearance in the text. Do not include a separate Abbreviations list.

Acknowledgment. Dedications and notes acknowledging financial or professional assistance to the conduct of research or indicating presentation at a meeting should be brief and placed in the Acknowledgment section.

Author Information Notes. The e-mail address(es) of the corresponding author or authors must be provided as a Corresponding Author note. Present addresses for individual authors that differ from the address(es) at which the work was done should be given in a Present Address(es) note.

Statements about author contributions to the work or equal contributions of work should be included as a separate statement.

References and Footnotes. All the references and footnotes must be placed together in a list at the end of the manuscript text. In the Web edition, many of them will have links to other Web resources, such as the corresponding abstracts in Chemical Abstracts and the full text from other American Chemical Society journals. Because of this electronic linking, and to aid scientific research, it is crucial that authors verify the accuracy of all references.

Unnecessarily long lists of references should be avoided, and excessive self-citation is not permitted. However, authors must reference all previous publications in which portions of the present work have appeared. Each literature reference should be assigned one number and placed in the text as a superscript Arabic numeral. Footnotes to the text should be combined with references and numbered in ordinal sequence. Long footnotes should be avoided in Articles and are not permitted in Communications; additional data and peripheral discussion should be placed in the Supporting Information rather than in footnotes.

Bibliographic references to classified documents and reports or references to unpublished materials that are not generally available to the scientific public should not be used. Authors must obtain written permission from any person whose work is cited as a personal communication, unpublished work, or work in press. Copies of letters of permission and documentation should be appended to the cover letter file. If the manuscript is accepted but the necessary permissions have not been received, the Editor will ask the author to remove the reference(s) and dependent text.

List submitted articles as “in press” only if they have been formally accepted for publication. Otherwise, use “unpublished work” with the name of the place where the work was done and the date. For work published online (ASAP, in press), the DOI should be furnished in addition to the author name(s), article title, journal name, and year. DOI is an accepted form of citation before and after the article appears in an issue.

Example of a journal reference:

Yue, Q.; Liu, W.; Zhu, X. n-Type Molecular Photovoltaic Materials: Design Strategies and Device Applications. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2020, 142, 11613–11628.

Example of an in-press journal reference:

Ham, J. S.; Park, B.; Son, M.; Roque, J. B.; Jurczyk, J.; Yeung, C. S.; Baik, M.-H. ; Sarpong, R. C–H/C–C Functionalization Approach to N-Fused Heterocycles from Saturated Azacycles. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2020, DOI: 10.1021/jacs.0c04278.

Example of a reference to a book with no editors:

Desiraju, G. R.; Vittal, J. J.; Ramanan, A. Crystal Engineering: A Textbook. World Scientific Publishing Co Pte Ltd: Singapore, 2011.

Example of a reference to a book with editors:

Byrn, S. R.; Stowell, J. G. Impurities in Drug Substances and Drug Products. In Validation of Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients; Berry, I.R., Harpaz, D., Eds.; CRC Press: Boca Raton, 2001; pp 271–292.

Authors should consult the ACS Guide to Scholarly Communication for the appropriate style to use in citations of journal articles, books, and other publications. In literature references, article titles must be included and journal abbreviations should be those used in the Chemical Abstracts Service Source Index (CASSI).

This information is provided to the reviewers during the peer-review process (for Review Only) and is available to readers of the published work (for Publication). Supporting Information must be submitted at the same time as the manuscript. See the list of Acceptable Software by File Designation and confirm that your Supporting Information is viewable.

If the manuscript is accompanied by any supporting information files for publication, these files will be made available free of charge to readers. A brief, nonsentence description of the actual contents of each file, including the file type extension, is required. This description should be labeled Supporting Information and should appear before the Acknowledgement and Reference sections.  Examples of sufficient and insufficient descriptions are as follows:

Examples of sufficient descriptions: “Supporting Information: 1H NMR spectra for all compounds (PDF)” or “Additional experimental details, materials, and methods, including photographs of experimental setup (DOC)”.

Examples of insufficient descriptions: “Supporting Information: Figures S1-S3” or “Additional figures as mentioned in the text”.

When including supporting information for review only, include copies of references that are unpublished or in-press. These files are available only to editors and reviewers.

All ACS journals strongly encourage authors to make the research data underlying their articles publicly available at the time of publication.

Research data is defined as materials and information used in the experiments that enable the validation of the conclusions drawn in the article, including primary data produced by the authors for the study being reported, secondary data reused or analyzed by the authors for the study, and any other materials necessary to reproduce or replicate the results.

The ACS Research Data Policy provides additional information on Data Availability Statements, Data Citation, and Data Repositories.

Authors are required to provide sufficient information (as described in more detail below) to establish the identity of a new compound, its purity, and its yield. Sufficient experimental details must also be included to allow another researcher to reproduce the synthesis. Safety: Authors must emphasize any unexpected, new, and/or significant hazards or risks associated with the reported work. This information should be in the experimental details section of the full article or communication. Characterization data and experimental details must be included in either the manuscript or the Supporting Information. Guidelines for reporting NMR data are available online. Note that, when possible, unambiguous peak assignments should be given for all NMR spectra.

Characterization of New Substances. Adequate evidence to firmly establish both identity and purity should be provided. Recommended criteria vary according to substance categories. A summary of the detailed criteria may be found below.

Authors are required to provide sufficient information (as described in more detail below) to establish the identity of a new compound, its purity, and its yield. Sufficient experimental details must also be included to allow another researcher to reproduce the synthesis. Characterization data and experimental details must be included in either the manuscript or the Supporting Information. It must be emphasized that the following is only a general guideline and authors are encouraged to present as much data as possible to support their structure assignments. In some cases, a reviewer or Editor may require authors to submit additional data to satisfy themselves of the validity of a proposed formulation.

Characterization Data

(a) Routine Compounds

Compounds in this category are those that have either literature precedents or are obtained by a logical synthesis in close to quantitative yield. Because of potential misidentification of atoms, an X-ray diffraction structure alone will not typically be considered to provide sufficient characterization for these molecules. Diamagnetic compounds must also be characterized by NMR spectroscopy, preferably for at least two different nuclei. In addition, at least one other characterization technique must be used to support the proposed formulation. Preferably, this would be a technique that provides definitive identification of a key functional group or chromophore. For example, IR spectroscopy may be used to support the presence of carbonyl, acyl, dinitrogen, carbonyl, and hydride moieties.

Paramagnetic compounds of this category present a further complication if NMR spectroscopy does not furnish clear evidence for the proposed formulation (note that NMR spectroscopy of paramagnetic complexes can be useful if sufficiently large sweep widths are used). In many cases, X-ray diffraction may provide the most unambiguous characterization of such complexes, but this will not suffice as the only means of characterization. In the absence of an X-ray structure determination, evidence for elemental constitution must be provided by elemental analysis (e.g., combustion analysis, microprobe analysis), or mass spectrometry. Magnetic moment and/or ESR spectroscopic data should also be given for paramagnetic compounds if it is considered that the spin state of the molecule is of special interest.

(b) Novel or Unexpected Compounds

Compounds in this category are those that either (i) exhibit an unprecedented type of structure, or (ii) are obtained by unexpected reaction. Such compounds require more detailed characterization to ensure their validity. In select instances, a variety of definitive spectroscopic techniques may provide sufficient characterization (for example, if many of the nuclei are NMR active), but in the majority of cases evidence for elemental constitution must be provided by either elemental analysis (e.g., combustion analysis, microprobe analysis), or mass spectrometry. While an X-ray diffraction structure is not considered definitive proof of elemental composition, it is acceptable evidence for composition providing that the results of other physical methods concerning the characterization are conclusive.

(c) Solid State Materials

Compounds in this category are those that have no existence in solution. These materials must be characterized in such a way as to sufficiently describe their structure and composition. Atomic ratios and elemental compositions must be provided for solid state materials. X-ray diffraction data should be provided for crystalline materials.

(d) Compounds That Have Not Been Isolated

Compounds that have not been isolated in pure form (e.g., reaction intermediates or intractable mixtures, or unstable species) may be published. However, in these circumstances, an explicit statement must be given indicating that the compounds have not been isolated. Only in exceptional circumstances will an article be published in which none of the new compounds reported has been isolated and fully characterized.

Purity and Yield

The yield and purity of all compounds must be reported, including the methods used to determine them. The yield of a compound obtained in an NMR tube reaction should be determined using an internal standard.

Sample Quality

For new substances, evidence of the homogeneity the purified sample should be included. Elemental analysis is sufficient. If no analysis was performed, then other evidence (1H NMR, 13C NMR, HPLC, gel electrophoresis, etc.) should be included as figures in the Supporting Information.

Molecular Weight

Evidence of molecular weight should be provided, especially if elemental analysis was not performed. Low resolution MS data under conditions that minimize fragmentation are acceptable. If there is a specific need to distinguish alternative formulas with the same molecular mass (within one amu), then HRMS data are necessary.

Miscellaneous

Numerical listings of characteristic spectroscopic data should be included to support assigned structures, changes in functionality, unusual chromophores, properties, etc. Methods of purification used to prepare samples for characterization should be described. For crystalline samples, information about the method of crystallization should be included (solvents; mp; etc.). For non-racemic, chiral substances, data to allow correlation of absolute configuration should be given, preferably including [α]D values. If correlation data are provided based on HPLC or related methods, then retention times for both enantiomers must be provided, together with solvent and flow rate information, and identification of the chiral support.

Intermediates on Solid Phase; Combinatorial Chemistry

Validation of methods and characterization of new substances in a statistically significant sampling should be provided. Resin-bound intermediates need not be characterized if acceptable end product quality (as defined in three section above) is demonstrated.

These guidelines are intended to facilitate the manuscript preparation process for prospective authors and to improve the transparency and reproducibility of published results in ACS journals. Please note that there are requirements specific to different journals and the purpose of this document is to provide guidance on important topics relevant to biological chemistry research. For more detailed information on each topic, please consult the provided links and references.

Data Presentation

Data should be presented in a way that makes interpretation clear to the reader. Authors should use the appropriate data presentation method based on the characteristics of the data. Where possible, authors should plot all individual data points in addition to error bars and other statistical information. As an example, rather than showing a bar graph, a box-and-whisker plot is more appropriate for large sample sizes (n>100). However, bar graphs where all individual data points are displayed are acceptable for small samples. Univariate scatterplots, boxplots, and histograms are best for continuous data. Figure captions should provide all statistical information, including the method used, error calculation, and exact P values. All data must be included in the reporting unless significance testing shows that a given data point can be reliably excluded.

For more information on data presentation, see:

Quantifying the Interactions between Biomolecules: Guidelines for Assay Design and Data Analysis

Beyond Bar and Line Graphs: Time for a New Data Presentation Paradigm

Reporting standards and availability of data, materials, code and protocols.

Statistics

Appropriate statistical assessment is important for both experimental and computational studies. The following points should be considered:

a. Statistical analyses must adhere to acceptable statistical and scientific standards

b. Use of the term “significant” should be reserved for describing a relationship evaluated by appropriate statistical analysis. Please consider these resources:

Moving to a World Beyond “p