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A Year Like No Other
Inorganic Chemistry ( IF 4.3 ) Pub Date : 2021-01-04 , DOI: 10.1021/acs.inorgchem.0c03477 William B. Tolman
Inorganic Chemistry ( IF 4.3 ) Pub Date : 2021-01-04 , DOI: 10.1021/acs.inorgchem.0c03477 William B. Tolman
Well, 2020 was a doozy. Here in the U.S., the confluence of the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent severe economic crisis, social unrest, and a contentious election has profoundly impacted our lives. We mourn the loss of loved ones, appreciate all of the extraordinary efforts so many people are making to support each other, and express our profound hope that better times are ahead. As a faculty member, it has been particularly distressing to see the impact the pandemic has had on students and postdoctoral associates. They have had to curtail laboratory work, causing delays in their times to degree and/or career aspirations (with financial consequences), all while missing the personal interactions that make research rewarding and fun. Their experiences raise an important question: How do we engage meaningfully with each other while separated and reinforce a sense of community during times of profound alone-ness? One answer lies in the give and take of scientific discussion that is the essence of our journals. I am guessing that I do not speak only for myself when I say that I am sustained, professionally and personally, by the dialogue provided by our journal publication process. Thoughtful consideration of each other’s efforts to further our science builds the community that Inorganic Chemistry represents, and I cannot thank our authors, editors, and especially reviewers enough for all their efforts. This serious work benefits all of us. This larger significance of our journal was brought home to me recently when an outpouring of personal stories made me appreciate that Inorganic Chemistry not only serves to communicate science but also plays a central role in the personal lives of scientists. I recently tweeted a simple question: “When was the first time you published an article in @InorgChem?” The responses were wonderful. A few selected ones are shown in Figure 1. To me, these messages reinforce how publishing in Inorganic Chemistry is personally meaningful in the careers of my friends and colleagues. The research we publish not only tells stories of our science but also reflects our own stories of our work together, of our career paths, and of our relationships with each other. I am inspired by this larger role that Inorganic Chemistry plays! Figure 1. Selected tweets posted in response to the query “When was the first time you published an article in @InorgChem?”. During this difficult year, submissions to the journal have continued to grow in number, and we published ∼1800 papers, with ∼25% from first-time authors. There also have been a few changes. Among them was the departure of Vivian Yam from the team of editors. Vivian was an outstanding Associate Editor for 12 years. Her editorial work has been informed by expertise in the synthesis and characterization of complexes and supramolecular species that have numerous applications in molecular electronics, photochromic materials, biolabels, and sensing, among others. The entire editorial team has appreciated her wise counsel, enthusiasm, diligence, and thoughtful judgements, and we are deeply thankful for the extraordinary efforts she has made in support of the journal. We will miss her. A new Associate Editor has joined us, Professor Kenneth Kam-Wing Lo from the City University of Hong Kong (http://personal.cityu.edu.hk/bhkenlo/index.htm). Ken served on the Editorial Advisory Board for Inorganic Chemistry from 2015 to 2017 and has been an active reviewer and author for the journal for many years. He brings expertise in inorganic and organometallic photochemistry, use of metal complexes as bimolecular and cellular probes, photosensing, lanthanides, photocatalysis, host–guest chemistry, metal clusters and nanoparticles for photocatalysis, photodynamic therapy, and imaging. He has published more than 145 articles in refereed journals and has an active and impactful research program. In addition to his scientific expertise, he has valuable editorial experience, having served as Associate Editor for RSC Advances from 2015 to 2020. He is also active in the community as a meeting organizer. I am thrilled that he has joined us! A total of 10 members of our Editorial Advisory Board ended their 3-year terms, and we express our sincere gratitude for their sage advice and deep insights (Table 1). Also, 10 new members from across the globe have agreed to join the board this year, and we look forward to working with them. In 2020, Inorganic Chemistry and the ACS Division of Inorganic Chemistry were pleased to present a Virtual Issue (https://pubs.acs.org/page/inocaj/vi/inorganic-younginvestigator2020) featuring articles authored by recipients of the Division’s 2020 Young Investigator Award. See the Editorial by Ana De Bettencourt Dias, Alison Butler, and myself: https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.inorgchem.0c02417. In addition, in view of the rapid progress in both the experimental and theoretical application of spectroscopy to inorganic compounds, we felt it was a good time to demonstrate the power of spectroscopy to probe inorganic systems by assembling a Virtual Issue (https://pubs.acs.org/page/inocaj/vi/modern-spectroscopy) that highlights the many ways in which spectroscopy can be used in the discipline. This collection, titled “The Impact of Modern Spectroscopy in Inorganic Chemistry”, features articles published in the journal between January 2018 and July 2020, with an additional selection of articles from the Journal of the American Chemical Society. The organizers, Associate Editors Franc Meyer and Frank Neese, provide comments in an Editorial: https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.inorgchem.0c02755. Finally, a third Virtual Issue was just published on “Inorganic Synthesis in Uncommon Reaction Media”, organized by Julia Chan and Stefanie Dehnen (https://pubs.acs.org/page/inocaj/vi/uncommon-reaction-media). Three Forums, our thematically linked collections of articles from leading scientists on a multidisciplinary topic of growing interest, were published in 2020 (https://pubs.acs.org/page/inocaj/forums/index.html). They are “Innovative F-Element Chelating Strategies” (Editorial by Rebecca J. Abergel and Stosh A. Kozimor: https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.inorgchem.9b03583), “Bismuth—The Magic Element” (Editorial by Mercouri Kanatzidis, Hongzhe Sun, and Stefanie Dehnen: https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.inorgchem.0c00222), and “Light Controlled Reactivity of Metal Complexes” (Editorial by Katja Heinze and Oliver S. Wenger: https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.inorgchem.0c02791). The associated cover art is spectacular (Figure 2)! Figure 2. Covers for the 2020 Forums. Let me end by expressing my gratitude. Thank you, authors, for selecting Inorganic Chemistry to publish your best work. Thank you, reviewers, for taking the time to carefully evaluate manuscripts and provide helpful feedback that improves the quality of the published work. Thank you, Associate Editors, for your steadfast efforts to shepherd the flow of manuscripts, evaluate manuscripts and reviews, and lead new initiatives. Thank you, Editorial Advisory Board members, for adjudicating manuscripts, providing useful advice, advocating for the journal, and helping with Forums and Virtual Issues. Moreover, thank you, all, for your continued support of Inorganic Chemistry as a vehicle for communicating our science and binding us together as a community of scientists aiming to improve our world. I am looking forward to a better year ahead! We also expect it to be a doozy, celebrating the 60th year of publishing Inorganic Chemistry. Views expressed in this editorial are those of the author and not necessarily the views of the ACS. This article has not yet been cited by other publications. Figure 1. Selected tweets posted in response to the query “When was the first time you published an article in @InorgChem?”. Figure 2. Covers for the 2020 Forums.
更新日期：2021-01-04
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