The Publications Division of the American Chemical Society (ACS) has introduced a new website, populated with survey data provided by over 4,000 scientists, to showcase connections among research subdisciplines at the interface of chemistry and biology. The development of the resource, part of an initiative designed to showcase the breadth and depth of content that ACS publishes in these areas, reportedly benefited from market research that provided new insights about researchers who work at the nexus of chemistry and biology.
More than a third of the 42 peer-reviewed journals published by the ACS contain research that is biological in nature. They include broad-topic journals such as Biochemistry and the Journal of Medicinal Chemistry as well as titles in fields such as chemical biology, molecular pharmaceutics, neuroscience and synthetic biology.
Respondents to the ACS survey affirmed the view that certain traditionally broad areas of research inquiry, such as biochemistry, are becoming increasingly fragmented and hyper-specialised. When asked to identify their area of scientific focus, 46 percent of respondents selected five or more subdisciplines. In addition, findings from in-depth focus groups revealed that 'search and retrieve' content consumption risks stifling innovation, and that researchers seek more cross-discipline exposure.
To help address these concerns, the new website enables readers to select their primary area of interest from a graphical map, see connections to interrelated fields and choose relevant ACS journals that publish research in these areas. Users are encouraged to explore sample content by viewing free issues. The website also features a video highlighting studies by scientists engaged in interdisciplinary research, and a guide that provides a comprehensive overview of writing a scientific manuscript for today's digital age. The guide focuses on enhancing discoverability of published research, and covers topics such as the importance of keywords and visuals, how to leverage social media to reach a broader audience, measuring an article's influence and how to choose the peer-reviewed journal best positioned to reach the author's intended audience.
