RSC Publishing is celebrating the continued success of its journals following the release of the 2006 impact factors calculated by ISI ®. Journals from across the collection have recorded significant rises, while new interdisciplinary titles have received their first official ranking of the internationally recognised publishing industry metric. 

Among the headline success stories, Green Chemistry, the only journal publishing both primary and secondary research in the field, sees a staggering 29% rise in impact factor to 4.19. The already impressive impact factor for Lab on a Chip has increased by a further 10% to 5.82, ensuring it remains one of the leading journals in micro and nanoresearch.

The RSC materials science journals further strengthen and grow. For the second year running, weekly Journal of Materials Chemistry's impact factor rose significantly, to 4.29. Meanwhile, new interdisciplinary journal Soft Matter (launched June 2005) received an impressive first (partial) impact factor of 4.39, positioning it ahead of its competitors and achieving the journal's aim of bringing together interdisciplinary research in this field.

RSC journals at the interface with biology have also been bolstered by increasing impact factors, with Organic & Biomolecular Chemistry and Natural Product Reports achieving 2.87 and 8.89 (rises of 13% and 21%) respectively. Newcomer Molecular BioSystems (launched May 2005) celebrates its first (partial) impact factor of 2.45.

These successes come after a year of innovative developments to the presentation and linking of research in RSC Journals, particularly those containing biological content, through the industry-leading Project Prospect.

Topical research ...
It's official! Work published in RSC journals is also amongst the most topical. The immediacy indices for a number of RSC journals are now leading the way. When it comes to topical and urgent research, JAAS (Journal of Analytical Atomic Spectrometry) and The Analyst top the charts for analytical chemistry journals, with figures of 0.94 and 0.93 respectively. Dalton Transactions becomes the leading general inorganic journal, with an immediacy index of 0.89 (an increase of 22% on its 2005 figure).

These impressive new figures, coupled with the RSC's position as the fastest publisher of chemical science research, reinforce RSC Publishing's reputation as the home of exciting new research. RSC Publishing would like to thank all our authors, referees and readers for their continued support.

Footnote: The annual ISI® impact factors provide an indication of the average number of citations per paper. The impact factor for 2006 is calculated from the total number of citations given in 2006 to citeable articles published in 2004 and 2005, divided by the number of citeable articles published in 2004 and 2005. The immediacy index measures how topical and urgent the papers published in a journal are. The 2006 immediacy index is the total number of citations given in 2006 to citeable articles published in 2006 divided by the number of citeable articles published in 2006. Data based on 2006 impact factors, calculated by ISI®, released June 2007.

Methods in Organic Synthesis is holding a cover competition, for all those involved or interested in organic chemistry.

The existing MOS cover image - could you do better?

With a large readership and diverse array of abstracts in every issue, the winner of the competition can be sure that their cover will be seen by readers across the globe. The winning image will feature on the RSC website as well as on the front of Methods in Organic Synthesis throughout 2008, making it highly visible to our extensive international audience.

Methods in Organic Synthesis presents the most novel, current and topical research in organic chemistry and the winning image should reflect this.

Can you bring organic chemistry to life visually? Then why not visit