Refereeing Procedure and Policy

7.0 Letters, Comments and Opinions

7.1 Letters in Dalton Transactions

These are a medium for the expression of scientific opinions and views normally concerning material published in that journal; it is intended that contributions in this format should be published rapidly. The Letters section is for scientific discussion, and is not intended to compete with media for the publication of more general matters such as Chemistry World, or for revision/updating of authors' own work. Only rarely should a Letter exceed one printed column in length (about 1-2 pages of typescript). Where a Letter is polemical in nature, and if it is accepted, a Reply will be solicited from other parties implicated, for consideration for publication alongside the original Letter.

7.2 Letters in New Journal of Chemistry

These are concise articles that report results of immediate interest to the chemistry community: they may be complete publications, though a subsequent full paper may be justified, and should contain a brief experimental section.

7.3 Opinions in New Journal of Chemistry

Opinions should normally be limited to topics closely related to chemical science. This can include topics that are highly focused as well as those of broader interest to the chemical community. An Opinion is not intended to be a description of a consensual point-of-view on a given topic but could raise the need for a counter-opinion. It is a short, refereed, citable article on a topic related to chemical science that normally reports no new data but presents an opinion, hypothesis or conjecture on a topic judged by the referees and editor to be of interest to the readership.

The format is intended to allow more leeway for conjecture than the traditional formats. It should not be used to report a proposal that could be readily tested by currently available methods and published as a standard article. Opinions also could cover more general subjects related to educational, ethical, philosophical or sociological concerns of the chemical community. It should contain nothing that the referees judge offensive.

Ideally, an Opinion should not be longer than one printed page although no strict constraint on the length will be implemented. It will have a one-sentence abstract as well as a limited list of references. An Opinion may lead to the submission of a counter-Opinion, although noncontroversial issues could also be of interest to the chemical community.

7.4 Opinions in Soft Matter

Opinions in Soft Matter are typically 2000 words in length and provide a personal, often speculative, viewpoint or hypothesis on a topic of current interest to the scientific community. They may concern a recent publication in Soft Matter (in which case the author(s) concerned will be given the opportunity to respond) or discuss any current hot topic from the author's point of view; provided that they are not defamatory to the work of others they can be controversial and stimulate counter-opinion. They can include a short biography of the author(s).

7.5 Comments in PCCP, JAAS, Soft Matter, Journal of Materials Chemistry and Polymer Chemistry

Comments are a medium for the discussion and exchange of scientific opinions normally concerning material published in PCCP or JAAS. Submitted Comments will normally be forwarded to the authors of the work being discussed, and these authors will be given the opportunity to submit a Reply for publication together with the Comment. For publication of a Comment or Reply, they must be judged to be scientifically significant and of interest to either the PCCP or JAAS readership. Comments will not normally exceed a length of one printed journal page. Publication will take place only when all parties have had an opportunity to respond appropriately.