WASHINGTON -- The world's largest scientific society, the American Chemical Society, announced today the appointment of Amos B. Smith, III, as editor-in-chief of Organic Letters, a new peer-reviewed chemistry journal slated to begin publication in July 1999.
The journal is the first of three to be published by ACS under an innovative collaboration with the Association for Research Libraries, through its Scholarly Publishing & Academic Resources Coalition (SPARC). The coalition was established to foster development of lower cost alternatives to high priced journals and to encourage a more rapid dissemination of research results. The new journal will be priced at $2,300 per year.
A leading researcher in synthetic organic chemistry, Smith is the Rhodes- Thompson Professor of Chemistry at the University of Pennsylvania and served as chairman of its chemistry department from 1992 to 1996. He also is a member of two of its interdisciplinary institutes: the Laboratory for Research on the Structure of Matter and the Monell Chemical Senses Center.
"We are delighted to have such a qualified and highly respected editor dedicated to this important first venture under the SPARC initiative," said Robert D. Bovenschulte, ACS Director of Publications. "Dr. Smith's extensive experience and reputation in organic chemistry will make this journal a powerful resource for researchers around the world."
"Organic Letters will offer rapid communication of original, concise and timely reports of significant research," said Smith. "The speed of access offered by the Society's innovative Web publishing features will make this journal an essential tool in organic chemistry." Organic chemists represent a major research area, with more than 80,000 organic chemists worldwide in academe and industry. The ACS Division of Organic Chemistry is its largest member division.
Smith named six associate editors to serve on the journal. They are: Peter Beak and Scott Denmark, both of the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign; C. Dale Poulter and Cynthia J. Burrows, both of the University of Utah; Daniel H. Rich, University of Wisconsin, Madison; and Jeffrey D. Winkler, University of Pennsylvania.
Amos Smith received his B.S. and M.S. from Bucknell University, and his Ph.D. from Rockefeller University. He has received numerous awards including the ACS Ernest Guenther Award in the Chemistry of Natural Products , the ACS Arthur C. Cope Scholar Award and the ACS Award for Creative Work in Synthetic Organic Chemistry. Smith has published more than 150 research papers since 1992. In his career, he has supervised the research of 62 successful Ph.D. candidates in chemistry and more than 100 postdoctoral associates. A resident of Merion, Pennsylvania, he is married and has two children.
A nonprofit organization with a membership of more than 155,000 chemists and chemical engineers as its members, the American Chemical Society publishes scientific journals and databases, convenes major research conferences, and provides educational, science policy and career programs in chemistry. Its main offices are in Washington, D.C. and Columbus, Ohio.
More information about the new journal can be found on the ACS Publications Web site at HYPERLINK http://pubs.acs.org . Information on SPARC is available at http://www.arl.org/sparc.