New Journal of Chemistry

Communications

Target audience and purpose:
Preliminary accounts of original and significant work of such importance or novelty that rapid publication is justified may be published in Communication form.

Authors should provide in a covering letter a justification as to why they feel that publication of their work as a Communication is warranted.

Note: Prior to 2021 (up to Volume 44) these articles are named Letter. For more information on this, see here.

Significance Statement:
All submitted manuscripts must include a Significance Statement (3-4 bullet points, 120 words maximum) that should clearly explain how the work is significant for the wider chemistry community. This statement should be different from the abstract and should set the work in a broader context of the field of chemistry featured in the work. It should address the following questions:

• What is the significant development presented in the work? How is this an advance over previous work?
• How does the work open new directions in chemistry?
• Which areas of research (other than that of the work itself) will benefit from the reported findings?

The statement will be seen by editors and will be used by them to help ascertain the significance of the research and its appeal for the journal audience.

Length:
Communications should be between 1,500 and 2,500 words (about four typeset pages), excluding references, and may include one table and up to four figures. Additional tables and figures may be included in the article’s Supplementary Information (SI). The use of the RSC Communications template for preparing your article is encouraged.

Full papers

Target audience and purpose:
Full papers contain original and significant work that has not been published previously and which opens new directions in chemistry or other scientific disciplines.

Full papers based upon Communications are welcome, provided that they represent a substantial amplification and extension of the original material.

Significance Statement:
All submitted manuscripts must include a Significance Statement (3-4 bullet points, 120 words maximum) that should clearly explain how the work is significant for the wider chemistry community. This statement should be different from the abstract and should set the work in a broader context of the field of chemistry featured in the work. It should address the following questions:

• What is the significant development presented in the work? How is this an advance over previous work?
• How does the work open new directions in chemistry?
• Which areas of research (other than that of the work itself) will benefit from the reported findings?

The statement will be seen by editors and will be used by them to help ascertain the significance of the research and its appeal for the journal audience.

Length:
There are no restrictions on the length of a Full Paper.

Perspectives

Target audience and purpose:
Perspectives are short, readable review articles covering current areas of interest for a chemical science audience; they may take the form of a critical analysis of activity in a specialist area.

Since the readership of NJC is wide-ranging the article should be easily comprehensible to a non-specialist in the field, whilst at the same time providing an authoritative discussion of the area concerned.

Authorship:
The submission of Perspective is strictly by invitation only, however suggestions are welcome and enquiries, along with a brief synopsis and author credentials, should be directed to the Editorial Board at NJC-rsc@rsc.org. Readers may nominate themselves, or others, to write a Perspective.

In some cases, pairs of collaborating scientists from different disciplines are invited to each give their perspective on their common field of research in order to demonstrate the benefits of collaborative research and facilitate dialogue between communities.

Unpublished data:
Perspectives should not include new or unpublished original research or data but may summarise previously-published studies and draw some conclusions, but should not present new information on the subject. Figures included in a Perspective should either be original or reproduced from other sources with the necessary approvals granted prior to publication.

Length:
By their nature Perspectives are not comprehensive reviews of a field of chemistry and are typically no more than 10,000 words in length (about 18 typeset pages), excluding references.

Comments

Target audience and purpose:
NJC offers Comments and Replies as a medium for the discussion and exchange of scientific opinions between authors and readers concerning material published in the journal.

Comments should present an alternative analysis of and/or new insight into the previously published material. Any Reply should further the discussion presented in the original article and the Comment. Comments and Replies that contain any form of personal attack are not suitable for publication.

Comments that are acceptable for publication will be forwarded to the authors of the work being discussed, and these authors will be given the opportunity to submit a Reply. The Comment and Reply will both be subject to rigorous peer review in consultation with the journal's Editorial Board where appropriate. The Comment and Reply will be published together.

Length:
There are no restrictions on the length of a Commet, but they should be kept as concise as possible.

Subject-Specific Guidelines for Studies on Fluorescent Sensors

Studies on fluorescent sensor systems should include titrations covering a full range of analyte concentration, from the absence of analyte to a stoichiometric excess, taking the following factors into account:

• If the analyte shows significant absorption at the excitation or emission frequencies corrections should be carried out for Inner Filter Effects (IFEs). (note: fluorescent probes where the response mechanism is based on the Inner Filter Effect are not suitable for publication in NJC).
• A plateau should be observed at high analyte concentrations for the intensity vs. concentration plot when the sensing mechanism is based on association.
• Calculated Limits of Detection (LoD) should be supported by experimental data at similar concentrations.
• The intensity vs. concentration relationship should be fitted using suitable software. The Benesi-Hildebrand linearization method for the determination of the association constant should not be used without extensive consideration of the limitations that arise from the method’s assumptions (see 10.1039/C0CS00062K for further details.)

Plots reporting the Stern-Volmer relationship (I°/I vs. concentration; the same should be valid for its reciprocal I/I°) should show an intercept of 1. Significant variation from this is not acceptable. The Stern-Volmer relationship should be justified by reference to an appropriate quenching mechanism, e.g. dynamic quenching should show a linear relationship, while static quenching can present an upward curvature for relatively high association constants (see 10.1039/D1CS00422K for further discussion).

The performance of all sensor systems should be compared to the current state-of-the-art sensors for the same analyte, with any differences in requirements (e.g. solvent system) clearly stated; a suitable (and justified) set of interferences should also be tested and discussed.