Comparing the antioxidant activity of modern and traditional cocoa products: Research highlights in April

Bailey Fallon on May 20, 2013 at 9:08 am - 0 Comments

The first papers for Heritage Science, a new journal covering the application of scientific methods for the study of cultural heritage, were published in April. The journal launched with eight papers covering a wide range of topics, and a further six have since been published, attracting more than 15000 article accesses to date.

One particular highlight is a paper from W Jeffery Hurst et al. comparing the antioxidant activity and flavanol content of cacao beans processed by modern and traditional Mesoamerican methods. The authors compared unfermented cocoa beans commonly produced and consumed by native Mesoamericans, and fermented Ivory Coast cocoa beans representing the most common country of origin for cocoa in the world today. People native to Mesoamerica and …

Two new scientists join the Chemistry Central Journal Editorial Board

Bailey Fallon on May 15, 2013 at 2:43 pm - 0 Comments

We are pleased to announce that Dr Alison Willows from the University of Brighton, UK has joined the Chemistry Central Journal Editorial Board as a Section Editor for environmental chemistry. She is currently a Senior Lecturer in analytical chemistry and is also an Associate Lecturer with the Open University.

Her research interests are directed towards the development of stand-alone electrochemical sensors for aquatic habitat monitoring; the analysis of heavy metals in the environment and in foodstuffs; and analysis of markers of oxidative stress, with the main aim of overcoming the limitations of current analytical techniques to enable continuous monitoring with little intervention.

Prof. Ronny Priefer from Western New England University, USA has also joined the Editorial Board. His research …

April open access highlights: RCUK implements new open access policy

Bailey Fallon on May 14, 2013 at 12:44 pm - 0 Comments

The Research Councils UK (RCUK) policy on open access came into effect last month, requiring all peer-reviewed published research articles and conference proceedings that it funds to be made openly available. The new policy reflects a growing trend amongst funding bodies mandating open access to research outputs and we wrote about this in more detail when the policy came into effect at the beginning of April.

Below is a roundup of some of our other open access highlights from March:

• Science Europe releases statement on open access
Science Europe, an association of fifty-one European national research organizations has released a major open access position statement. The statement recognises that “publication and dissemination of results are an integral part of …

Environmental fate of silver nanoparticles and antibiotic resistance genes: Research highlights in March

Bailey Fallon on April 19, 2013 at 11:02 am - 0 Comments

Two articles published in Chemistry Central Journal last month were amongst the first to appear in a thematic series on Emerging Contaminants.

In the first, Casey Doolette and colleagues investigated the fate of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) in sludge that were subjected to aerobic and anaerobic treatment, and the impact of AgNPs on microbial processes and communities. Due to their antibacterial properties, AgNPs are increasingly being used in consumer products such as deodorants and wound dressings, and are therefore entering wastewater treatment plants where they may have an adverse effect on the microbes involved in sewage treatment. The authors investigated the fate of transformed AgNPs during activated sludge treatment and found that AgNPs are very unlikely to affect the efficient …

March open access highlights: EU to require open access to research

Bailey Fallon on April 17, 2013 at 2:33 pm - 0 Comments

The European Union looks set to become the latest funder to require open access to the outputs from research that it funds. Neelie Kroes, vice-president of the European Commission, has announced that all scientists receiving EU funding will have to publish their results in an open access format. The new policy reflects similar announcements from America, Australia and the UK over recent months.

Meanwhile, the Directory of Open Access Journals reached a new milestone last month of having a million articles searchable via the website. The DOAJ aims to increase the visibility and ease of use of open access journals and currently indexes close to 9000 titles

Below is a roundup of some of our other open access highlights from …

ACS Spring 2013 Meeting

Bailey Fallon on April 5, 2013 at 10:37 am - 0 Comments

We’re about to head off to New Orleans for the Spring ACS Meeting (#ACSNOLA), which runs from 7th–11th April. Come find us at booth 419 to discuss the latest developments at Chemistry Central and pick up a free T-shirt.

This year’s spring meeting revolves around the Chemistry of Energy and Food, and a central theme within this is the concept of sustainability. It’s no surprise then that many of the technical sessions are aligned with the scope of one of our recently announced journals, Sustainable Chemical Processes, which covers all aspects of sustainable approaches to chemistry and will publish its first articles later this spring. Three of the journal’s Editorial Board Members – Arthur Ragauskas, Francesca Kerton …

Heritage Science – the chemistry of conservation

Bailey Fallon on April 4, 2013 at 8:54 am - 0 Comments

Heritage Science, a new open access journal published by Chemistry Central, has now launched.

By examining the pigments in a painting can we tell how it was painted, where it was painted and even whether it is a forgery? By looking at dyes in a textile can we find out about the origin of manufacture and the geographical route it took to get to its destination and hence about trade routes? By analysing the metal content of a coin can we tell about the economic factors of the time? These are the sorts of questions that Heritage Science will address, with a focus on the development and application of scientific techniques to study cultural heritage.

The launch papers feature a tremendous …

New RCUK policy on open access

Bailey Fallon on April 2, 2013 at 3:26 pm - 1 Comment

The Research Councils UK (RCUK) policy on open access came into effect yesterday, but what does it mean for researchers?

Following the publication of the Finch report in June last year, the UK government announced plans to make publically funded research freely available. That policy came into effect yesterday, meaning that all peer-reviewed published research articles and conference proceedings funded by RCUK must be open access.

RCUK is supporting both the green and gold options for open access but with a strong preference for the gold route, where papers are made freely available immediately on publication. Where a journal offers a gold option, and funds to cover the article processing charge are available from the research funder, authors will be …

Supplement from the 8th German Conference on Chemoinformatics

Bailey Fallon on March 27, 2013 at 4:30 pm - 0 Comments

Journal of Cheminformatics has published the meeting abstracts from the 8th German Conference on Chemoinformatics, which took place in Goslar, Germany last November.

Journal of Cheminformatics is the official publishing partner of the conference, and the 2012 meeting represents the fourth consecutive year that the journal has been involved and the sixth year that Chemistry Central has been involved. The abstracts of 20 oral presentations and 53 posters from the meeting have been published in this supplement, which covers topics such as:

• Cheminformatics and Drug Discovery
• Chemical Information, Patents and Databases
• Molecular Modeling
• Computational Materials Science and Nanotechnology

The abstracts from this, as well as the previous five meetings, are freely available via the Chemistry Central website.

Emerging contaminants – A new thematic series in Chemistry Central Journal

Bailey Fallon on March 22, 2013 at 2:59 pm - 0 Comments

Papers are welcomed for a new thematic series in Chemistry Central Journal devoted to the environmental chemistry of emerging contaminants.

The series is edited by Sébastien Sauvé, Associate Professor at the University of Montreal, and a Section Editor for Chemistry Central Journal. “Emerging contaminants can be considered as those contaminants that have appeared only recently, but would be better named as contaminants of emerging concerns” he explains. “ Many emerging contaminants have been in the environment for a while but concerns over their presence and potential impact have been raised much more recently”. In addition to research on emerging contaminants, the series will also cover emerging issues about more traditional contaminants.

The series has launched with four papers:

A review from …