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Why publish in Acta Cryst.?

The journals of the IUCr are under active scrutiny all the time to improve such things as publication times, standards, quality and saleability. The latter is particularly important because 70% of the International Union's income is derived from the sale of the journals. If the journals do not produce the goods the Union will fail.

To keep subscription numbers up, the journals need more and high quality manuscripts. I encourage SCA members to consider publishing more of their research in these foremost international journals. There are six journals to choose from, the four Acta Crystallographica sections plus the Journal of Applied Crystallography and the Journal of Synchrotron Radiation. In my view, it is usually best if small molecule structures are published along with the chemistry to which they are related in a chemistry journal, but if that is not possible, then Acta Crystallographica C is an excellent vehicle. Acta Crystallographica B (Structural Science) is a premier journal for publishing structural chemistry across the whole range, and considering the strength of structural science and materials science in Australia and New Zealand, the number of papers from this region seems too low.

Acta Cryst. D (Biological Crystallography) is the top rated crystallographic journal for citations in macromolecular crystallography. There is currently a move to produce a purely electronic, cif-based, journal for rapid publication of small molecule structures.

Max Taylor, Past President of the Soc. of Crystallographers in Australia
SCA Newsletter, Nov. 1999