IUCr-Wiley Publishing Partnership Announcement

The International Union of Crystallography (IUCr) is expanding its publishing partnership with Wiley to support the long-term future of the IUCr journals.

The IUCr will remain the publisher and owner of its journals, retaining responsibility for their editorial direction, scientific standards and development. Wiley will provide an expanded range of publishing services, including its Research Exchange submission and peer-review platform and production services.

The transition will begin with Acta Crystallographica Section C, Acta Crystallographica Section E, IUCrData and IUCrJ, with the remaining journals moving in subsequent phases.

Why are we making this change?

The IUCr journals have served the crystallographic community for more than 75 years, during which scholarly publishing has changed considerably. The continuing transition towards open access, changing expectations for digital publishing, declining subscription revenues and the cost of maintaining our own publishing infrastructure have placed increasing pressure on the Union's resources. The IUCr is a not-for-profit scientific Union, and income from the IUCr Journals is used directly to support both the journals themselves and the Union's wider scientific mission, including its scientific, educational and outreach activities. After careful consideration, the Executive Committee concluded that continuing with the existing publishing model would increasingly constrain the IUCr's ability to support both its journals and these wider activities.

The partnership with Wiley allows the IUCr to draw on Wiley's publishing technology and production services while enabling the Union to focus more of its resources on areas where it can provide distinctive scientific value, including the International Tables for Crystallography, structural science data standards, CheckCIF and validation, teaching and outreach, support for early-career scientists, and international capacity building.

Managing the transition

Members of our editorial community have raised important questions about editorial workflows, CIF handling and validation, and the support available to editors and authors. We are taking these concerns seriously.

The IUCr team, Editors-in-Chief and Wiley are working together to ensure that the specialist requirements of crystallographic publishing are supported throughout the transition. Training and guidance will be provided, and workflows will be reviewed and refined in response to experience and feedback.

For authors the principal visible change will be the move to Wiley Research Exchange for submission and peer review. Editors will receive separate guidance and support as their journals transition.

We also recognise the enormous contribution of the IUCr's publishing staff in Chester. Their expertise, professionalism and commitment are central to the quality and international reputation of the IUCr journals. This expertise is also important in supporting the transition, and we are working carefully to ensure that specialist knowledge can be drawn upon as the new arrangements are introduced.

We equally value the contribution of our authors, reviewers and editors. We recognise that a transition of this scale will take time, and we appreciate your patience, feedback and continued support as the new arrangements are introduced.

What will remain the same?

The IUCr will remain the publisher and owner of its journals. The journals will continue to be led by their Editors-in-Chief, Main Editors and editorial boards, with scientific and editorial decisions remaining with the scientific editors.

The scientific identity, scope and standards of the journals will continue to be determined by the IUCr and its editorial community. Our commitment to high-quality structural science, rigorous validation of crystallographic data, and the development and use of the Crystallographic Information Framework (CIF) also remains unchanged.

Questions and feedback can be raised with the Editors-in-Chief of the Journals or sent to [email protected]. These will be considered by the IUCr leadership and, where appropriate, the Executive Committee.

Dr Thomas Proffen
President, International Union of Crystallography

Dr Alex Stanley
CEO, International Union of Crystallography

On behalf of the IUCr Executive Committee and the Editors-in-Chief of the IUCr journals