Author Guidelines

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Manuscript Submission Requirements Checklist

Manuscripts and revised manuscripts must be submitted via the ACS Paragon Plus website (acsparagonplus.acs.org). E-mailed submissions and hardcopy submissions will not be processed. An overview of and complete instructions for the Web submission process are available at the ACS Paragon Plus website.

When submitting, please be aware of the following requirements:

  • Scope: original knowledge in all branches of electrochemistry.
  • Cover Letter: include the manuscript title, the name and contact information of the corresponding author, a statement of why the manuscript is appropriate for ACS Electrochemistry, and any related or prior work that should be disclosed to the Editor in advance.
  • Table of contents graphic: for formatting information see Table of Contents (TOC)/Abstract Graphic.
  • Manuscript abstract and text: must appear in a single, double-spaced column; lines in the abstract and text must be numbered consecutively from beginning to end in a separate column at the left. References must be numbered in the order in which they appear in the text. Supporting Information must be uploaded in a separate file.
  • Safety: declare any unexpected, new, and/or significant hazards or risks associated with the reported work, to be included in the Experimental Section.
  • Recommended reviewers: the system requires authors to supply the names, e-mail addresses, and affiliations of at least four recommended reviewers. The recommended reviewers should be experts in the subject matter of the manuscript and not be anyone who is or has been a former adviser/advisee, colleague in the same institution, research collaborator, and/or co-author of papers and patents or in any other way has a conflict of interest.
  • Administrative considerations: Outside of a preprint server, your paper must not be considered or published elsewhere, and information on whether the paper has been previously considered or posted elsewhere must be provided; manuscripts will be screened with plagiarism software; do not forget to list funding sources and your ORCID iD.

Scope of the Journal

ACS Electrochemistry is an international journal for high-quality, cutting-edge original research in all areas of electrochemistry. The journal aspires to provide a platform for the diverse communities of scientists practicing electrochemistry to address global challenges. The journal welcomes submissions across fundamental, applied, experimental and theoretical aspects of electrochemistry research.

Topics include but are not limited to:

  • Batteries, capacitors, power sources, fuel cells
  • Bioelectrochemistry 
  • Corrosion science and technology
  • Electroanalytical methods
  • Electrocatalysis
  • Electrochemical imaging 
  • Electrochemical processes
  • Electrochemical surface science and properties of electrified interfaces
  • Electrochemical synthesis 
  • Electrodeposition 
  • Electrode reaction kinetics and mechanisms
  • Electrolysis and electrolyzers
  • Ion transfer processes
  • High throughput and AI-enabled electrochemistry
  • Molecular, organic and organometallic electrochemistry
  • Operando electrochemistry
  • Nanoelectrochemistry
  • Photoelectrochemistry and photovoltaics
  • Physical electrochemistry
  • Redox chemistry
  • Single entity electrochemistry
  • Spectroelectrochemistry

Manuscript Types

Articles. Reports of original research focused on an individual significant finding or an advance of immediate and lasting impact that is of broad interest to the electrochemistry community. The Editors request authors explain their findings concisely and accurately. Authors are encouraged to use Supporting Information as appropriate.

 

Communications. A brief disclosure of exceptional timeliness reporting significant new electrochemistry concepts or applications. Communications will be considered on an accelerated schedule. A brief statement explaining how the manuscript meets the criteria of urgency and significance should be included in the cover letter. Communications have a maximum length of four journal pages.

 

Perspectives. Focused reviews of a field or topical area from the author’s point of view. Perspective authors should assess the current status of the field with an emphasis toward identifying key advances being made or those advances that are needed, and with an eye to the future. The Perspective should touch base with the current literature, including key contributors and references, but will primarily serve to inspire and help direct future research efforts. Perspectives are generally invited by the Editor, but unsolicited Perspectives are considered. Authors are welcome to e-mail an outline of a proposed Perspective article to eic@electrochem.acs.org. Further instructions will be provided upon acceptance of a proposal. Perspectives are six to ten journal pages in length.

 

Reviews. Comprehensive summaries of a field in order to provide a new approach or stimulate further research. Reviews are generally invited by the Editor, but unsolicited Reviews are considered. Authors are welcome to e-mail an outline of a proposed Review article to eic@electrochem.acs.org. Further instructions will be provided upon acceptance of a proposal.

 

Tutorials. Tutorial articles are written for the generalist and are intended to broaden readers’ professional interests and keep them aware of the role of electrochemistry in the scientific arena. They are not comprehensive reviews, but rather a tutorial perspective on a field. Tutorials have a maximum length of ten journal pages.

 

Technical Notes. A Technical Note is a short description of a novel apparatus or technique. Authors must show ingenuity in describing the advantages of the new apparatus or technique over those already available. Technical Notes are three to five journal pages in length.

 

Correspondence/Rebuttal. These papers are critical or significant remarks on previously published works in the journal. Correspondence is a technical contribution providing, with supporting material, a respectful but alternative point of view to a publication that has appeared in ACS Electrochemistry. The author of the original publication may be invited to write a Rebuttal. The Correspondence and Rebuttal will appear in the same issue of the journal, when possible.

ACS Researcher Resources

While this document will provide basic information on how to prepare and submit the manuscript as well as other critical information about publishing, we also encourage authors to visit ACS Researcher Resources for additional information on everything that is needed to prepare (and review) manuscripts for ACS journals and partner journals, such as

  • Mastering the Art of Scientific Publication, which shares editor tips about a variety of topics including making your paper scientifically effective, preparing excellent graphics, and writing cover letters.
  • Resources on how to prepare and submit a manuscript to ACS Paragon Plus, ACS Publications’ manuscript submission and peer review environment, including details on selecting the applicable Journal Publishing Agreement.
  • Sharing your research with the public through the ACS Publications open access program.
  • ACS Reviewer Lab, a free online course covering best practices for peer review and related ethical considerations. 
  • ACS Author Lab, a free online course that empowers authors to prepare and submit strong manuscripts, avoiding errors that could lead to delays in the publication process.
  • ACS Inclusivity Style Guide, a guide that helps researchers communicate in ways that recognize and respect diversity in all its forms.

Manuscript Preparation

Submit with Fast Format

All ACS journals and partner journals have simplified their formatting requirements in favor of a streamlined and standardized format for an initial manuscript submission. Read more about the requirements and the benefits these serves authors and reviewers here.

 

Manuscripts submitted for initial consideration must adhere to these standards:

  • Submissions must be complete with clearly identified standard sections used to report original research, free of annotations or highlights, and include all numbered and labeled components.
  • Figures, charts, tables, schemes, and equations should be embedded in the text at the point of relevance. Separate graphics can be supplied later at revision, if necessary.
  • When required by a journal's structure or length limitations, manuscript templates should be used.
  • References can be provided in any style, but they must be complete, including titles. For information about the required components of different reference types, please refer to the ACS Style Quick Guide.
  • Supporting Information must be submitted as a separate file(s).

Document Templates and Format

ACS Electrochemistry does not require the use of any document templates.

 

General information on the preparation of manuscripts may also be found in the ACS Guide to Scholarly Communication.

Acceptable Software, File Designations, and TeX/LaTeX

See the list of Acceptable Software and appropriate File Designations to be sure your file types are compatible with ACS Paragon Plus. Information for manuscripts generated from TeX/LaTeX is also available.

Cover Letter

A cover letter must accompany every manuscript submission. During the submission process, you may type it or paste it into the submission system, or you may attach it as a file.

 

Recommended information includes the following:

  • Manuscript title
  • Name of the corresponding author and that person’s contact information (mailing address, phone, and email)
  • Name(s) of any other coauthor(s)
  • The type of manuscript that is submitted
  • Whether the manuscript was discussed with an Editor before submission or if it is submitted for a special issue
  • A statement of why the manuscript is appropriate for ACS Electrochemistry
  • A description of any Supporting Information and/or Review-Only Material
  • Four or more individuals competent to review the manuscript
  • Any related or prior work that should be disclosed to the Editor in advance.
  • A note of any use of a preprint server, and as appropriate, state how the manuscript has been adjusted/updated between deposition and submission.

Manuscript Text Components

Title. Use specific and informative titles with a high keyword content. Avoid acronyms and subtitles.

 

Authorship. Give authors’ full names, the complete mailing address of the place where the work was done, and the current addresses of the authors, if different, as a footnote. Indicate the corresponding author by an asterisk and provide an e-mail address for that person. For a more complete guide to authorship requirements, please see the Authorship, Author List, and Coauthor Notification section in Appendix 1 below.

 

Abstract. Abstracts should describe briefly and clearly the purpose of the research, the principal results, and the major conclusions. Remember that the abstract will be the most widely read portion of the paper and will be used by abstracting services. An abstract graphic will appear with the abstract text. The Tutorial manuscript type does not have an abstract.

 

Keywords. Provide significant keywords to aid the reader in literature retrieval. Please consider the use of words different from those in the title to expand the discoverability of the article. The keywords are published immediately before the text, following the abstract.

 

Text. Write for the specialist (except for Tutorials, which should be written for the scientific generalist). It is not necessary to include information and details or techniques that should be common knowledge to those in the field.

 

Section Headings. Informative section headings and subheadings are encouraged. Sections are not numbered. Keep all information pertinent to a particular section and avoid repetition.

 

Introduction. The Introduction should state the purpose of the investigation and must include appropriate citations of relevant, precedent work but should not include an extensive review of marginally related literature. If the manuscript describes a new method, indicate why it is preferable to older methods.

 

Experimental Section. Use complete sentences (i.e., do not use outline form). Be consistent in voice and tense. For apparatus, list only devices of a specialized nature. List and describe preparation of special reagents only. Do not list those normally found in the laboratory and preparations described in standard handbooks and texts. Provide adequate details of critical steps to enable work to be repeated by others. While it is acceptable to report some of the detailed procedures as supporting information, important and unique experimental procedures must remain in the main manuscript. Published procedures should be cited but not described, except where the presentation involves substantial modifications.

For research that uses animals or involves human subjects, approvals from the appropriate institutional committees (i.e., the Committee on Care and Use of Laboratory Animals, Institutional Review Board, etc.) must be documented in the Experimental Section, and the requirements found within The Ethical Guidelines to Publication of Chemical Research must be followed.

 

Results and Discussion. The results may be presented in tables or figures; however, many simple findings can be presented directly in the text with no need for tables or figures. The discussion should be concise and deal with the interpretation of the results.

 

Conclusions. Use the conclusion section only for interpretation and not to summarize information already presented in the text or abstract.

 

References. References in the final published article to notes/comments and to the permanent literature should be numbered in one consecutive series by order of mention in the text with each reference individually numbered. Reference numbers in the text must be superscripted. The accuracy and completeness of the references are the authors’ responsibility. Use Chemical Abstracts Service Source Index abbreviations for journal names (http://cassi.cas.org/search.jsp) and provide article title, publication year, volume, and page number (inclusive pagination is recommended). Chemical Abstracts reference information for foreign publications that are not readily available should also be supplied.

List submitted articles as “in press” only if formally accepted for publication and give the article title, journal name, volume number, and year, if known. Otherwise, use “unpublished work” with the name of the place where the work was done and the date. Include name, affiliation, and date for “personal communications”. For work published online (ASAP, in press), the DOI should be furnished in addition to the standard bibliographic information.

Examples of the reference format:

  1. Ho, M.; Pemberton, J. E. Alkyl Chain Conformation of Octadecylsilane Stationary Phases by Raman Spectroscopy. 1. Temperature Dependence. Anal. Chem. 1998, 70, 4915–4920.
  2. Bard, A. J.; Faulker, L. R. Electrochemical Methods, 2nd ed.; Wiley: New York, 2001.
  3. Francesconi, K. A.; Kuehnelt, D. In Environmental Chemistry of Arsenic; Frankenberger, W. T., Jr., Ed.; Marcel Dekker: New York, 2002; pp 51–94.
  4. Pratt, D. A.; van der Donk, W. A. Theoretical Investigations into the Intermediacy of Chlorinated Vinylcobalamins in the Reductive Dehalogenation of Chlorinated Ethylenes J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2004, DOI: 10.1021/ja047915o.

 

Acknowledgments. Authors may acknowledge technical assistance, gifts, the source of special materials, financial support, meeting presentation information, and the auspices under which work was done, including permission to publish. During manuscript submission, the submitting author is asked to select funding sources from the list of agencies included in the FundRef Registry.

If the article is dedicated to another scholar, a brief statement, such as “This article is dedicated to [name]”, can be included.

Statements about author contributions to the work or equal contributions of work should be included as a separate statement.

 

Supporting Information

This information is provided to the reviewers during the peer-review process (for Review Only) and is available to readers of the published work (for Publication). Supporting Information must be submitted at the same time as the manuscript. See the list of Acceptable Software by File Designation and confirm that your Supporting Information is viewable.

 

If the manuscript is accompanied by any supporting information files for publication, these files will be made available free of charge to readers. A brief, nonsentence description of the actual contents of each file, including the file type extension, is required. This description should be labeled Supporting Information and should appear before the Acknowledgement and Reference sections.  Examples of sufficient and insufficient descriptions are as follows:

 

Examples of sufficient descriptions: “Supporting Information: 1H NMR spectra for all compounds (PDF)” or “Additional experimental details, materials, and methods, including photographs of experimental setup (DOC)”.

 

Examples of insufficient descriptions: “Supporting Information: Figures S1-S3” or “Additional figures as mentioned in the text”.

 

When including supporting information for review only, include copies of references that are unpublished or in-press. These files are available only to editors and reviewers.

Research Data Policy

All ACS journals strongly encourage authors to make the research data underlying their articles publicly available at the time of publication.

Research data is defined as materials and information used in the experiments that enable the validation of the conclusions drawn in the article, including primary data produced by the authors for the study being reported, secondary data reused or analyzed by the authors for the study, and any other materials necessary to reproduce or replicate the results.

The ACS Research Data Policy provides additional information on Data Availability Statements, Data Citation, and Data Repositories.

Data Requirements

Authors should refer to the ACS Research Data Guidelines, particularly the Electrochemistry Data Guidelines contained within, as well as the ACS Math Style Sheet.

Language and Editing Services

A well-written paper helps share your results most clearly. ACS Publications’ English Editing Service is designed to help scientists communicate their research effectively. Our subject-matter expert editors will edit your manuscript for grammar, spelling, and other language errors so your ideas are presented at their best.

Preparing Graphics

The quality of illustrations in ACS journals and partner journals depends on the quality of the original files provided by the authors. Figures are not modified or enhanced by journal production staff. All graphics must be prepared and submitted in digital format.

 

Graphics should be inserted into the main body whenever possible. Please see Appendix 2 for additional information.

 

Any graphic (figure chart, scheme, or equation) that has appeared in an earlier publication should include a credit line citing the original source. Authors are responsible for obtaining written permission to re-use this material.

Figure and Illustration Services

The impact of your research is not limited to what you can express with words. Tables and figures such as graphs, photographs, illustrations, diagrams, and other visuals can play a significant role in effectively communicating your findings. Our Artwork Editing and Graphical Abstract services generate publication-ready figures and Table of Contents (TOC) graphics that conform to your chosen journal’s specifications. For figures, this includes changes to file type, resolution, color space, font, scale, line weights, and layout (to improve readability and professional appearance). For TOC graphics, our illustrators can work with a rough sketch or concept or help extract the key findings of your manuscript directly for use as a visual summary of your paper.

Preparing for Submission

Manuscripts, graphics, supporting information, and required forms, as well as manuscript revisions, must all be submitted in digital format through ACS Paragon Plus, which requires an ACS ID to log in. Registering for an ACS ID is fast, free, and does not require an ACS membership. Please refer to Appendix 1 for additional information on preparing your submission

Prior Publication Policy

ACS Electrochemistry considers for publication original work that has not been previously published and is not under consideration for publication elsewhere. Related work under consideration for publication in any medium must be cited in the manuscript and the Editor informed at the time of submission. In addition, an author must inform the Editor of prior dissemination of the content in print or electronic formats in the cover letter.

 

ACS Electrochemistry authors are allowed to deposit an initial draft of their manuscript on a recognized preprint server such as ChemRxiv, bioRxiv, arXiv, or the applicable repository for their discipline prior to submission. Please state any use of a preprint server in the cover letter and include a link to the preprint, and as appropriate, state how the manuscript has been adjusted/updated between deposition and submission. Upon publication in ACS Electrochemistry, authors are advised to add a link from the preprint to the published paper via the Digital Object Identifier (DOI). Some preprint servers, including ChemRxiv and bioRxiv, add this link for authors automatically after publication.

 

Electronic posting of conference presentations or posters secured by subscription or institutional logins are not considered prior publication works.

 

For the ACS Publications policy on theses and dissertations, view the American Chemical Society's Policy on Theses and Dissertations.

Editorial Policies

Review process summary. Editors evaluate all submissions, and they consult with Editorial Advisory Board members in some cases. Some submissions may be rejected shortly after submission, for example, those that fall outside the scope of the journal or are not deemed of sufficient interest to the readership. For manuscripts considered further, additional peer reviewers and the Editorial Advisory Board members are consulted to evaluate the originality, quality, clarity, and importance. Editors review all feedback and make final decisions. Reviewers may be asked to consider subsequent versions of manuscripts, particularly where new data or information is included, and in those cases, blind copies of reviewers’ comments may be sent to all reviewers to encourage a consensus recommendation and allow Editors to respond to authors with valuable and timely feedback.

 

Back-to-Back Publication. Manuscripts intended for back-to-back publication will be considered. These manuscripts will be judged independently on their individual merit to ensure that they meet the qualifications outlined herein and that back-to-back presentation enhances the literature and impact of the work.

 

Self-Citations. The use of excessive self-citations is not permitted.

 

Appeals of decisions. Well-reasoned appeals of decisions may be considered but must first be directed to the Associate Editor who handled the original submission and not to the Editor-in-Chief.

If a manuscript has been declined by the journal and the author wishes to submit a revised version, the author is required to first gain consent from the Associate Editor who handled the initial submission. If the Associate Editor’s consent to resubmit is received (which does not guarantee ultimate acceptance), the cover letter must explicitly state that permission was obtained from the Associate Editor and must describe the changes that have been made in the manuscript and include justification for reconsideration. The manuscript will be assigned to the same Associate Editor who handled the initial submission in most circumstances. The request for reconsideration may be denied without further review if, in the Editor’s opinion, no adequate new science was provided or the work is more suitable for publication in a specialized journal.

Providing Potential Reviewer Names

Please suggest four or more reviewers. Authors are encouraged to avoid suggesting reviewers from the authors’ institutions. Do not suggest reviewers who may have a real or perceived conflict of interest. Whenever possible, suggest academic email addresses rather than personal email addresses.

Manuscript Transfer

If your submission is declined for publication by this journal, the editors might deem your work to be better suited for another ACS Publications journal or partner journal and suggest that the authors consider transferring the submission. Manuscript Transfer simplifies and shortens the process of submitting to another ACS journal or partner journal, as all the coauthors, suggested reviewers, manuscript files, and responses to submission questions are copied by ACS Paragon Plus to the new draft submission. Authors are free to accept or decline the transfer offer.

 

Note that each journal is editorially independent. Transferring a manuscript is not a guarantee that the manuscript will be accepted, as the final publication decision will belong to the editor of the next journal.

PRODUCTION AND PUBLICATION

Proofs via ACS Direct Correct

Correction of the galley proofs is the responsibility of the Corresponding Author. The Corresponding Author of an accepted manuscript will receive e-mail notification and complete instructions when page proofs are available for review via ACS Direct Correct. Extensive or important changes on page proofs, including changes to the title or list of authors, are subject to review by the editor.

 

It is the responsibility of the Corresponding Author to ensure that all authors listed on the manuscript agree with the changes made on the proofs. Galley proofs should be returned within 48 hours in order to ensure timely publication of the manuscript.

Publication Date and Patent Dates

Accepted manuscripts will be published on the ACS Publications Web site as soon as page proofs are corrected and all author concerns are resolved. The first date on which the document is published on the Web is considered the publication date.

 

Publication of manuscripts on the Web may occur weeks in advance of the cover date of the issue of publication. Authors should take this into account when planning their patent and intellectual property activities related to a document and should ensure that all patent information is available at the time of first publication, whether ASAP or issue publication.

 

All articles published ahead of print receive a unique Digital Object Identifier (DOI) number, which is used to cite the manuscript before and after the paper appears in an issue. Additionally, any supplemental information submitted along with the manuscript will automatically be assigned a DOI and hosted on Figshare to promote open data discoverability and use of your research outputs.

ASAP Publication

Manuscripts will be published on the “ASAP Articles” page on the web as soon as page proofs are corrected and all author concerns are resolved. ASAP publication usually occurs within a few working days of receipt of page proof corrections, which can be several weeks in advance of the cover date of the issue.

Post-Publication Policies

The American Chemical Society follows guidance from the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) when considering any ethical concerns regarding a published article, Retractions, and Expressions of Concern.

Additions and Corrections

Additions and Corrections may be requested by the author(s) or initiated by the Editor to address important issues or correct errors and omissions of consequence that arise after publication of an article. All Additions and Corrections are subject to approval by the Editor, and should bring new and directly relevant information and corrections that fix scientific facts. Minor corrections and additions will not be published. Readers who detect errors of consequence in the work of others should contact the corresponding author of that work.

 

Additions and Corrections must be submitted as new manuscripts via ACS Paragon Plus by the Corresponding Author for publication in the “Addition/Correction” section of the Journal. The corresponding author should obtain approval from all coauthors prior to submitting or provide evidence that such approval has been solicited. The manuscript should include the original article title and author list, citation including DOI, and details of the correction.

Retractions

Articles may be retracted for scientific or ethical reasons and may be requested by the article author(s) or by the journal Editor(s), but are ultimately published at the discretion of the Editor. Articles that contain seriously flawed or erroneous data such that their findings and conclusions cannot be relied upon may be retracted in order to correct the scientific record. When an article is retracted, a notice of Retraction will be published containing information about the reason for the Retraction. The originally published article will remain online except in extraordinary circumstances (e.g. where deemed legally necessary, or if the availability of the published content poses public health risks).

Expressions of Concern

Expressions of Concern may be issued at the discretion of the Editor if:

  • there is inconclusive evidence of research or publication misconduct by the authors;
  • there is evidence that the findings are unreliable but the authors’ institution will not investigate the case;
  • an investigation into alleged misconduct related to the publication either has not been, or would not be, fair and impartial or conclusive;
  • an investigation is underway but a judgment will not be available for a considerable time.

 

Upon completion of any related investigation, and when a final determination is made about the outcome of the article, the Expression of Concern may be replaced with a Retraction notice or Correction.

Sharing Your Published Article

At ACS Publications, we know it is important for you to be able to share your peer reviewed, published work with colleagues in the global community of scientists. As sharing on sites known as scholarly collaboration networks (SCNs) is becoming increasingly prevalent in today’s scholarly research ecosystem, we would like to remind you of the many ways in which you, a valued ACS author, can share your published work.

 

Publishing open access makes it easy to share your work with friends, colleagues, and family members. In addition, ACS Publications makes it easy to share your newly published research with ACS Articles on Request (see below). Don’t forget to promote your research and related data on social media, at conferences, and through scholarly communication networks. Increase the impact of your research using the following resources: Altmetrics, Figshare, ACS Certified Deposit.

 

E-Prints

When your article is published in an ACS journal or partner journal, corresponding authors are provided with a link that offers up to 50 free digital prints of the final published work. This link is valid for the first 12 months following online publication, and can be shared via email or an author’s website. After one year, the access restrictions to your article will be lifted, and you can share the Articles on Request URL on social media and other channels. To access all your Articles on Request links, log in to your ACS Researcher Resources account and visit the “My Published Manuscripts” page.

 

Reprints

Article, journal, and commercial reprints are available to order.

 

Appendix 1: PREPARING FOR SUBMISSION

We’ve developed ACS’ publishing and editorial policies in consultation with the research communities that we serve, including authors and librarians. Browse our policies below to learn more.

Ethical Guidelines

ACS editors have provided Ethical Guidelines for persons engaged in the publication of chemical research—specifically, for editors, authors, and reviewers. Each journal also has a specific policy on prior publication.

OFAC Compliance

As a U.S.-based non-profit organization, the American Chemical Society (ACS) is required to comply with U.S. sanctions laws and regulations administered by the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC). While these laws and regulations permit U.S.-based publishers like ACS to engage in publishing-related activities with authors located in sanctioned regions in many cases, ACS may be prohibited under U.S. law from engaging in publishing-related activities in some cases, including, but not limited to, instances where an author or the institution with which an author is affiliated is located in a particular sanctioned region or has been designated by OFAC as a Specially Designated National (SDN) pursuant to certain U.S. sanctions programs. ACS reserves the right to refrain from engaging in any publishing-related activities that ACS determines in its sole discretion may be in violation of U.S. law.

 

Safety Considerations

Authors must emphasize any unexpected, new, and/or significant hazards or risks associated with the reported work. This information should be in the Experimental Section of a full article and included in the main text of a letter. Statement examples can be found in the Safety Statement Style Sheet and additional information on communicating safety information from the ACS Guide to Scholarly Communication is freely available here.

Conflict of Interest Disclosure

A statement describing any financial conflicts of interest or lack thereof is published in each ACS journal and partner journal article.

 

During the submission process, the Corresponding Author must provide a statement on behalf of all authors of the manuscript, describing all potential sources of bias, including affiliations, funding sources, and financial or management relationships, that may constitute conflicts of interest. If the manuscript is accepted, the statement will be published in the final article.

 

If the manuscript is accepted and no conflict of interest has been declared, the following statement will be published in the final article: “The authors declare no competing financial interest.”

Plagiarism

In publishing only original research, ACS is committed to deterring plagiarism, including self-plagiarism. ACS Publications uses CrossCheck's iThenticate software to screen submitted manuscripts for similarity to published material. Note that your manuscript may be screened during the submission process.

 

Further information about plagiarism can be found in Part B of the Ethical Guidelines to Publication of Chemical Research. See also the press release regarding ACS' participation in the CrossCheck initiative.

Authorship, Author List, and Coauthor Notification

Authors are required to obtain the consent of all their coauthors prior to submitting a manuscript. The submitting author accepts the responsibility of notifying all coauthors that the manuscript is being submitted.

 

During manuscript submission, the submitting author must provide contact information (full name, email address, institutional affiliation, and mailing address) for all of the coauthors. Because all of the author names are automatically imported into the electronic Journal Publishing Agreement, the names must be entered into ACS Paragon Plus. (Note that coauthors are not required to register in ACS Paragon Plus.) Author affiliation should reflect where the work was completed, even if the author has since left that institution. Authors may include a note with a current address if their institution has changed since the work was completed.

 

To expedite the processing of your manuscript, please format your author and affiliation information according the guidelines in this link: https://pubsapp.acs.org/paragonplus/submission/author-address-information.pdf.

 

Criteria for authorship can be found in Part B of the Ethical Guidelines to Publication of Chemical Research. Artificial intelligence (AI) tools do not qualify for authorship. The use of AI tools for text or image generation should be disclosed in the manuscript within the Acknowledgment section with a description of when and how the tools were used. For more substantial use cases or descriptions of AI tool use, authors should provide full details within the Methods or other appropriate section of the manuscript.

 

If any change in authorship is necessary after a manuscript has been submitted, confirmation is required that all of the authors (including those being added or removed) have been notified and have agreed to the change. To provide this confirmation, authors are asked to complete and sign an authorship change form and provide the completed form to the appropriate editorial office.

 

Authors with a single name: If you, or any of your coauthors, have only one name, please follow these steps for proper submission to ACS Paragon Plus:

  1. First (Given) Name Field: Enter an asterisk (*) into the "First (Given) Name" field.
  2. Last (Family) Name Field: Enter your single name into the "Last (Family) Name" field.

If your paper is accepted, the asterisk (*) will be removed from the published version of the paper.

 

 

Patent Activities and Intellectual Property

Authors are responsible for ensuring that all patent activities and intellectual property issues are satisfactorily resolved prior to first publication (ASAP or in issue). Acceptance and publication will not be delayed for pending or unresolved issues of this nature.

Open Researcher and Contributor ID (ORCID)

Authors submitting manuscript revisions are required to provide their own personal, validated ORCID iD before completing the submission, if an ORCID iD is not already associated with their ACS Paragon Plus user profiles. This ID may be provided during original manuscript submission or when submitting the manuscript revision. All authors are strongly encouraged to register for an ORCID iD, a unique researcher identifier. The ORCID iD will be displayed in the published article for any author on a manuscript who has a validated ORCID iD associated with ACS when the manuscript is accepted.

 

ORCID iDs should not be typed into the manuscript. ACS publishes only those ORCID iDs that have been properly verified and linked before the manuscript is accepted. After your ORCID iD is linked, it will be displayed automatically in all subsequently accepted manuscripts for any/all ACS journals. We do not publish ORCID iDs provided during proof review or via other communications after a manuscript is accepted for publication.

 

With an ORCID iD, you can create a profile of your research activities to distinguish yourself from other researchers with similar names, and make it easier for your colleagues to find your publications. If you do not yet have an ORCID iD, or you wish to associate your existing ORCID iD with your ACS Paragon Plus account, you may do so by clicking on “Edit Your Profile” from your ACS Paragon Plus account homepage and following the ORCID-related links. Learn more at www.orcid.org.

To obtain forms and guidelines for copyright transfer, obtaining permissions from copyright owners, and to explore a Copyright Learning Module for chemists, click here.

Funder Reporting Requirement

Authors are required to report funding sources and grant/award numbers. Enter ALL sources of funding for ALL authors in BOTH the Funder Registry Tool in ACS Paragon Plus and in your manuscript to meet this requirement.

Open Access Compliance

ACS offers options by which authors can fulfill the requirements for open access and deposition into repositories for funded research. Visit our ACS Open Science site to see how to fulfill requirements for specific funders and to find out if you are eligible to publish under a Read + Publish agreement between ACS and your institution. You can also find out more about Open Access Compliance and ACS Open Science initiatives.

Diversity and Inclusion Statement

During manuscript submission, ACS journal authors have the option to submit a statement sharing information related to diversity and inclusion that is relevant for their paper. If supplying a diversity and inclusion statement, the corresponding author must provide this on behalf of all authors of the manuscript during the submission process. These statements include but are not limited to analysis of citation diversity and acknowledgment of indigenous land on which research was conducted. Statements expressing political beliefs are not permitted and may be removed by the journal office. All statements are subject to final review by the Editor.

  • Citation Diversity Statement:The citation diversity statement should appear in the Acknowledgements section of the manuscript. ACS recommends including the following: (1) the importance of citation diversity, (2) the proportion of citations by gender and race/ethnicity for the first and last authors, (3) the method used to determine those proportions and its limitations, and (4) steps taken to by the authors to improve citation diversity in the article. We recognize that one limitation of the current methods is that it cannot account for intersex, non-binary, and transgender people, or Indigenous and mixed-race authors. (Adapted from BMES/Springer Guidelines)
  • Land acknowledgment:The land acknowledgment statement should appear in the Acknowledgements section of the manuscript. The statement should link to the institutions’ formal land acknowledgments on which the research took place, if possible. Further guidance for creating these statements can be found here: https://nativegov.org/news/a-guide-to-indigenous-land-acknowledgment/.

 

Appendix 2: Preparing Graphics

Resolution

Digital graphics pasted into manuscripts should have the following minimum resolutions:

  • Black and white line art, 1200 dpi
  • Grayscale art, 600 dpi
  • Color art, 300 dpi

Size

Graphics must fit a one- or two-column format. Single-column graphics can be sized up to 240 points wide (3.33 in.) and double-column graphics must be sized between 300 and 504 points (4.167 in. and 7 in.). The maximum depth for all graphics is 660 points (9.167 in.) including the caption (allow 12 pts. For each line of caption text). Lettering should be no smaller than 4.5 points in the final published format. The text should be legible when the graphic is viewed full-size. Helvetica or Arial fonts work well for lettering. Lines should be no thinner than 0.5 point.

Color

Color may be used to enhance the clarity of complex structures, figures, spectra, and schemes, etc., and color reproduction of graphics is provided at no additional cost to the author. Graphics intended to appear in black and white or grayscale should not be submitted in color.

Type of Graphics

Table of Contents (TOC)/Abstract Graphic

Consult the Guidelines for Table of Contents/Abstract Graphics for specifications.

Our team of subject-matter experts and graphical designers can also help generate a compelling TOC graphic to convey your key findings. Learn more about our Graphical Abstract service.

Figures

A caption giving the figure number and a brief description must be included below each figure. The caption should be understandable without reference to the text. It is preferable to place any key to symbols used in the artwork itself, not in the caption. Ensure that any symbols and abbreviations used in the text agree with those in the artwork.

Charts

Charts (groups of structures that do not show reactions) may have a brief caption describing their contents.

Tables

Each table must have a brief (one phrase or sentence) title that describes the contents. The title should be understandable without reference to the text. Details should be put in footnotes, not in the title. Tables should be used when the data cannot be presented clearly in the narrative, when many numbers must be presented, or when more meaningful inter-relationships can be conveyed by the tabular format. Tables should supplement, not duplicate, information presented in the text and figures. Tables should be simple and concise.

Schemes

Each scheme (sequences of reactions) may have a brief caption describing its contents.

Chemical Structures

Chemical structures should be produced with the use of a drawing program such as ChemDraw.

Cover Art

ACS Electrochemistry authors are encouraged to submit images to be considered for use on the journal’s front cover or Supplementary Covers at the time of the submission of their revised manuscript. If your article is accepted for publication, your suggestion may also be selected for use on one of the journal’s covers. If your art is selected for front cover, ACS will send you information about how to request one complimentary 18” by 24” printed poster featuring your work. Images chosen for the front cover will be published at no cost to the author.

 

Cover image submissions should be colorful and visually engaging, with minimal text. The cover image should not resemble a graphical abstract or data figure, but rather should be an artistic and scientifically accurate representation of the manuscript. In general, submissions of structures, graphs, and chemical schema are discouraged. Artistic or abstract renditions of molecules, cells, and data are encouraged.

 

Image files should be submitted as TIF, JPG, PNG, or EPS files (not PDF or PPT) with a resolution of at least 300 dpi for pixel-based images. Cover art should be 8.19 inches (20.8 cm) wide × 10.00 inches (25.4 cm) high at 300 ppi, and submission of “layered” artwork is encouraged. The journal’s logo will obscure the top 2.5 inches (6.35 cm) of the image. Authors should submit the cover image, along with a short (<50-word), clear caption explaining the image, as supplementary files to ACS Paragon Plus with their final revised manuscript.

 

If you wish to be considered only for the front cover, and not a paid supplementary cover, please respond NO accordingly to the Supplementary Cover Art question in ACS Paragon Plus. For more information on the Supplementary Covers program, please see this webpage. All art submitted for consideration for a supplementary cover will also be considered for a front cover.

Web Enhanced Objects (WEO)

The Web editions of ACS journals allow readers to view multimedia attachments such as animations and movies that complement understanding of the research being reported.

 

WEOs should be uploaded in ACS Paragon Plus with ‘Web Enhanced Object’ selected as the file designation. Consult the list of compatible WEO formats.

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