SCI Members' News

Publications home page

Biofpr

Sweet home Chicago

2007’s American Chemical Society (ACS) meeting in Chicago was attended by a group from SCI publications led by Sarah Cooney, SCI’s then director of publications (pictured). The group made excellent progress on its objectives which ranged through content acquisition for SCI’s journals, corporate profile-raising to developing collaborations with peer organisations.

One of the most important aims of attending the conference was to build on the existing relationship SCI has with various divisions within the ACS. Cooney and Chemistry & Industry editor Neil Eisberg attended a reception organised by the Corporation Associates (CA) group and were able to meet and network with AC members and ACS staff.

‘There was a fruitful exchange of ideas, which will be followed up by journals staff to help determine future directions’

The Chemical Information (CINF) division of ACS was another important area for development with SCI. Bill Town, chair of SCI’s publications advisory committee and past president of CINF, and Samantha Swann, SCI’s business acquisition editor based at Wiley & Sons, co-organised a session ‘Sustainable resources: science and information sources’ with Leah Solla, CINF programme chair and chemistry librarian at Cornell University, Ithaca, New York. Swann gave a very well-received talk based on research she conducted on information resources in the emerging interdisciplinary are of biorenewables. This research supported SCI’s decision to launch the Biofpr journal and portal.

Cooney chaired the session and subsequent panel discussion. She was also able to address the CINF division reception, highlighting the increased interaction between SCI and the division and introducing Biofpr to the key US librarian market. She has accepted an invitation to join the CINF program committee.

Bruce Dale, editor-in-chief of Biofpr, attended the ACS event, presenting papers including ‘Designing a new industry for sustainability: Life cycle analysis for the emerging bioeconomy’. It was also an opportunity for him to meet with Wiley’s vice president and editorial director Ernest Kirkwood, associate editorial director Ray Boucher, Swann and Cooney.

The editorial board of SCI’s journal Pest Management Science (PMSci) also met in Chicago. Ten board members attended and for some it was the first time they had met face-to-face with SCI and Wiley staff. There was a fruitful exchange of ideas, which will be followed up by journals staff to help determine the future directions for the journal. Gerry Brooks, editor-in-chief of PMSci and long-standing SCI member, received an international ACS Agrochemical (AGRO) division award at a reception sponsored by SCI. Cooney introduced SCI to the guests and reiterated the Society’s support for Gerry in winning this prestigious award.

With some of the world’s leading scientists attending the ACS meeting, Tom Hopkinson, Lisa Richards and Jo Harries of SCI’s journals team had a most fruitful time talking to potential candidates for commissioned papers. A total of 46 solid article leads were generated, many for Biofpr launch issues and also across SCI’s other four journal titles. SCI and its work was detailed in three features in the ACS Show Daily publication through extensive coverage of the launch of SCI India, the launch of Biofpr and a story about organic kiwis which had been covered in C&I and JSFA. (see our C&I in the News page) Journals team publicity guru Lisa Richards was able to use the opportunity to develop new, valuable relationships with media relations staff at the ACS.