Editorial - Crystal Growth & Design (ACS Publications)

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CRYSTAL GROWTH & DESIGN 2001 VOL. 1, NO. 1 1-2

Editorial It is a great pleasure to join with Associate Editors Allan Myerson and Ken Seddon in launching Crystal Growth & Design. Crystal Growth & Design, the second ACS collaborative publishing venture with SPARC (the Scholarly Publishing & Academic Resources Coalition of the Association of Research Libraries), was created to stimulate and share knowledge among scientists and engineers working in the fields of crystal growth, crystal engineering, and the industrial application of crystalline materials. This task will be enhanced by the exciting developments at ACS in webbased publications, which not only allow totally paperless submission, review, and publication but will also allow increased use of color and multimedia (threedimensional, rotatable images, video, sound, etc.) in the web version of the journal. It is an exciting time for R&D focused on the growth and engineering of new crystalline materials. A resurgence in the field is occurring due to exciting developments in crystal engineering and the increased emphasis on control of materials properties. Big challenges are being undertaken: with the myriad of weak intermolecular forces and packing arrangements possible in a crystal, how can crystal structure be predicted and controlled? With these challenges has come an increased awareness in the major rewards for solving them. Control and prediction of crystalline structure would allow control over hardness, color, and solubility of solids, would enhance the development of new optical materials, would lead to new synthetic zeolites, would allow control over drug polymorphism, and would allow design of new bio-inspired materials, to name but a few. Important advances will come from theoretical and experimental studies of the physical, chemical, and biological phenomena and processes related to the design, growth, and application of crystalline materials. However, true progress will rely on synergistic approaches originating from different disciplines and technologies; and additional interactions between the fundamental and more applied aspects of the field should be encouraged. Crystal Growth & Design was developed to provide the multidisciplinary forum needed to accomplish this. To help achieve the journal’s mission, we have enlisted the aid of an excellent group of scientists and engineers who have agreed to serve on our Advisory Board or to act as Topic Editors. The function of the Advisory Board is to give us outside perspective on the ability of the journal to meet the needs of the R&D community and to help plot the long-term future of the Journal. The Topic Editors will have an active role in helping the journal maintain balance across the disciplines served. Allan, Ken, and I are indebted to both the Advisory Board and the Topic Editors for their service to, and support of, Crystal Growth & Design. Having laid the groundwork above for the “Why?” of the creation of Crystal Growth & Design, it is appropriate to take a moment to thank the numerous people responsible for the “How?”! The Associate Editors and I are fortunate to have been able to work closely with the dedicated professionals within the ACS. At the risk of forgetting to mention everyone by name, I wish to thank the following for their help: Editorial & Office Systems SupportsMichael Adesina and Susan Robinson; Information TechnologysLorrin Garson; Publications, Business AnalystsGloria Carrington; Publications Department (Columbus)sDiane Needham and Mark Wyatt; Publications OperationssMary Scanlan; New Product DevelopmentsJohn Ochs; Research & DevelopmentsRalph Youngen; Web Development and Supports Jeff Spring; Sales & MarketingsApril Orr, Justin R. Spence, and Matthew Price. A special thank you goes out to the Crystal Growth & Design Project Leader, 10.1021/cg005520k CCC: $20.00 © 2001 American Chemical Society Published on Web 11/02/2000

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Crystal Growth & Design, Vol. 1, No. 1, 2001

Editorial

Elisabeth Lutanie (New Product Development), for her dedicated efforts on behalf of the journal from concept to launch. I also wish to introduce and thank Dr. Donna Estill, Managing Editor of Crystal Growth & Design, who is located in the Alabama office. Dr. Estill has completely set up our editorial office, learned the ACS system, managed the increasing communications with authors, editors, and publisher, kept me in line, and is still able to smile. I think you will enjoy working with her! So here we are: issue #1 of Crystal Growth & Design is out. But we are not done! We need the continued support and input of the entire community to continue to develop and maintain a high-quality outlet for dissemination of research results, for discussion of hot topics, and for news and views of the community. Allan, Ken, and I encourage you to make use of this new resource and to keep us informed of your needs as we move forward. We also encourage you to take advantage of the web features and electronic submission of manuscripts. As we move to a more and more electronic publishing era, we intend to keep Crystal Growth & Design in the forefront. We hope you will join us in these efforts! R. D. Rogers Editor CG005520K