Further developments for Acta Crystallographica Section C

Acta Crystallographica Section C continues to specialize in the rapid publication of high-quality studies of novel and challenging crystal and molecular structures. Publication times have continued their downward trend, with the majority of technically correct and well written papers appearing online (//journals.iucr.org/c/ ) within two months of submission. In 2004, Section C published 533 papers (41 inorganic, 227 metal-organic and 285 organic) in a total of 1686 pages – a 14% increase in papers and pages over 2003.

With the mandatory use of checkCIF [derived from PLATON check.def; Spek (2003). J. Appl. Cryst. 36, 7–13] it is now rare for technically incorrect CIFs to be submitted by authors for consideration for publication in Section C. Why then after review were some 48% of submissions to the journal in the past year either withdrawn by the authors or rejected? The principal reasons for this withdrawal/rejection rate were either that the Comment section of the paper was deemed not to provide the `significant added value to the numerical data freely available in the CIF' or that the Comment section was very poorly crafted and difficult to understand. It is a requirement that the text sections of the paper be written in clear and correct English (or one of the other accepted languages). Papers with text sections containing consistently poor grammar or incomprehensible statements will now be rejected by the assigned Co-editor; see Notes for Authors §1.5, Quality of writing. While the editors and Editorial Office staff are very willing to provide help with any technical CIF problems, they cannot be expected to assist with major corrections or redrafting of inadequately prepared text.

To assist Co-editors with the initial review of submissions we are now asking that the submitting author consider providing in the _publ_contact_letter section of the CIF a brief statement of what is novel or interesting about the structure(s) that merits publication in Section C. If the Co-editor then decides that publication in Section C is not appropriate for any reason, the material may be recommended for transfer for consideration as a submission to Acta Crystallographica Section E. Typically, submissions which report the determination of a structure (i.e. establish connectivity) but have little in the way of significant discussion will be very strong candidates for transfer to the Section E submission stream. The significance and impact of papers accepted in Section C should thereby be enhanced. Given the ever increasing number of structures determined, the pressure on space in Section C is such that we must serve our chemical- and materials-structure communities by keeping the journal as a premier outlet for the best crystal structures, both technically and scientifically.

It was with deep regret that we learned last autumn of the death of Professor Mario Nardelli, a highly respected and long-time member of the Section C editorial board. I must also acknowledge and warmly thank G. R. Desiraju (University of Hyderabad, India), who has now retired from the Section C editorial board, for his services to the journal and the crystallographic community. I welcome R. Baggio (Comisión Nacional de Energía Atómica, Argentina), M. R. J. Elsegood (University of Loughborough, England), I. Guzei (University of Wisconsin–Madison, USA) and O. Q. Munro (University of KwaZulu–Natal, South Africa) as new members of the editorial board.

It is always a pleasure to thank the many Co-editors and referees, and the Editorial Office staff for their superb work in the preparation of Section C; their fine efforts make my job as Editor much easier and I look forward to our continuing partnership. I would like to take this opportunity to express my appreciation to Professor J. R. Helliwell for his very valuable contributions to Section C, which have helped keep it at the forefront of the publication of accurate, novel and important crystal structures, and for his unfailing personal support and encouragement.