75 years of IUCr Journals: 1948 to 2023, an Editor-in-Chief’s perspective

The International Union of Crystallography (IUCr) and its journals are celebrating their 75th anniversary. In this editorial, some of the publication achievements are highlighted and prospects for the future reviewed in an emerging open-access world.

Structure Reports Online to one more focused on Crystallographic Communications.The transformation of Acta Cryst.E was necessitated in part by its removal from the main journal citation index in 2012.Both journals have continued to develop and evolve over the years with a Raw Data Letters section recently started in IUCrData, while Acta Cryst.E has become fully re-indexed with an impact factor once more from 2023.Meanwhile in 2022, the Journal of Synchrotron Radiation flipped to open access only so that in 2023 there are four IUCr journals fully open access while six remain hybrid, publishing both open-access papers and papers accessed via traditional subscription arrangements.
In what follows, selected papers are highlighted, based on citations and other criteria of note to the Main and Managing Editors of the journals.Some more recent papers are included to encompass new achievements and point to potentially significant future developments.
2. Brief surveys of selected significant papers appearing in the IUCr journals over the years 2.1. IUCrJ The scope of IUCrJ has increased to cover seven main subject areas: Biology and Medicine, Chemistry and Crystal Engineering, CryoEM, Electron Crystallography, Materials and Computation, Neutron and Synchrotron Science and Technology, and Physics and Free Electron Science and Technology.The titles of the highly cited articles listed below indicate the range of high-impact cross-cutting research that has been reported in IUCrJ since its inception.
Orienting organic molecules within porous crystal sponges to enable conventional X-ray diffraction: The crystalline sponge method updated.Hoshino, M., Khutia, A., Xing, H. Z., Inokuma, Y. & Fujita, M. (2016).IUCrJ, Acta Cryst.B welcomes articles on structural science of compounds and materials in the widest sense.It also welcomes contributions focusing on all aspects of crystal growth related to structural science, crystal engineering and materials.Indeed, a new section focused explicitly on Crystal Growth was started in late 2021.
The most highly cited articles in Acta Cryst.B are associated with structural databases such as the Cambridge Structural Database (CSD) and the complementary Inorganic Crystal Structure Database (ICSD) -see papers listed below.Collectively, they describe a massive, curated resource for organic and metal-organic structures, underpinning a significant category of articles using the databases to investigate topics such as trends in chemical bonding, patterns of intermolecular contacts and packing motifs.In recent years, Acta Cryst.B has published major contributions to research on many modern materials of interest.It is not possible to capture the breadth of the research covered in a short list, but the titles of the following well cited papers speak for themselves.
Over the past few years, Acta Cryst C has transitioned from simply handling crystal structure communications to publishing exciting science with structural content and important results relating to the chemical sciences.However, Acta Cryst.C has published impactful papers over its entire history.In this case, a chronological list of selected papers helps to illustrate how its scope has evolved over the years.
Highlighting neutron diffraction as a useful tool in solid-state materials chemistry: Cobalt(III) lithium oxide, CoLiO 2 : structure refinement by powder neutron diffraction.Orman, H. J. & Wiseman, P. J. (1984) biology backed up by other experimental methods.These have been accompanied by a mix of papers describing the theoretical underpinnings of structural biology, as well as the experimental methods and computer programs used, well cited by those in the structural biology field.Thus, some of the most cited papers describe large packages of computer software for solving, refining and interpreting the structures of protein and nucleic acids, as indicated below.
Acta Cryst.D has published many highly cited papers on structural biology methods other than computational as well as individual structural papers.Some examples follow.
Making the case for fine slicing in the rotation method for data collection when detector technology allowed: The finer things in X-ray diffraction data collection.Pflugrath, J. W. (1997) It also has increasing international outreach for developing countries in crystallography and structural science, with significant potential for growth in teaching and education at the international level.In this connection, two recent papers in Acta Cryst.E have been particularly highly cited: Utilizing Hirshfeld surface calculations, non-covalent interaction (NCI) plots and the calculation of interaction energies in the analysis of molecular packing.Tan, S. L., Jotani, M. M. & Tiekink, E. R. ( 2019).Acta Cryst.E75, 308-318.https://doi.org/10.1107/S2056989019001129. CheckCIF validation alerts: what they mean and how to respond.Spek, A. L. (2020).Acta Cryst.E76, 1-11.https:// doi.org/10.1107/S2056989019016244.While IUCrData is not an indexed journal in the usual sense, it plays an important role in data publication.Given the greater demands for open data associated with scientific research publication (see below), IUCrData has the potential to develop in several ways over the coming years.To address one such area, a new section has recently been introduced for IUCrData, namely Raw Data Letters, as explained in a recent editorial paper: IUCrData launches Raw Data Letters.Kroon-Batenburg, L. M. J., Helliwell, J. R. & and J. R. Hester, J. R. (2022).IUCr-Data, 7, x220821.https://doi.org/10.1107/S2414314622008215.

Journal of Applied Crystallography
The Journal of Applied Crystallography publishes papers on X-ray, neutron or electron-based applied structural science across condensed matter research, materials science and life sciences, including instrumentation, facilities, and validated computer software and programs.It has published significant and highly cited papers every year since its inception, of which a brief selection follows.editorial based structural science research.Much of this endeavour is demonstrated in the titles and authors of well cited papers selected for the above highlights.As a number of these papers also show over the years, IUCr journals have played major roles in facilitating curated databases, establishing standards and validation tools for CIF files and other structure reports, and presenting methodologies, facilities and software capabilities for structural data acquisition, reduction, analysis and interpretation.Additionally, important papers have appeared dedicated explicitly to training and educating new generations of crystallographers and researchers in structural science.
Despite these achievements, the IUCr journals, like all scientific research journals, must navigate the rapidly changing landscape for scientific publication in general.The almost complete transformation from paper hardcopy publication to digital publication (and digital review processes), together with the increased prominence of competitive, commercially funded, scientific journals (and sometimes a correspondingly reduced role of scientific societies), are obvious examples from recent decades (Strickland & McMahon, 2008;Strickland & Allen, 2021).However, the ongoing transformations to provide open-access publication (Young & Brandes, 2020;cOAlition S, 2020;Kvashnina et al., 2021), findable, accessible interoperable re-usable (FAIR), open data (Wilkinson et al., 2016;Helliwell et al., 2019), and open science in general (International Science Council, 2021;UNESCO, 2021), are likely to have a far more profound impact on sustainable publishing models over the next few years.While, currently, six hybrid IUCr journals allow authors a 'gold' open-access option (see below) but also support the 'green' open-access model (reproduction of the final accepted form of a paper in a public repository), four IUCr journals are already fully 'gold' open access with all published journal papers freely available following payment of an article publishing charge (APC).This is paid either by the corresponding author's institution or through an institutional publishing 'read and publish' agreement.Although emphasizing that any decisions have yet to be made, it is not unreasonable to speculate that more of the journals may flip to fully (gold) open access within the next decade.
Other current challenges include the effects of the war in Ukraine, which has inevitably reduced submissions from that part of the world.There have also been some delayed effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, where many researchers, denied access to their experimental facilities, initially used the opportunity to prepare and submit papers based on previous measurements, as well as publish research relevant to the pandemic itself (including some among those listed above).However, the various neutron and X-ray facility shutdowns, some starting or continuing after the pandemic for major upgrades, do appear to have slowed overall publication submission rates at the present time, as reported at several facility user meetings internationally.This situation will recover and likely be followed by many exciting submissions to the IUCr journals in coming years.Other long-term challenges include bringing new generations of researchers and students into crystallography and structural science in general, and introducing new initiatives that will ensure the IUCr journals remain competitive, successful and sustainable in the long term in an emerging era of open science.Several recent and ongoing developments are designed to address these issues.
Active commissioning both of high-quality individual articles and Special Issues has become an increasingly significant activity for all involved with the journals.with the online digital nature of the journals, is that Special Issues can themselves be shared across journals when it makes sense to do so.Papers undergo the full review process for one of the journals, are published in a regular issue if accepted with full citation information for their original publication, then all Special Issue papers are also collected together into the virtual Special Issue with a Foreword written by the Special Issue Guest Editors, introducing the Special Issue and providing links to the papers.A retrospective Special Collection of papers recently published across multiple journals can also be assembled with an appropriate Foreword to form a virtual Special Collection in a similar way.While some Special Issue series remain associated with conference series of interest to crystallographers, these are no longer Conference Proceedings in the traditional sense, due to conference papers (usually) having lower citation rates than regular papers.Instead, Special Issue papers go through the full review process for the relevant journal and, for many successful Special Issues, the published articles are more highly cited than regular papers published in the journal.
Commissioning activities and Special Issues keep the journals active in current and new areas of interest and introduce new authors and potential editors to the IUCr journals over time.They also allow new subject areas to be explored for incorporation into the permanent scope of each journal, maintaining relevance and competitiveness with non-IUCr journals in the field.The new subject area sections added to IUCrJ in Electron Microscopy, to Acta Cryst.B in Crystal Growth and to IUCrData in Raw Data Letters are recent examples.Another area of note is the increased effort across several of the journals to support Teaching and Education initiatives, especially in developing regions of the world, in tandem with the IUCr's more general outreach activities.Virtual Editorial Board meetings (Main Editors, Managing Editor, Co-editors, Editor-in-Chief) have recently been instituted for each journal.Commissioning activities, new subject areas and many other aspects of each journal, from its editorial and review system, mentoring of new Co-editors, to journal publicity, can be discussed informally at such meetings.However, the main forum for guiding development of the IUCr journals, overall, remains the Journals Management Board (JMB), instituted by my predecessor, comprising Main Editors, Managing Editors, Editorial Office staff, the Editorin-Chief and the IUCr President.The JMB meets in person, at least once per year, usually in Chester, UK.All issues pertaining to journal performance, editorial processes and journals development are discussed at the JMB, and reported to both the IUCr Finance Committee and the IUCr Executive Committee, the latter approving all executive decisions and confirming editorial appointments.In regard to editorial appointments, as well as providing the appropriate subject coverage for each journal, there is a strong and ongoing effort in recent years to appoint Editors and Co-editors who provide diversity in gender and geography to reflect the active international structural science community.
In closing, it is important to state that the success of the IUCr journals over the last 75 years has depended critically on a large number of dedicated researchers in crystallography and structural science.They continue to provide many volunteer hours to the journals as Co-editors, Main Editors, Commissioning Editors, reviewers and sometimes consultants.Many are frequent prominent authors, themselves, of highquality papers published in the journals, and some contribute to the IUCr in other major ways.This enormous effort is complemented by the dedicated work of the staff in the Chester, UK, Editorial Office.Together, this combination provides a publication experience to authors and readers alike, that in many ways is unique.Whatever changes are in store for the IUCr journals in the coming years, it is this combination of dedicated talent that will be at the heart of the IUCr journals success over the next 75 years.
A major paper on serum albumin providing insights on how it binds to many ligands: Structures of bovine, equine and leporine serum albumin.Bujacz, A. (2012).Acta Cryst.D68, 1278-1289.https://doi.org/10.1107/S0907444912027047. editorial IUCrJ (2023).10, 509-518 Andrew Allen 75 years of IUCr Journals 513 Starting in 2019, Commissioning Editors have been appointed to serve across multiple IUCr journals in three main areas of interest: Biological Sciences (mainly with Acta Cryst.D and F), Chemical Sciences (mainly with Acta Cryst.B, C and E), and Materials, Methods and Instrumentation (mainly with Acta Cryst.A, Journal of Applied Crystallography and Journal of Synchrotron Radiation).All three Commissioning Editors interact as appropriate with IUCrJ and IUCrData editors.The Commissioning Editors work with the Journal Main and Managing Editors to commission new Special Issues on topics of current interest, as well as individual articles, e.g.Feature and Lead Articles, by expert leaders in new fields of interest to the IUCr research community.A major advantage of having Commissioning Editors work across several journals, coupled