Scope of Coverage
The Internet Journal of Chemistry will focus on the use of the
Internet by chemists. This includes both presentation of chemical research that benefits from
publication on the Internet and developments of Internet
resources. These are described in more detail
below.
All papers will be peer-reviewed, utilizing e-mail to encourage
rapid turn-around. The Internet Journal of Chemistry will be published
on the Internet,
with all articles available in HTML. Papers will appear as they
are accepted, bringing the article to the reader as quickly as
possible. The Journal is committed to providing long-term archival
retrieval of the papers both on the Internet and by alternative
means, such as CD-ROM.
Chemistry with Valued-Added Presentation Benefits of the
Internet
Publication on the Internet offers many advantages for chemists.
Documents can contain color graphics, movies, chemical structures,
spectra, raw data, etc. that are difficult (if not impossible) or
expensive to include in traditional publications. The Internet
Journal of Chemistry will publish articles in any and all areas of
chemistry which take advantage of the special attributes of the
Internet. The aim is to publish chemistry whose presentation and
information-content are significantly enhanced by utilizing the
resources of a distributed computing environment. This includes
(but is not limited to) articles that incorporate hypermolecules,
video, VRML, spectra in downloadable files, and interactive
programs using Java or CGI scripts.The Journal will encourage
authors to include their raw data as supplementary material that
can then be accessed and manipulated by the reader. Again, due to
the nature of the Internet, these large data sets can be readily
managed and distributed.
Internet Developments
A principal aim of The Internet Journal of Chemistry is to provide
a means for publishing original research on the development and
implementation of Internet resources for chemists. This includes
developments of databases and tools to access them, proposals for
new MIME types, proposals for file standards, new software for
handling Internet data, new visualization tools, devlopment and
implementation of VRML tools for chemists, etc. The journal does
not intend to set standards or become a clearinghouse for
standards, rather it aims to provide an avenue for the publication
of proposols, protocols, etc. that may proceed to become
standards.
WWW Site Reviews
Over the past 18 months, the Internet has seen an explosive growth
in world-wide web sites for chemists. A common complaint of
Internet users is the difficulty in locating information and the
quality of the information. The Internet Journal of Chemistry will
have a section devoted to reviews of chemistry WWW sites,
affording readers a single source for commentary on the
information content of web sites before they visit them.
Comments
With publication not limited by page space, The Internet Journal of
Chemistry can include comments, criticisms, and author replies to all
published papers. This interactive communication between authors and readership
allows for points to be clarified, extensions to be drawn, and collaborations
to be born. The Journal will aim to facilitate these exchanges, thereby enhancing the
impact of the publications.
©1998 Internet Journal of Chemistry