Author Guidelines

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Scope of the Journal

Molecular Pharmaceutics publishes original research that contributes significantly to the molecular mechanistic understanding of drug delivery and drug delivery systems. Modalities of interest include small molecules, imaging agents, proteins, peptides, vaccines, cell and gene-based therapies, and their characterization, formulation, and delivery. Scientific areas within the scope of the journal include:

  • Modelling and simulation to aid mechanistic insights into drug delivery
  • Molecular understanding of formulations
  • Formulation performance under physiological conditions
  • Materials science as it relates to drug, excipients and drug delivery system efficacy.
  • Emerging techniques and technologies for drug delivery including theranostics, precision medicine and artificial intelligence

 

Theoretical and experimental peer-reviewed full-length research papers, critical reviews, perspectives, and communications are welcomed. Submission of a manuscript to Molecular Pharmaceutics implies that the same work has not been previously published, including as part of a public electronic database (preprint servers like bioRxiv and ChemRxiv are permissible), and is not under consideration for publication elsewhere. In addition, there must be no legal restrictions to publication, e.g., patent activities, at the time of submission. For more information, please visit “About the Journal”.

Manuscript Types

Molecular Pharmaceutics publishes original Research Articles, Reviews, Perspectives and Communications.

Research Articles

Full-length research manuscripts, consistent with the objectives of Molecular Pharmaceutics, are the principal focus of the journal. Authors must follow the instructions given below for preparation and submission of manuscripts.

Reviews

Molecular Pharmaceutics considers current concise, critical reviews of the most recent innovative advances in the science within the scope of the journal. Reviews must be timely and objective and cover the described topic over a relevant period. Reviews should focus on concepts and critical evaluation of the field, rather than broadly summarizing research conducted in the area. If the authors wish to submit a topic for consideration prior to submission, please contact the EIC’s office. The Editor will determine if the topic is timely and of current interest to the Journal audience.

Perspectives

Perspectives are interpretive accounts on subjects of current interest to the pharmaceutical science research community. These articles reflect the opinions of the authors and are intended to be thought provoking. Authors should be subject matter experts and are recommended to obtain approval from the EIC prior to unsolicited submission.

Communications

Editors will be extremely selective in accepting communications for review and consideration for publication. Communications of extremely timely and important research results will be considered for publication. Communications must provide enough information for the objective evaluation of the importance, significance, and validity of the report. Submissions may contain up to 50 references, an abstract of less than 100 words, and are generally five journal pages in length.

Editorials

Commissioned only.

ACS Publishing Center

While this document will provide basic information on how to prepare and submit the manuscript as well as other critical information about publishing, we also encourage authors to visit the ACS Publishing Center for additional information on everything that is needed to prepare (and review) manuscripts for ACS journals and partner journals, such as

  • Mastering the Art of Scientific Publication, which shares editor tips about a variety of topics including making your paper scientifically effective, preparing excellent graphics, and writing cover letters.
  • Resources on how to prepare and submit a manuscript to ACS Paragon Plus, ACS Publications’ manuscript submission and peer review environment, including details on selecting the applicable Journal Publishing Agreement.
  • Sharing your research with the public through the ACS Publications open access program.
  • ACS Reviewer Lab, a free online course covering best practices for peer review and related ethical considerations. 
  • ACS Author Lab, a free online course that empowers authors to prepare and submit strong manuscripts, avoiding errors that could lead to delays in the publication process.
  • ACS Inclusivity Style Guide, a guide that helps researchers communicate in ways that recognize and respect diversity in all its forms.

Manuscript Preparation

Submit with Fast Format

All ACS journals and partner journals have simplified their formatting requirements in favor of a streamlined and standardized format for an initial manuscript submission. Read more about the requirements and the benefits these serves authors and reviewers here.

 

Manuscripts submitted for initial consideration must adhere to these standards:

  • Submissions must be complete with clearly identified standard sections used to report original research, free of annotations or highlights, and include all numbered and labeled components.
  • Figures, charts, tables, schemes, and equations should be embedded in the text at the point of relevance. Separate graphics can be supplied later at revision, if necessary.
  • When required by a journal's structure or length limitations, manuscript templates should be used.
  • References can be provided in any style, but they must be complete, including titles. For information about the required components of different reference types, please refer to the ACS Style Quick Guide.
  • Supporting Information must be submitted as a separate file(s).

Document Templates and Format

General information on the preparation of manuscripts may be found in the ACS Guide to Scholarly Communication.

Acceptable Software, File Designations, and TeX/LaTeX

See the list of Acceptable Software and appropriate File Designations to be sure your file types are compatible with ACS Paragon Plus. Information for manuscripts generated from TeX/LaTeX is also available.

Cover Letter

A cover letter must accompany every manuscript submission. During the submission process, you may type it or paste it into the submission system, or you may attach it as a file.

 

We encourage that the cover letter specifically state the innovation or novelty of the submitted manuscript. It should provide the name and e-mail address of the corresponding author of the manuscript. All editorial correspondence concerning receipt, status, review, revision, and publication of a manuscript will be directed to the corresponding author, who is responsible for communicating the manuscript status to all coauthors of the paper and for obtaining the coauthors’ assent to any substantial changes of content or interpretation made during revision.

Manuscript Text Components

Title Page

The title must reflect the purposes and findings of the work in a manner that assists in classification and indexing. Abbreviations and trade names should not be included in the titles. Succinct titles are encouraged. Titles should be followed by the names of the authors and by the addresses of all contributing laboratories. The name of the author to whom inquiries should be directed should be marked with an asterisk (*). The full address together with the telephone and fax numbers and e-mail address of the corresponding author should be given, using an asterisk.

Table of Contents/Abstract Graphic

A graphic must be included with each manuscript for dual use in the Table of Contents (TOC) and the abstract. This graphic should capture the reader’s attention and, in conjunction with the manuscript title, should give the reader a quick visual impression of the topic described in the manuscript. The TOC/abstract graphic should be furnished at the actual size at which it is intended to appear in the issue and may be up to 8.9 cm wide and 3.6 cm tall. Text should be limited to labels. The use of standard abbreviations and unambiguous molecular formulas is encouraged.

Abstract

Abstracts should accompany all manuscripts and should explain concisely the objective, methods, and most important results and conclusions in the report. Any references should be cited in full, and footnotes and abbreviations should be avoided to prevent ambiguity in cases where only the abstract is published (e.g., Chemical Abstracts). Initial acceptance of manuscripts for consideration will be based primarily on review of the abstract. Abbreviations should be defined in the abstract and again in the manuscript body.

Keywords

Authors must have 5-6 significant keywords (separated by semicolon) that aid the reader in literature retrieval included after the abstract.

Abbreviations

Standard abbreviations should be used throughout the manuscript. The preferred forms for some of the more commonly used abbreviations are given in The ACS Style Guide, 3rd ed. (2006) (http://pubs.acs.org/page/books/styleguide/index.html), available from Oxford University Press, Order Department, 201 Evans Rd., Cary, NC 27513. Units are abbreviated in table column heads and when used with numbers, not otherwise.

Introduction

The purpose of the study and its relation to and extension of previous work in the field should be included. Detailed or lengthy descriptions of routine experimental or theoretical procedures should be avoided. Extensive literature reviews should also be excluded. The Introduction should state the rationale and hypothesis/objectives of the study. Authors must ensure that adequate citation are given to relevant work, making sure that prior contributions are acknowledged.

Experimental Section

Experimental descriptions should be as concise as possible. This section should provide a clear, unambiguous description of materials, methods, and equipment in sufficient detail to permit independent repetition of the work. Novel experimental procedures should be described in detail, while published procedures should be cited by reference number only. General reaction conditions should be given only once. Authors must emphasize any unexpected, new, and/or significant hazards or risks associated with the reported work. This information should be in the experimental details section of the full article or communication. The journal will not publish work using unknown compounds (e.g., compound X). For animal and human studies, appropriate committee permissions must be listed, including the study number.

Results

Text, tables, and figures can be used to describe the results as necessary. However, data should appear in only one format. Only the most significant and representative data should be included in the body of the manuscript. Extended or supplemental results that support the main findings of the paper should appear as Supporting Information, which is published on the Web.

Discussion

Authors should use this section for their interpretation of the results and examination of their relation to and extension of the existing body of literature. Information given elsewhere, e.g., in the Results or Introduction, should not be repeated. Highly speculative suggestions should also be excluded.

Conclusions

This section is a single paragraph that summarizes the importance of findings to the field and future directions of the work. This section should be clearly different from the abstract.

Acknowledgments

Mention of technical assistance, advice from colleagues, gifts, etc. should be made. Financial support should also be described in detail in this section. Funding should be reported as: “Funding: This work was supported, in part, by Grant Name (No. 123456).

References

Literature references and notes must be numbered in one consecutive series by order of mention in the text, and article titles should be included in the reference list. They should be cited in the text with superscript numbers. The accuracy of the references is the responsibility of the author. Because, in the Web edition, references are linked to various electronic sources, the accuracy of the references is critical. Titles of periodicals are abbreviated according to Chemical Abstracts Service Source Index. Reference formats are as follows.

 

For journals:

  • Rich, D. H.; Green, J.; Toth, M. V.; et al. Hydroxyethylamine Analogues of the p17/p24 Substrate Cleavage Site Are Tight-Binding Inhibitors of HIV Protease. J. Med. Chem. 1990, 33, 1285–1288.

 

For monographs:

  • Casy, A. F.; Parfitt, R. T. Opioid Analgesics; Plenum Press: New York, 1986; pp 333–384.

 

For edited books:

  • Rall, T. W.; Schleifer, L. S. Drugs Effective in the Therapy of the Epilepsies. In The Pharmacological Basis of Therapeutics, 7th ed.; Gilman, A. G., Goodman, L. S., Rall, T. W., Murad, F., Eds.; Macmillan Publishing Co.: New York, 1985; pp 446–472.

 

Submitted manuscripts should be listed as “in press” only if formally accepted for publication. Results that have not been peer-reviewed or published should be avoided where possible. Published work for which pagination is unavailable may be cited by the Digital Object Identifier (DOI). Authors must receive written permission to use unpublished work of others or to use material taken directly from a copyrighted publication. Any footnotes to the text should be incorporated in the correct numerical sequence with the references.

Supporting Information

This information is provided to the reviewers during the peer-review process (for Review Only) and is available to readers of the published work (for Publication). Supporting Information must be submitted at the same time as the manuscript. See the list of Acceptable Software by File Designation and confirm that your Supporting Information is viewable.

 

If the manuscript is accompanied by any supporting information files for publication, these files will be made available free of charge to readers. A brief, nonsentence description of the actual contents of each file, including the file type extension, is required. This description should be labeled Supporting Information and should appear before the Acknowledgement and Reference sections.  Examples of sufficient and insufficient descriptions are as follows:

 

Examples of sufficient descriptions: “Supporting Information: 1H NMR spectra for all compounds (PDF)” or “Additional experimental details, materials, and methods, including photographs of experimental setup (DOC)”.

 

Examples of insufficient descriptions: “Supporting Information: Figures S1-S3” or “Additional figures as mentioned in the text”.

 

When including supporting information for review only, include copies of references that are unpublished or in-press. These files are available only to editors and reviewers.

Research Data Policy

All ACS journals strongly encourage authors to make the research data underlying their articles publicly available at the time of publication.

Research data is defined as materials and information used in the experiments that enable the validation of the conclusions drawn in the article, including primary data produced by the authors for the study being reported, secondary data reused or analyzed by the authors for the study, and any other materials necessary to reproduce or replicate the results.

The ACS Research Data Policy provides additional information on Data Availability Statements, Data Citation, and Data Repositories.

Data Requirements

Nomenclature. It is the responsibility of the authors to provide correct nomenclature. Nomenclature should conform with current American usage. Insofar as possible, authors should use systematic names, either Chemical Abstracts Service or IUPAC, in the Experimental Section. Chemical Abstracts (CA) nomenclature rules are described in Appendix IV of the Chemical Abstracts Index Guide. For CA nomenclature advice, authors should consult the Manager of Nomenclature Services, Chemical Abstracts Service, P.O. Box 3012, Columbus, OH 43210-0012. A name generation service is available for a fee through CAS Client Services, 2540 Olentangy River Road, P.O. Box 3343, Columbus, OH 43210- 0334; telephone (614) 447-3870; fax (614) 447-3747; or e-mail answers@cas.org. It is also acceptable to use semisynthetic or generic names for certain specialized classes of compounds. In such a case, the name should conform to the generally accepted nomenclature conventions for the compound class.

 

Chemical names for drugs are preferred. If these are not practical, generic names, or names approved by the U.S. Adopted Names Council (USAN), or those approved by the World Health Organization (WHO) may be used. Registered trademark names or code numbers for drugs can be included in parentheses after a descriptive term in the title and should be used only once in the text; subsequently, their chemical names or compound numbers should be used. In certain cases, compounds that are widely employed as research tools and recognized primarily by code numbers may be designated by their code numbers. If a generic name is employed, its chemical name or structural formula should be given at the point of first citation.

 

Software. Software used as a part of computer-aided drug design (e.g., molecular modeling, QSAR, etc.) should be readily available from reliable sources, and the authors should specify where the software can be obtained. When conformational calculations are included, the parameters employed for the relevant potential functions should be given. All details needed to reproduce the numbers in the manuscript should be indicated in the paper or as Supporting Information.

 

Coordinate Deposition. Atomic coordinates of macromolecules must be deposited with the Protein Data Bank (PDB) at Rutgers University (rcsb-deposit.rutgers.edu). It is the responsibility of the author to obtain a file name for the macromolecule. The file name must appear in the manuscript. PDB file names should be added to the galley proof if necessary. PDB entries will be linked to the coordinate file in the Web edition.

 

Small Molecule Single Crystal Data. For manuscripts containing unpublished small molecule single- crystal XRD studies, CIFs, structure factor tables, and CheckCIF reports must be submitted to the Cambridge Crystallographic Data Centre (CCDC) prior to manuscript submission. The CCDC deposition numbers should be listed in the experimental section. Crystal data files will be published with the article as electronic supplementary information.

 

Abbreviations. Standard abbreviations should be used throughout the manuscript. Note that abbreviations are used in ACS journals without periods. The preferred forms for some of the more commonly used abbreviations are mp, bp, °C, K, kDa (for kilodalton), min, h, mL, μL, g, mg, μg, cm, mm, μm, nm, mol, mmol, μmol, nmol, ppm, HPLC, TLC, GC, NMR, LC-MS, and UV.

 

For lengthy technical names used more than five times in the manuscript, it is appropriate to employ abbreviations. Such nonstandard abbreviations should be collected and defined in a single Abbreviations paragraph at the end of the text. Excessive use of abbreviations makes a manuscript difficult to read; failure to collect the definitions of all abbreviations into a single paragraph is a disservice to the reader.

Language and Editing Services

A well-written paper helps share your results most clearly. ACS Publications’ English Editing Service is designed to help scientists communicate their research effectively. Our subject-matter expert editors will edit your manuscript for grammar, spelling, and other language errors so your ideas are presented at their best.

Preparing Graphics

The quality of illustrations in ACS journals and partner journals depends on the quality of the original files provided by the authors. Figures are not modified or enhanced by journal production staff. All graphics must be prepared and submitted in digital format.

 

Graphics should be inserted into the main body whenever possible. Please see Appendix 2 for additional information.

 

Any graphic (figure chart, scheme, or equation) that has appeared in an earlier publication should include a credit line citing the original source. Authors are responsible for obtaining written permission to re-use this material.

Figure and Illustration Services

The impact of your research is not limited to what you can express with words. Tables and figures such as graphs, photographs, illustrations, diagrams, and other visuals can play a significant role in effectively communicating your findings. Our Artwork Editing and Graphical Abstract services generate publication-ready figures and Table of Contents (TOC) graphics that conform to your chosen journal’s specifications. For figures, this includes changes to file type, resolution, color space, font, scale, line weights, and layout (to improve readability and professional appearance). For TOC graphics, our illustrators can work with a rough sketch or concept or help extract the key findings of your manuscript directly for use as a visual summary of your paper.

Preparing for Submission

Manuscripts, graphics, supporting information, and required forms, as well as manuscript revisions, must all be submitted in digital format through ACS Paragon Plus, which requires an ACS ID to log in. Registering for an ACS ID is fast, free, and does not require an ACS membership. Please refer to Appendix 1 for additional information on preparing your submission

Prior Publication Policy

Molecular Pharmaceutics authors are allowed to deposit an initial draft of their manuscript in a preprint service such as ChemRxiv, arXiv, or bioRxiv, or the applicable repository for their discipline prior to submission. Please note any use of a preprint server in the cover letter, and as appropriate, state how the manuscript has been adjusted/updated between deposition and submission. All other prior/redundant publication is forbidden.

 

Upon publication in Molecular Pharmaceutics, authors are requested to add a link from the preprint to the published paper via the Digital Object Identifier (DOI).

Editorial Policies

Editorial Decisions

The Editor-in-Chief is appointed by the American Chemical Society (ACS) and has the final responsibility for all editorial decisions. The Editor-in-Chief and Associate Editors initially determine whether a manuscript’s content falls within the scope of Molecular Pharmaceutics. Manuscripts that do not fall within the scope of the journal or would not be of interest to the general readers of the journal will be returned to the authors without review. Initial acceptance decisions will be made within one week of submission. This decision should be considered final.

The Review Process

Following acceptance for consideration, the Associate Editor begins the review process by selecting independent external reviewers on the basis of their expertise in specialized areas of Molecular Pharmaceutics. Invited reviewers are expected to excuse themselves in cases of conflict of interest. Once the reviews are received the Associate Editor makes a decision. If the reviews are conflicting, the manuscript and the opinions of the reviewers may be sent to an EAB member for adjudication if necessary.

 

If a manuscript is returned for revision, the author should respond to the specific recommendations of the reviewers. Recommendations of the reviewers should be given the strongest consideration. Revised manuscripts should be submitted to the journal with a cover letter describing the changes and revisions to the manuscript. The changes made during the revision should be shown within the manuscript by highlight, color font, or a tracked changes feature. Authors should also include a clear, concise, and detailed point-by-point response to the reviewer concerns. If exceptions to the reviewers’ recommendations are made, or the reviewers’ recommendations are not followed, these issues must be described in detail in the response. The manuscript may be returned to the reviewers for reconsideration. Authors should submit revised manuscripts within the period indicated in the decision letter. Failure to do so may result in the need to submit the paper as a new submission. However, if this occurs the manuscript will be considered as a revision and continue the review process as such. Authors should bring this to the attention of the assigned Associate Editor in the revision cover letter, and include the documentation which was requested in the decision letter. Manuscripts are handled expeditiously, and full advantage is taken of Web technology in the submission and review of manuscripts.

Anonymity

The ACS strongly disapproves of any attempts by authors to determine the identity of reviewers or to confront potential reviewers. The editorial policy of this journal is to neither confirm nor deny any speculation about the identities of our reviewers. The journal will not release the identity of a reviewer to the authors or to other reviewers.

Providing Potential Reviewer Names

Authors must list 6-8 suggested reviewers. Authors are encouraged to avoid suggesting reviewers from the authors’ institutions. Do not suggest reviewers who may have a real or perceived conflict of interest. Whenever possible, suggest academic email addresses rather than personal email addresses.

Manuscript Transfer

If your submission is declined for publication by this journal, the editors might deem your work to be better suited for another ACS Publications journal or partner journal and suggest that the authors consider transferring the submission. Manuscript Transfer simplifies and shortens the process of submitting to another ACS journal or partner journal, as all the coauthors, suggested reviewers, manuscript files, and responses to submission questions are copied by ACS Paragon Plus to the new draft submission. Authors are free to accept or decline the transfer offer.

 

Note that each journal is editorially independent. Transferring a manuscript is not a guarantee that the manuscript will be accepted, as the final publication decision will belong to the editor of the next journal.

PRODUCTION AND PUBLICATION

Proofs via ACS Direct Correct

Correction of the galley proofs is the responsibility of the Corresponding Author. The Corresponding Author of an accepted manuscript will receive e-mail notification and complete instructions when page proofs are available for review via ACS Direct Correct. Extensive or important changes on page proofs, including changes to the title or list of authors, are subject to review by the editor.

 

It is the responsibility of the Corresponding Author to ensure that all authors listed on the manuscript agree with the changes made on the proofs. Galley proofs should be returned within 48 hours in order to ensure timely publication of the manuscript.

Publication Date and Patent Dates

Accepted manuscripts will be published on the ACS Publications Web site as soon as page proofs are corrected and all author concerns are resolved. The first date on which the document is published on the Web is considered the publication date.

 

Publication of manuscripts on the Web may occur weeks in advance of the cover date of the issue of publication. Authors should take this into account when planning their patent and intellectual property activities related to a document and should ensure that all patent information is available at the time of first publication, whether ASAP or issue publication.

 

All articles published ahead of print receive a unique Digital Object Identifier (DOI) number, which is used to cite the manuscript before and after the paper appears in an issue. Additionally, any supplemental information submitted along with the manuscript will automatically be assigned a DOI and hosted on Figshare to promote open data discoverability and use of your research outputs.

ASAP Publication

Manuscripts will be published on the “ASAP Articles” page on the web as soon as page proofs are corrected and all author concerns are resolved. ASAP publication usually occurs within a few working days of receipt of page proof corrections, which can be several weeks in advance of the cover date of the issue.

Post-Publication Policies

The American Chemical Society follows guidance from the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) when considering any ethical concerns regarding a published article, Retractions, and Expressions of Concern.

Additions and Corrections

Additions and Corrections may be requested by the author(s) or initiated by the Editor to address important issues or correct errors and omissions of consequence that arise after publication of an article. All Additions and Corrections are subject to approval by the Editor, and should bring new and directly relevant information and corrections that fix scientific facts. Minor corrections and additions will not be published. Readers who detect errors of consequence in the work of others should contact the corresponding author of that work.

 

Additions and Corrections must be submitted as new manuscripts via ACS Paragon Plus by the Corresponding Author for publication in the “Addition/Correction” section of the Journal. The corresponding author should obtain approval from all coauthors prior to submitting or provide evidence that such approval has been solicited. The manuscript should include the original article title and author list, citation including DOI, and details of the correction.

Retractions

Articles may be retracted for scientific or ethical reasons and may be requested by the article author(s) or by the journal Editor(s), but are ultimately published at the discretion of the Editor. Articles that contain seriously flawed or erroneous data such that their findings and conclusions cannot be relied upon may be retracted in order to correct the scientific record. When an article is retracted, a notice of Retraction will be published containing information about the reason for the Retraction. The originally published article will remain online except in extraordinary circumstances (e.g. where deemed legally necessary, or if the availability of the published content poses public health risks).

Expressions of Concern

Expressions of Concern may be issued at the discretion of the Editor if:

  • there is inconclusive evidence of research or publication misconduct by the authors;
  • there is evidence that the findings are unreliable but the authors’ institution will not investigate the case;
  • an investigation into alleged misconduct related to the publication either has not been, or would not be, fair and impartial or conclusive;
  • an investigation is underway but a judgment will not be available for a considerable time.

 

Upon completion of any related investigation, and when a final determination is made about the outcome of the article, the Expression of Concern may be replaced with a Retraction notice or Correction.

Sharing Your Published Article

At ACS Publications, we know it is important for you to be able to share your peer reviewed, published work with colleagues in the global community of scientists. As sharing on sites known as scholarly collaboration networks (SCNs) is becoming increasingly prevalent in today’s scholarly research ecosystem, we would like to remind you of the many ways in which you, a valued ACS author, can share your published work.

 

Publishing open access makes it easy to share your work with friends, colleagues, and family members. In addition, ACS Publications makes it easy to share your newly published research with ACS Articles on Request (see below). Don’t forget to promote your research and related data on social media, at conferences, and through scholarly communication networks. Increase the impact of your research using the following resources: Altmetrics, Figshare, ACS Certified Deposit

E-Prints

When your article is published in an ACS journal or partner journal, corresponding authors are provided with a link that offers up to 50 free digital prints of the final published work. This link is valid for the first 12 months following online publication, and can be shared via email or an author’s website. After one year, the access restrictions to your article will be lifted, and you can share the Articles on Request URL on social media and other channels. To access all your Articles on Request links, log in to your ACS Publishing Center account and visit the “My Published Manuscripts” page.

Reprints

Article, journal, and commercial reprints are available to order.

Appendix 1: PREPARING FOR SUBMISSION

We’ve developed ACS’ publishing and editorial policies in consultation with the research communities that we serve, including authors and librarians. Browse our policies below to learn more.

Ethical Guidelines

ACS editors have provided Ethical Guidelines for persons engaged in the publication of chemical research—specifically, for editors, authors, and reviewers. Each journal also has a specific policy on prior publication.

OFAC Compliance

As a U.S.-based non-profit organization, the American Chemical Society (ACS) is required to comply with U.S. sanctions laws and regulations administered by the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC). While these laws and regulations permit U.S.-based publishers like ACS to engage in publishing-related activities with authors located in sanctioned regions in many cases, ACS may be prohibited under U.S. law from engaging in publishing-related activities in some cases, including, but not limited to, instances where an author or the institution with which an author is affiliated is located in a particular sanctioned region or has been designated by OFAC as a Specially Designated National (SDN) pursuant to certain U.S. sanctions programs. ACS reserves the right to refrain from engaging in any publishing-related activities that ACS determines in its sole discretion may be in violation of U.S. law.

 

Safety Considerations

Authors must emphasize any unexpected, new, and/or significant hazards or risks associated with the reported work. This information should be in the Experimental Section of a full article and included in the main text of a letter. Statement examples can be found in the Safety Statement Style Sheet and additional information on communicating safety information from the ACS Guide to Scholarly Communication is freely available here.

Conflict of Interest Disclosure

A statement describing any financial conflicts of interest or lack thereof is published in each ACS journal and partner journal article.

 

During the submission process, the Corresponding Author must provide a statement on behalf of all authors of the manuscript, describing all potential sources of bias, including affiliations, funding sources, and financial or management relationships, that may constitute conflicts of interest. If the manuscript is accepted, the statement will be published in the final article.

 

If the manuscript is accepted and no conflict of interest has been declared, the following statement will be published in the final article: “The authors declare no competing financial interest.”

Plagiarism

In publishing only original research, ACS is committed to deterring plagiarism, including self-plagiarism. ACS Publications uses CrossCheck's iThenticate software to screen submitted manuscripts for similarity to published material. Note that your manuscript may be screened during the submission process.

 

Further information about plagiarism can be found in Part B of the Ethical Guidelines to Publication of Chemical Research. See also the press release regarding ACS' participation in the CrossCheck initiative.

Authorship, Author List, and Coauthor Notification

Authors are required to obtain the consent of all their coauthors prior to submitting a manuscript. The submitting author accepts the responsibility of notifying all coauthors that the manuscript is being submitted.

 

During manuscript submission, the submitting author must provide contact information (full name, email address, institutional affiliation, and mailing address) for all of the coauthors. Because all of the author names are automatically imported into the electronic Journal Publishing Agreement, the names must be entered into ACS Paragon Plus. (Note that coauthors are not required to register in ACS Paragon Plus.) Author affiliation should reflect where the work was completed, even if the author has since left that institution. Authors may include a note with a current address if their institution has changed since the work was completed.

 

To expedite the processing of your manuscript, please format your author and affiliation information according the guidelines in this link: https://pubsapp.acs.org/paragonplus/submission/author-address-information.pdf.

 

Criteria for authorship can be found in Part B of the Ethical Guidelines to Publication of Chemical Research. Artificial intelligence (AI) tools do not qualify for authorship. The use of AI tools for text or image generation should be disclosed in the manuscript within the Acknowledgment section with a description of when and how the tools were used. For more substantial use cases or descriptions of AI tool use, authors should provide full details within the Methods or other appropriate section of the manuscript.

 

If any change in authorship is necessary after a manuscript has been submitted, confirmation is required that all of the authors (including those being added or removed) have been notified and have agreed to the change. To provide this confirmation, authors are asked to complete and sign an authorship change form and provide the completed form to the appropriate editorial office.

 

Authors with a single name: If you, or any of your coauthors, have only one name, please follow these steps for proper submission to ACS Paragon Plus:

  1. First (Given) Name Field: Enter an asterisk (*) into the "First (Given) Name" field.
  2. Last (Family) Name Field: Enter your single name into the "Last (Family) Name" field.

If your paper is accepted, the asterisk (*) will be removed from the published version of the paper.

 

 

Patent Activities and Intellectual Property

Authors are responsible for ensuring that all patent activities and intellectual property issues are satisfactorily resolved prior to first publication (ASAP or in issue). Acceptance and publication will not be delayed for pending or unresolved issues of this nature.

Open Researcher and Contributor ID (ORCID)

Authors submitting manuscript revisions are required to provide their own personal, validated ORCID iD before completing the submission, if an ORCID iD is not already associated with their ACS Paragon Plus user profiles. This ID may be provided during original manuscript submission or when submitting the manuscript revision. All authors are strongly encouraged to register for an ORCID iD, a unique researcher identifier. The ORCID iD will be displayed in the published article for any author on a manuscript who has a validated ORCID iD associated with ACS when the manuscript is accepted.

 

ORCID iDs should not be typed into the manuscript. ACS publishes only those ORCID iDs that have been properly verified and linked before the manuscript is accepted. After your ORCID iD is linked, it will be displayed automatically in all subsequently accepted manuscripts for any/all ACS journals. We do not publish ORCID iDs provided during proof review or via other communications after a manuscript is accepted for publication.

 

With an ORCID iD, you can create a profile of your research activities to distinguish yourself from other researchers with similar names, and make it easier for your colleagues to find your publications. If you do not yet have an ORCID iD, or you wish to associate your existing ORCID iD with your ACS Paragon Plus account, you may do so by clicking on “Edit Your Profile” from your ACS Paragon Plus account homepage and following the ORCID-related links. Learn more at www.orcid.org.

To obtain forms and guidelines for completing the Journal Publishing Agreement or obtaining permissions from copyright owners, and to explore a Copyright Learning Module for chemists, click here.

Funder Reporting Requirement

Authors are required to report funding sources and grant/award numbers. Enter ALL sources of funding for ALL authors in BOTH the Funder Registry Tool in ACS Paragon Plus and in your manuscript to meet this requirement.

Open Access Compliance

ACS offers options by which authors can fulfill the requirements for open access and deposition into repositories for funded research. Visit our ACS Open Science site to see how to fulfill requirements for specific funders and to find out if you are eligible to publish under a Read + Publish agreement between ACS and your institution. You can also find out more about Open Access Compliance and ACS Open Science initiatives.

Diversity and Inclusion Statement

During manuscript submission, ACS journal authors have the option to submit a statement sharing information related to diversity and inclusion that is relevant for their paper. If supplying a diversity and inclusion statement, the corresponding author must provide this on behalf of all authors of the manuscript during the submission process. These statements include but are not limited to analysis of citation diversity and acknowledgment of indigenous land on which research was conducted. Statements expressing political beliefs are not permitted and may be removed by the journal office. All statements are subject to final review by the Editor.

  • Citation Diversity Statement:The citation diversity statement should appear in the Acknowledgements section of the manuscript. ACS recommends including the following: (1) the importance of citation diversity, (2) the proportion of citations by gender and race/ethnicity for the first and last authors, (3) the method used to determine those proportions and its limitations, and (4) steps taken to by the authors to improve citation diversity in the article. We recognize that one limitation of the current methods is that it cannot account for intersex, non-binary, and transgender people, or Indigenous and mixed-race authors. (Adapted from BMES/Springer Guidelines)
  • Land acknowledgment:The land acknowledgment statement should appear in the Acknowledgements section of the manuscript. The statement should link to the institutions’ formal land acknowledgments on which the research took place, if possible. Further guidance for creating these statements can be found here: https://nativegov.org/news/a-guide-to-indigenous-land-acknowledgment/.

 

Appendix 2: Preparing Graphics

Resolution

Digital graphics pasted into manuscripts should have the following minimum resolutions:

  • Black and white line art, 1200 dpi
  • Grayscale art, 600 dpi
  • Color art, 300 dpi

Size

Graphics must fit a one- or two-column format. Single-column graphics can be sized up to 240 points wide (3.33 in.) and double-column graphics must be sized between 300 and 504 points (4.167 in. and 7 in.). The maximum depth for all graphics is 660 points (9.167 in.) including the caption (allow 12 pts. For each line of caption text). Lettering should be no smaller than 4.5 points in the final published format. The text should be legible when the graphic is viewed full-size. Helvetica or Arial fonts work well for lettering. Lines should be no thinner than 0.5 point.

Color

Color may be used to enhance the clarity of complex structures, figures, spectra, and schemes, etc., and color reproduction of graphics is provided at no additional cost to the author. Graphics intended to appear in black and white or grayscale should not be submitted in color.

Type of Graphics

Table of Contents (TOC)/Abstract Graphic

Consult the Guidelines for Table of Contents/Abstract Graphics for specifications.

Our team of subject-matter experts and graphical designers can also help generate a compelling TOC graphic to convey your key findings. Learn more about our Graphical Abstract service.

Figures

A caption giving the figure number and a brief description must be included below each figure. The caption should be understandable without reference to the text. It is preferable to place any key to symbols used in the artwork itself, not in the caption. Ensure that any symbols and abbreviations used in the text agree with those in the artwork.

Charts

Charts (groups of structures that do not show reactions) may have a brief caption describing their contents.

Tables

Each table must have a brief (one phrase or sentence) title that describes the contents. The title should be understandable without reference to the text. Details should be put in footnotes, not in the title. Tables should be used when the data cannot be presented clearly in the narrative, when many numbers must be presented, or when more meaningful inter-relationships can be conveyed by the tabular format. Tables should supplement, not duplicate, information presented in the text and figures. Tables should be simple and concise.

Schemes

Each scheme (sequences of reactions) may have a brief caption describing its contents.

Chemical Structures

Chemical structures should be produced with the use of a drawing program such as ChemDraw.

Cover Art

Molecular Pharmaceutics authors are encouraged to submit images to be considered for use on the journal’s front cover or Supplementary Covers at the time of the submission of their revised manuscript. If your article is accepted for publication, your suggestion may also be selected for use on one of the journal’s covers. The Editors may also choose to commission cover art for Special Issues. If your art is selected for front cover, ACS will send you information about how to request one complimentary 18” by 24” printed poster featuring your work. Images chosen for the front cover will be published at no cost to the author.

 

Cover image submissions should be colorful and visually engaging, with minimal text. The cover image should not resemble a graphical abstract or data figure, but rather should be an artistic and scientifically accurate representation of the manuscript.

 

Image files should be submitted as TIF, JPG, PNG or EPS files with a resolution of at least 300 dpi for pixel-based images. Images should be 7.00 in. x 9.05 in. (or 17.78 cm x 22.99 cm). Please note that the journal title will cover the top 2 in. (5.08 cm) of the image. Authors should submit the cover image, along with a short, clear legend explaining the image, as supplementary files to ACS Paragon Plus with their revised manuscript.

 

If you wish to be considered only for the front cover, and not a paid supplementary cover, please respond NO accordingly to the Supplementary Cover Art question in ACS Paragon Plus. For more information on the Supplementary Covers program, please see this webpage. All art submitted for consideration for a supplementary cover will also be considered for a front cover.

Web Enhanced Objects (WEO)

The Web editions of ACS journals allow readers to view multimedia attachments such as animations and movies that complement understanding of the research being reported.

 

WEOs should be uploaded in ACS Paragon Plus with ‘Web Enhanced Object’ selected as the file designation. Consult the list of compatible WEO formats.

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