Journal Guide

RSC Applied Interfaces is a dedicated, interdisciplinary reference journal for cutting-edge research on the applications of surfaces and interfaces. In addition to the applied focus, work considered for publication in RSC Applied Interfaces is expected to be highly original and of top quality. Research papers should highlight the role of interfaces (morphology and composition) and interfacial processes in determining a material’s properties and functionalities. The journal seeks to report major scientific advances beyond the state of the art, at the cutting edge of this interdisciplinary field. Our RSC Applied journals are dedicated to materials science research with a strong focus on innovation in the application, and sit alongside Journals of Materials Chemistry A, B and C in terms of quality and impact.

RSC Applied Polymers is a leading international journal for the application of polymers, including experimental and computational studies on both natural and synthetic systems. The journal is a premier cross-disciplinary publishing home for scientific research that leverages polymeric materials in a range of applications, welcoming high-impact advances made possible with polymers across materials, biology, energy applications, and beyond. Polymer researchers across chemistry, materials science, biology, and engineering, are all welcome to share timely and impactful contributions, connecting fundamental scientific insights to performance-related metrics. The journal welcomes research on the application of polymers in different areas, and the relationship to structure and/or composition, as afforded by synthesis and/or processing. Our RSC Applied journals are dedicated to materials science research with a strong focus on innovation in the application, and sit alongside Journals of Materials Chemistry A, B and C in terms of quality and impact.

RSC Chemical Biology is a gold open access journal dedicated to publishing and disseminating exceptional, breakthrough research and high-quality reviews at the interface of chemistry and biology. We welcome contributions from across the breadth of the chemical biology field. This includes Sensing and Imaging, Bioorthogonal chemistry, Biosynthesis, Biomimetics and Bioengineering, Synthetic biology, Directed evolution, Drugs development and mechanism of action, Glycoscience, Natural products, Nucleic acids, Peptides, Phenotypic screening, Proteins (including protein-protein interactions, modifications, structure and function) We are particularly interested in reports on the application of chemical tools to probe, explore and visualize biological systems and processes to provide insights into molecular mechanisms in health and disease. We also encourage translational research that bridges chemistry and chemical biology to medicine.

RSC Mechanochemistry focuses on the publication of innovative research that advances the fundamental understanding and application of the use of mechanical force for driving and controlling chemical reactions and materials transformations in the gas, liquid, and solid states. As mechanochemistry is where chemistry and mechanics meet, and involves the interaction of mechanical energy with matter at the molecular, supramolecular, and bulk materials levels, it encompasses not only areas such as sustainable chemical synthesis, but also tribochemistry, chemo/mechanical transduction (e.g. polymer mechanochemistry, mechano-biology, photo-mechanochemistry), and mechanical alloying. Submissions on all aspects related to mechanochemistry and its role in enhancing and broadening sustainable chemistry are welcome.

RSC Medicinal Chemistry publishes significant research in medicinal chemistry and related drug discovery science. Research articles published in RSC Medicinal Chemistry must show a breakthrough or significant advance on previously published work, or bring new thinking or results that will have a strong impact in their field. Topics within the journal's scope include, but are not limited to: design, synthesis and biological evaluation of novel chemical entities or biotherapeutic modalities; modifications of known chemical entities or biotherapeutic modalities that result in a significantly greater understanding of their structure-activity relationships, an improvement of their properties or provide other information of significant value; novel methodologies and technologies in the broader chemical and biological sciences; computational, machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI) studies are welcome where they significantly advance medicinal chemistry knowledge; studies that examine the effect of the molecular structure of a compound on pharmacokinetic behaviour and pharmacodynamics; studies that present new insights into drug design based on analysis of existing experimental datasets or new theoretical approaches if supported by experimental evidence; studies presenting new drug delivery systems with novel chemical agents are welcomed, in particular those that involve chemical modification of the delivery system of conjugation with novel delivery vectors.

RSC Pharmaceutics is a new gold open access journal leading the way in the field of Pharmaceutics. This journal publishes research focused on formulating a drug into a medicine, with the intention of achieving controllable drug delivery with high efficacy. Research published in RSC Pharmaceutics promotes step-change science in the field of Pharmaceutics, and, as such, all submissions must show clear innovation, be scientifically sound, and have a significant impact on the field. Research sharing new scientific findings from across the areas of chemistry, materials science, biomedical sciences, pharmaceutics and drug delivery are all welcomed. Topics include but are not limited to: • Formulation and design of medicines • Design and characterization of correct dosage forms • Physicochemical and biological properties of drugs and their carriers • Drug delivery devices and their mechanisms of release

RSC Sustainability welcomes all solutions-focused research dedicated to solving sustainability challenges. This includes, but is not limited to, technologies to achieve responsible consumption and production of chemical products (UN’s SDG:12), such as for the efficient use of nature’s resources, the elimination of hazardous substances in the production and use of chemical products (sustainable and green chemistry), their reuse and recycling (circular economy) and methods to analyse these (techno-enviro-economics). Beyond this, RSC Sustainability champions chemical science discoveries that contribute to and enable any of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, celebrates multidisciplinary collaboration, and welcomes work from the academic, industry, regulatory and government sectors.

RSS: Data Science and Artificial Intelligence provides a new forum for research of interest to a broad readership spanning the data science fields. RSS: Data Science and Artificial Intelligence has been created in recognition of the growing importance of data science in science and society and the need for a venue that truly spans the relevant fields. The journal will therefore welcome papers from across the breadth of data science, including AI, statistics, deep learning, machine learning, econometrics, bioinformatics, engineering, computational social sciences, and beyond.

RSS: Data Science provides a new forum for research of interest to a broad readership spanning the data science fields. RSS: Data Science has been created in recognition of the growing importance of data science in science and society and the need for a venue that truly spans the relevant fields. The journal will therefore welcome papers from across the breadth of data science, including AI, statistics, machine learning, econometrics, bioinformatics, engineering, computational social sciences and beyond. High-quality papers of broad interest to a wide data science readership and with multiple routes to impact are candidates for submission to RSS: Data Science. A strong level of technical exposition and data scientific content is encouraged, in line with the focus on a readership in the data sciences per se.