Welcome to Reaction Chemistry & Engineering

Welcome to the inaugural issue of Reaction Chemistry & Engineering, a new journal led by Klavs Jensen (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA) and published by the Royal Society of Chemistry. The purpose of this Editorial is to give some insight into the rationale behind the launch of the journal and explain its aims and scope, covering all aspects of making molecules from laboratory chemistry to large scale production.

About the journal

First and foremost, our goal is for the journal to become essential reading for those keeping up to date with the latest and most significant developments in the fields of reaction chemistry and reaction engineering. For research that falls at the interface between the two, in particular, there is often no natural home among chemistry or chemical engineering journals – Reaction Chemistry & Engineering specifically targets that interface. By doing this, we hope that the journal will play its part in increasing collaboration between chemists and chemical engineers, ensuring rapid knowledge transfer to accelerate advances in both fields.

Scope and requirements

Reaction Chemistry & Engineering will publish a breadth of work from laboratory based reaction discoveries to plant-scale implementations – as well as the fundamental knowledge and applied developments required along the way – but at the core of the journal's identity is research that combines concepts from chemistry and engineering, leading to reactions that are faster, cheaper, more sustainable or simply possible. Research articles (Communications and Papers) demonstrate a significant advance in one or more aspects of reaction chemistry or engineering. This does not always require new chemistry; for example, a known reaction could be used to show an engineering development or vital mechanistic and kinetic insight. Similarly, although work across multiple scales is encouraged, reaction scale-up is not required for publication. Reviews and Minireviews give a critical overview of an established or emerging area, and should genuinely guide future work by identifying challenges and development opportunities. Please do take the time to become better acquainted with the journal by reading through the range of articles included in this first issue, as well as the latest content which can be found on our webpage.

Meet the Editorial Board

The Reaction Chemistry & Engineering Editorial Board comprises an extremely strong line-up of prominent researchers from across the fields of chemistry and chemical engineering, an essential requirement for the journal to be successful in its mission. Many of its members have been instrumental in efforts to promote closer working between the two disciplines. In particular, Saif Khan (National University of Singapore, Singapore) and Ian Baxendale (Durham University, UK) work hands on with manuscripts as Scientific Editors, helping to ensure that submissions meet the high standards of the journal before full review is sought by professional in-house Editors.

Saif A. Khan, Scientific Editor National University of Singapore, Singapore

Ian R. Baxendale, Scientific Editor Durham University, UK

We are committed to making Reaction Chemistry and Engineering a truly valuable resource for the community, and hope that you will be able to submit some of your best work to the journal. Please get in touch if you have any enquiries or general comments, we'd love to hear from you.

Many thanks go to all who have supported the journal so far and who continue to do so – authors, reviewers, board members and readers. We very much hope you enjoy reading this inaugural issue.

Klavs Jensen, Editorial Board Chair Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA

Donna Blackmond Scripps Research Institute, USA

Mark E. Davis California Institute of Technology, USA

Joel M Hawkins, Pfizer Worldwide R&D, USA

Volker Hessel Eindhoven University of Technology, Netherlands

Alexander Katz University of California at Berkeley, USA

Steven V. Ley University of Cambridge, UK

Guangsheng Luo Tsinghua University, China

Dionisios G. Vlachos University of Delaware, USA

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