A Forum for 21st Century Molecular Sciences

As the technical editor, it is my great pleasure in welcoming you to our new journal. International Journal of Molecular Sciences is a truly international affair, with the editorial board comprising notable scientists from countries all over the world. The basic theme of the journal is the 'science of molecules', and this broad subject area will allow us to encompass disciplines as wide and diverse as chemistry, molecular biology, molecular physics and chemical physics. We hope that in the coming years we will have the opportunity to publish many high quality papers in all these areas, and that the Journal will build into a valuable repository of scientific findings.

I have personally had quite a bit of experience with both formal internet publications [1, 2] and informal internet presentations [3], and believe that the Int. J. Mol. Sci. contains two features which set it apart from some other scientific journals. First, we welcome manuscripts which include research proposals and ideas with which to follow up experimental findings. These could be particularly valuable to encourage collaboration between research groups. Secondly, we will publish as fully as possible the details and results of calculations and experiments. In other journals, due to page limitations, authors sometimes only publish a few 'representative' examples of their findings, e.g. spectra, images, calculations, etc. As a result, other raw data - which might prove extremely valuable to later researchers - may be omitted. The electronic format of the Int. J. Mol. Sci. can overcome these limitations, since all the raw data can be stored as supplementary information in a form that readers can access. We also encourage authors to exploit other aspects of the electronic media as much as possible. All diagrams can be in colour, aiding clarity and appearance. Molecular structures can be provided in standard formats (pdb, mol, xyz, etc), allowing the reader to obtain and manipulate the full 3D structures of the molecules in question. Spectral data can be stored in JCAMP (jdx) format allowing readers to download entire spectra, without loss of information, and manipulate them as they choose.

Nevertheless, this is very much a scientific journal for the 21st Century, and I hope you'll enjoy reading it and publishing in it as much as we shall enjoy creating it!