A Virtual Issue from The Journal of Physical Chemistry A, B, C, and Letters highlights the science and publications in the journals associated with scientists in India. JPC is very much an international journal, with publications about equally divided into three areas: North and South America, Europe and Africa, and Asia including India. In fact, […]

A Virtual Issue from The Journal of Physical Chemistry A, B, C, and Letters highlights the science and publications in the journals associated with scientists in India. JPC is very much an international journal, with publications about equally divided into three areas: North and South America, Europe and Africa, and Asia including India. In fact, JPC is one of the largest journals in the ACS portfolio in terms of submissions and publications of papers from India. Publications from India began in 1915 (Ghosh, J. C. J. Phys. Chem. 1915, 19, 720−733; who reported the properties of strong electrolytes, comparing basicity with electrochemical properties). Incidentally, in 1939 Sir J. C. Ghosh was appointed Director of the Indian Institute of Science Bangalore, immediately after Sir C. V. Raman, and played an important role in organizing modern scientific institutions in India. Ghosh and others continued publishing in JPC in the 1920s and 30s, but there was little activity after that until the 1970s. The early papers were primarily connected to thermodynamics, kinetics, colloid properties and catalysis, and then quantum mechanics, and photochemistry became important in the 1960s and thereafter. Among highly cited papers are several by C. N. R. Rao beginning about 1960.

Publications from India rose significantly during the period 2003–2010, going from under 100 per year to over 300. Since then, publications have risen more slowly, going from 360 papers/year in 2012 to 410 in 2016. During the last five years (2012–2016), ∼6% of all the papers published in JPC A, JPC B, JPC C, and JPC Letters originated from authors located in India. This corresponds to 1937 papers, and of these, 16% were published in JPC A, 36% in JPC B, 41% in JPC C, and 7% in JPC Letters.

Read the rest of this editorial and learn more about scientists in India with ties to the journal, recent important articles from Indian authors, and more.

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