The DST-ACS Publishing Workshops are 18 events organized by ACS in partnership with the Department of Science & Technology (DST), Government of India, in association with Vigyan Prasar (an autonomous organization under DST) across India through March of 2022. These free events aim to train early career researchers on scholarly publishing, peer review, ethics and […]

The DST-ACS Publishing Workshops are 18 events organized by ACS in partnership with the Department of Science & Technology (DST), Government of India, in association with Vigyan Prasar (an autonomous organization under DST) across India through March of 2022. These free events aim to train early career researchers on scholarly publishing, peer review, ethics and plagiarism, science communication, and other essential skills needed to advance in their respective careers.

During the one-day publishing workshop, attendees learn about effective manuscript writing, as well as nuances of the peer review process, and common issues in ethics and plagiarism. A highlight from these events was a title and abstract writing exercise where about 10% of entries at each workshop were awarded. The participants also received further insights about ACS resources, such as ACS Style Guide to Scholarly Communication (a new online resource for improving scientific writing) and ACS Reviewer Lab (a free online certificate course on peer review). The workshop also highlights the ACS magazine Chemical & Engineering News (C&EN) for its coverage of the latest and authentic information from the chemical enterprise. ChemIDP, a career planning tool for chemical scientists, as well as key benefits for ACS members, were also discussed.

This workshop series premiered in November 2019 at Council of Scientific and Industrial Research-Central Salt and Marine Chemicals Research Institute (CSIR-CSMCRI) in Bhavnagar, followed quickly by events at the Institute of Nano Science and Technology in Mohali, Uttarakhand State Council for Science & Technology (UCOST) in Dehradun and Bharathidasan University in Trichy. These workshops had about 2000 participants from about 100 institutes/universities.

ACS Editors and Advisory Board members shared their experience and delivered sessions in these workshops. Those in attendance included Professor Ashok Ganguli, member of ACS Materials Letters’ Editorial Advisory Board, Professor Abhishek Dey, Associate Editor of ACS Catalysis, Professor Nikhil R. Jana, Associate Editor of ACS Applied Nano Materials, Professor Jitendra K. Bera member of Organometallics Editorial Advisory Board, Professor Anindya Dutta and Professor Ayan Datta member of The Journal of Physical Chemistry Editorial Advisory Board, and Dr. Narayan Pradhan, member of ACS Energy Letters and Chemistry of Materials’ Editorial Advisory Board.

The Honorable Governor of Uttarakhand, Smt. Baby Rani Maurya attended the DST-ACS Workshop UCOST – Dehradun. She appreciated the joint efforts and initiative taken by ACS and DST, to run the nationwide campaign to educate and empower early career researchers. She also appealed to all the participants to take advantage of the benefits of ACS Membership for one’s career advancement.

Five such workshops are planned in 2020, and the first was organized at the Aligarh Muslim University on February 14. The upcoming workshops are planned to be held at the Indian Institute of Technology Indore on April 17 and Indian Institute of Technology Ropar on April 30.

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