Collected Resources for Chemists on the COVID-19 Coronavirus from ACS Publications

What is ACS doing to ensure that coronavirus related research is available?

ACS has made all coronavirus-related research published in our 60+ portfolio of journals open access and free-to-read since learning of the novel coronavirus outbreak. The most effective way to access this research is through this virtual issue, which is being updated regularly as new articles are published. Additionally, ACS has made all COVID-19 related research published in ACS journals freely and immediately available in the National Institutes of Health PubMed and World Health Organization (WHO) databases.

How is ACS supporting the federal and global COVID-19 response?

As the world’s largest scientific society, ACS is doing everything possible to aid in the global and federal response to the pandemic. Information about ACS efforts in this area is available on the ACS resources webpage. In addition to enabling free access to all coronavirus-related research, CAS, a division of the American Chemical Society, is reaching out to offer its considerable expertise to organizations investing their efforts toward vaccine and therapeutic research as they evaluate the means to combat COVID-19. This assistance, offered at no charge, might involve helping researchers get needed answers or analyses quickly, providing access to CAS solutions, satisfying requests for custom-curated data sets relevant to a target of interest or collaborating with our CAS scientists on a challenging formulations problem, among others. You can contact CAS at the CAS Customer Center.

Does ACS have any resources for families teaching children or young adults about science and chemistry at home?

ACS has made resources available to help in teaching high school, middle school, and elementary school students. The American Association of Chemistry Teachers has also unlocked resources for families learning from home. Additional educational resources can be found on ACS’ Educate resource page.

I’m a professor teaching remotely. Are there any resources I can review?

ACS’s member magazine, Chemical & Engineering News (C&EN) has compiled useful tips for teaching online. The Journal of Chemical Education has also created an open-access, free-to-read collection of articles on this topic. Additional resources can be found on the ACS Educate resource page.

Does ACS have any materials for non-chemists who would like to learn more about the pandemic and how it affects our lives?

C&EN has made all of its coverage of the coronavirus pandemic open access and free-to-read for all. C&EN’s reporting includes coverage of the scientific advances in fighting the virus and news about the impact of the pandemic on universities, labs, and industry.

To learn more about the chemistry behind coronavirus, how vaccines are made, and how materials like soap and hand sanitizer work to fight the virus, visit, and subscribe to ACS’s Reactions YouTube channel.  Additional materials can be found on ACS’ Communicate resource page.

Will there be delays in the publication of my article during the pandemic?

At the moment, we are not experiencing any delays in the publication process, but individual circumstances may lead to delays in peer review. If you have questions about the timeline for publication of an article, contact your journal’s editorial office.

What should I do if I need additional time to submit revisions to an article?

If you need more time, contact your journal’s editorial office and explain your request. We’ve communicated the need to be flexible during this unprecedented time to all ACS editors, who understand that authors may be under challenging circumstances.

Will the release of any ACS journals be delayed?

We are doing everything we can to minimize any journal disruptions, and at this time, we expect no delay in the release of any ACS journal articles or issues. If this should change, we will communicate updates to our subscribers and authors.

How can I submit my research quickly?

Uploading your research to ChemRxiv is the fastest way to make your work public. ChemRxiv is a free-to-use service for disseminating unpublished preprints in chemistry and related areas. Preprints are easily searchable and free to read, many with licenses that permit reuse. Uploading your manuscript to ChemRxiv prior to submitting it to a journal for peer review is the quickest way to document your research and make it available to the chemistry community. Please note that while ChemRxiv carries out checks for problematic content, the curators there do not carry out peer review.

As many universities and labs have closed, what considerations should I make when performing a peer review?

We’ve asked our peer reviewers and editors to refrain from requesting additional experiments except when absolutely necessary, as doing so during this time may delay publication. Our journal editorial offices are aware of the difficulties that researchers face when additional lab work is requested; they are carefully evaluating all requests for any additional experimentation from peer reviewers at this time.

I am able to peer review. How can I let editors know of my availability?

We encourage you to accept invitations to peer review, and/or contact journal editorial offices in your field and let them know of your availability. Our peer reviewers are vital to the publication process, so if you find yourself with time, ACS journal editors will no doubt appreciate your expertise.

I thought I had time to review an article, but my circumstances have changed. What should I do?

We understand that individual circumstances are changing on a daily basis. We appreciate your commitment to peer review, but if you are unable to complete a review, please contact the journal editorial office and explain that you are no longer available. You will still be contacted for peer review requests in the future unless you wish otherwise.

My university is closed. How can I access ACS Publications without using my university’s VPN?

ACS Publications has a variety of options for how you can access articles remotely. Visit our remote access resource page to learn about options for you and for your institution.

I still have access to my university network but plan to begin working and/or studying remotely soon. How can I maintain access to ACS Publications when not on their network?

You can pair a device while on your university network and maintain access to ACS Publications while working remotely. To pair your device, follow the instructions here.

ACS has enabled “federated authentication” for my university. What is federated authentication?

Federated authentication is a method for allowing members of one organization to use their authentication credentials to access a web application of another organization.  This means that students or researchers working off-campus can use their campus credentials to access ACS Publications content without the need for a VPN.

Is Patrons’ privacy protected when logging in with federated authentication?

Institutions are in control over the information that is released about their users. ACS Publications does not require any personally identifiable information (e.g. name or email address). In addition, as a division of the American Chemical Society, we are governed by the Society’s overarching privacy policy, available here.

Will IP authentication and COUNTER reports be affected?

No, enabling remote access via federated authentication does not impact the use of IP address authentication for any users directly connected to the campus network or remotely connected via a VPN/proxy server. In addition, enabling remote access via federated authentication will have no impact on COUNTER reports. COUNTER reports will include usage while on-campus, off-campus, and connected via a VPN/proxy server, or off-campus using federated authentication.

Federated authentication is not yet available through my university. Can my school be added?

The list of institutions that have had federated authentication enabled is growing rapidly. See a full list and search for your school. We are continuing to add new universities every day, so please check back regularly if you don’t see your institution yet.

During these unprecedented times, ACS remains fully committed to supporting our authors. In particular, we want to remain flexible with deadlines for revisions and other requests. Please let your journal’s editorial office know if you need additional time to work on a manuscript revision or run into any other challenges with preparing your manuscript. We are happy to work with you!

To support the publication of your research, ACS staff and Editors are working carefully to ensure that journal operations continue with as little disruption as possible. However, given the challenges presented by the COVID-19 outbreak, you may experience delays in the event that reviewers or editors need more time to complete evaluations of your manuscript. We appreciate your understanding that others involved in the publishing process are experiencing many of the same challenges. Posting a preprint of your research on ChemRxiv is one way to help your work reach its audience as rapidly as possible.

The current global crisis proves that now more than ever, the contributions of scientists are vital. We appreciate the efforts of our reviewers, as their work allows critical research to continue to be published. However, we completely understand that taking the time to review a manuscript is not always possible, especially at this time. If you receive a review invitation, consider the timeline requested and feel free to decline if it isn’t feasible for you. If you’ve accepted an invitation to review and your situation no longer allows you the time necessary to do so, please contact the journal office as soon as possible and explain that you are no longer able to review. We would encourage you to help the editor by recommending an alternate reviewer whenever possible.

If you decline an invitation to review, our editors will contact you again for future review opportunities unless you indicate that you are not interested. Declining a review during this time does not mean that you will be excluded from future review opportunities.

For others, you may find that you have some additional time available at the moment. In these cases, please accept invitations to review, and let journal offices in your area of expertise know if you are available for more review assignments. Hard-working editors will appreciate knowing you are willing and able to provide your expert feedback!

Finally, given that many researchers are not able to visit their labs during this time, please carefully consider any request for additional experimentation as doing so can further delay publications. We ask that you only recommend experiments if they are essential for publication, and clearly differentiate for the editor between required additions (e.g., critical controls) and suggestions that would strengthen the work but should not stand in the way of publication.