This workflow lets authors submit crystallographic data through The Cambridge Crystallographic Data Centre, ensuring one validated version is used throughout review and publication. It improves accuracy, simplifies access for reviewers, and makes data easier for readers to find and view.
ACS Publications is pleased to announce our continued partnership with The Cambridge Crystallographic Data Centre (CCDC), enabling improved processing of Crystallographic Information Files (CIFs) for four additional journals. Starting on June 26, 2025, the CIF workflow will be added to Chemistry of Materials, JACS Au, Journal of Natural Products, and Organic Process Research & Development, bringing to ten the number of journals in this initiative.
This workflow offers a centralized platform for CIF submission, enabling data validation before publication, streamlined access and review by editors and peer reviewers, enhanced structure visualization without specialized software, a consistent version of record, and reduced risk of errors. At publication, the CIFs are available to readers from the article level HTML page or the PDF document with only one click, making the data more readily discoverable.
A partnership between the CCDC and FIZ Karlsruhe has further ensured that after publication of the article, readers can retrieve inorganic, organic, and metal-organic CIFs from a single access point, while the relevant structures are curated into the Cambridge Structural Database (CSD) or Inorganic Crystal Structure Database (ICSD), as appropriate.
Changes to the CIF Workflow
These changes to the CIF workflow apply to all organic, inorganic, and metal-organic structures that are accommodated by the CSD or the ICSD:
- CIFs and structure factor data must be deposited with CCDC via the joint CCDC and FIZ Karlsruhe deposition service prior to submission with the participating ACS journals.
- Authors at these journals no longer need to upload CIF files and instead can input the CCDC numbers in the submission system.
- checkCIFs are required (combined into one PDF file) and should be uploaded at submission as Supporting Information for Review Only.
- Alerts may be added to CIFs during the CCDC deposition process, requiring authors to correct, defend, or respond to A-level alerts during the and any reported syntax errors during the peer review process, while B-level alerts should be addressed as needed; responses can be included in the CIF using a Validation Response Form or uploaded separately as Supporting Information for Review Only.
- Any subsequent revisions to the CIF or structure factor tables should be deposited directly to the CCDC before resubmitting the manuscript.
We look forward to the improved processing ACS Publications will provide to its authors, reviewers, and readers! To learn about the process in more detail, read the Author Guidelines of any of the participating journals. If you have questions, please contact the Publishing Integrity Office at PIO@acs.org.
