JACS Au (jacs-au)

Journal positioning

JACS Au is published by the American Chemical Society as the gold open-access companion to the Journal of the American Chemical Society (JACS). Its defining character is that it applies a JACS-level quality bar across the full breadth of chemistry while making every article freely available. A paper belongs in JACS Au when it reports an important, rigorous, broadly interesting chemical advance and the authors want — or are required to publish — fully open access. The journal is not a lower-tier outlet for JACS rejects; it is positioned as an equally selective, high-quality venue that spans organic, inorganic, physical, analytical, materials, biological, and computational chemistry. Readership is the whole ACS chemistry community. This skill is a fit / venue-selection / re-framing tool. It does not replace the journal's current official submission guidelines. Before submitting, re-check the live author instructions on the JACS Au / ACS Publications site.

When to trigger

• The author names JACS Au as the target venue for a broad, high-quality chemistry advance that they intend to publish gold open access.
• A manuscript would be competitive at JACS but the authors need or prefer open access (funder mandate, visibility, reuse), and they are choosing between JACS Au, JACS, and ACS Central Science.
• A strong, rigorous chemical result spans subfields and needs a broad, selective, open venue rather than a specialized journal.
• The author needs JACS Au's quality bar, breadth, open-access expectations, and desk-reject criteria before submission.

Scope & topic fit

• Organic and organometallic chemistry: methodology, synthesis, catalysis, mechanism, and physical-organic studies of broad significance.
• Inorganic and materials chemistry: new compounds, frameworks, functional materials, and structure–property relationships with rigorous characterization.
• Physical, theoretical, and computational chemistry: spectroscopy, dynamics, electrochemistry, and modeling that advances chemical understanding.
• Analytical and measurement science: new methods, sensors, and analytical strategies with demonstrated impact and validation.
• Biological and bioorganic chemistry: chemical biology, biomolecular mechanism, and chemistry at the biology interface.
• Energy, catalysis, and sustainability chemistry where the chemical advance is rigorous and broadly interesting.

Method & evidence bar

• The advance must be important and statable in one or two sentences; JACS Au applies the same significance and rigor expectations as JACS, so incremental or narrowly specialized work is misfit.
• Claims must be supported by complete, rigorous evidence — full characterization (spectroscopic, analytical, structural) of all new compounds and materials, with spectra and data in Supporting Information.
• Quantitative results (yields, selectivities, rates, errors) must be reported with appropriate replication and statistical treatment; scope and limitations stated honestly.
• Mechanistic, control, and comparison experiments must support central claims and establish the advance over existing work.
• Computational studies must use appropriate methods with stated assumptions, validation, and benchmarking; combined experiment–theory work should integrate the two.
• Data, code, and crystallographic information must be deposited per ACS policy; the open-access model does not relax evidence or reproducibility standards.

Structure & house style

• JACS Au uses the ACS article format with current length, figure, and reference expectations; re-check limits and article types on the live site.
• The opening must state the problem and the advance clearly; the writing is dense and expert-facing across a broad chemical readership.
• Main-text figures and schemes carry the key results, structures, and mechanisms; full experimental detail and characterization go in Supporting Information.
• A complete Supporting Information file with experimental procedures, characterization data, and spectra is required; structures and conditions must be unambiguous.
• As a gold open-access journal, an article publishing charge (APC) applies and a CC license is selected at acceptance; confirm current terms and any waivers.
• The abstract and graphical abstract must convey the chemical advance and its significance succinctly.

Official-submission checklist

• Before giving submission-ready advice, read ../../resources/source-basis.md and ../../resources/official-source-map.md; start from the official source anchors for this journal family, then cite the current journal-specific page you checked.
• Search the live site for "JACS Au author guidelines" / "ACS Publications" and follow the current ACS version.
• Re-check current length, figure, and reference expectations, article types, and Supporting Information requirements.
• Re-check open-access terms — APC, CC license options, and any institutional or funder agreements or waivers.
• Re-check data-availability, crystallographic deposition (CCDC), code-availability, competing-interests, funding, and AI-use disclosure; confirm preprint policy (ChemRxiv posting is generally compatible).
• If the live official instructions conflict with this skill, the official instructions win.

Pre-submission self-check

• One sentence — the chemical advance and why it is important across subfields, at a JACS-level bar.
• All new compounds/materials are fully characterized with spectra and data in Supporting Information.
• Quantitative results are reported with replication, error, and honest scope/limitation statements.
• Mechanistic, control, or benchmarking evidence establishes the advance over prior work.
• Open-access terms (APC, CC license, waivers) are understood and acceptable.
• Crystallographic and other structured data are deposited and accession details are ready.

Common desk-reject triggers

• An incremental or narrowly specialized result that does not meet the JACS-level significance bar.
• Incomplete characterization or missing spectra/data for new compounds or materials.
• A study whose claims outrun the evidence — insufficient replication, controls, or mechanistic support.
• A manuscript better suited to a specialized subfield journal with no broad chemical interest.
• Treating JACS Au as a fallback for a flawed manuscript rather than addressing the underlying rigor.

Re-routing decision

• A top-tier chemical advance the authors do not need to publish open access: journal-of-the-american-chemical-society.
• A broad, high-impact result of central importance reaching beyond core chemistry: acs-central-science.
• A specialized advance of strong interest within one subfield: a dedicated ACS subfield journal (e.g., organic, inorganic, or materials).
• A synthesis-methodology-centered advance: a synthesis-focused venue such as Nature Synthesis.

Output format

[Fit] High / Medium / Low (one-line reason)
[Target] JACS Au
[Topic tags] <2–3 closest topics>
[Method/evidence] <does the work meet a JACS-level significance and rigor bar with complete characterization, and is gold open access intended?>
[Top risk] <the single most likely reason for rejection>
[Official items to re-check] <length/figure/reference limits / open-access APC & CC license / characterization SI / CCDC & data deposition / disclosure / preprint policy>
[Re-route suggestion] <if not a fit, a better-matched venue>