Tuesday, November 6, 2018

In praise of "Arabian Journal of Chemistry"

In early October 2017 I submitted a  paper to Royal Society Open Science (RSOS). It took more than four months before I got any update on its status. After conflicting reviews, RSOS contacted an additional reviewer, who took TWO months to write a two line "report" which rejected my paper due to "lack of novelty" in spite of no other study of the subject matter existing in the literature. I decided then to eschew RSOS for ever and looked for another Open Access journal for my submission. 
Since I currently have no funding, absence of author processing charges was an important consideration. I found out about the "Arabian Journal of Chemistry" and looked into it: in spite of its obscurity, they have a decent Impact Factor (which shows that their papers are at least read within the community and solid enough to warrant being cited) and their APCs are borne by the King Saud University. I sent them my paper, which was unfortunately rejected although the reviewer reports were more consistent with a "Major Revisions" decision. The peer-review process, though, was exemplary: in less than two-and-a-half months, they provided me with SIX solid peer-review reports with enough actionable insights that I could incorporate into my paper to eventually get it published in J. Phys. Chem. A.
 I can only commend them for the utter professionalism, speed and quality of the whole process. I wish Arabian Journal of Chemistry all the best, and that its high standards and level of review will soon make it known among chemists as a premium journal. They  sure deserve that!