Journal of Molecular Catalysis A: Chemical Editorial Computational chemistry is making ever-increasing contributions to our understanding of the molecular mechanisms of catalysis and the number of manuscripts we receive that report partly or wholly on this aspect is rising steadily. I am delighted to report that Professor Per-Ola Norrby, who was appointed to the Editorial Board in 2008, has now joined us as an Associate Editor, thus ensuring that we can seek appropriate review and make informed decisions in this burgeoning field.

Professor Per-Ola Norrby

Since 2006 Per-Ola Norrby is a full Professor at the University of Gothenberg, Sweden, in the Department of Chemistry. He has published extensively on experimental and computational techniques to elucidate the reaction mechanisms of transformations catalyzed by transition metal complexes, and has world-class expertise in developing force-field parameters for molecular mechanics methodologies involving such complexes.

Professor Norrby will be editing a Special Issue of The Journal, to be published in 2010 and focusing on Computational Chemistry. He and his co-guest Editors will be inviting contributions, from leaders in this field, in the near future.

I welcome Professor Norrby to the editorial team and wish him every success in his new position. I would also like to take this opportunity to take stock of the past, present and future directions of The Journal.

In 1975 The Journal of Molecular Catalysis was launched as a venue for the publication of studies relating to the 'finite' catalyst molecule. It was anticipated that this theme would attract specialists in homogeneous and heterogeneous catalysis, and that such juxtaposition would lead to fruitful discussions and new directions on topics that are just as exciting and important today as they were some 34 years ago. The aspirations of Professors Teyssié and Marconi were rapidly realised and in 1995, with just under 4000 pages being published annually, The Journal evolved, not unlike a dividing cell, into two new entities A: Chemical and B: Enzymatic, with the former safely in the hands of the late Professor Eric Derouane as Editor in Chief. In recent years the journal has witnessed an increasing number of submissions of work whose focus is on the application of catalysts, rather than on the study of the catalysts themselves The Editorial Board became concerned that a much larger proportion of these applied papers were being rejected at peer review. Not only was this was causing 'referee fatigue', but it was also undermining the appeal of the journal to the multidisciplinary audience for which it was originally intended.

The success and reputation of any journal depends on two interdependent factors: the quality of its authorship and the rigour of its peer-review. Accordingly, we began to take a more pro-active role in protecting the original aims of the Journal and asked our reviewers to assist in this process. In addition to requesting our reviewers raise further the threshold they set for acceptance, we have also introduced 'Editor's Choice papers' to highlight work recognised at peer-review to be in the top 5%; these papers can be found via the Journal News tab on the Journal home page.

As with any process of refinement and focus, exclusion is disagreeable to the excluded. However, for the bulk of our authorship and readership the changes have been viewed very positively. Indeed, our Impact Factor has risen for the seventh consecutive year and is now over 2.8.

Increasing Impact Factor*

Professor G. C. Lloyd-Jones FRSC Editor in Chief Bristol, August 2009