The urgency for open access publishing has been felt for some time. The strain of paywalls and expensive scholarly publishing business models have limited access to academic papers and research, causing some to take matters into their own hands.

The Electrochemical Society is one of those to take action. Each year, ECS participates in International Open Access Week by taking down paywalls to the entire ECS Digital Library, giving the world a preview of what complete open access to peer-reviewed scientific research will look like. ECS is also the founder of the Free the Science initiative, which aims to make the Society’s high quality, peer-reviewed research free for everyone to read and free for authors to publish. In addition, in honor of Free the Science, the Society also offers another paywall-free week to the ECS Digital Library. This year marking the Society’s 3rd annual Free the Science Week, taking place April 1-7, where thousands of scientific articles and abstracts will become free to access.

And, it looks like ECS is far from alone in these efforts. (more…)

Kang Xu, lead author.

“What is the most ideal [solid-electrolyte interphase] SEI or interphase that would enable the next generation of the battery chemistries?”

It was a question that had been lingering in the minds of Kang Xu, fellow of US Army Research Laboratory and team leader; Chunsheng Wang, University of Maryland chemical and biomolecular engineering department professor, as well as one of the most cited researchers of 2018; and Ying Shirley Meng, University of California, San Diego nanoengineering professor, fellow of The Electrochemical Society, and associate director of the International Battery Association.

Together, the trio set out to pursue this question, resulting in the publication of their paper “Perspective—Fluorinating Interphases.” (more…)

Since The Electrochemical Society’s inception in 1902, the Society has stood for the advancement of electrochemical and solid state science and technology. As part of this mission, ECS is working to Free the Science by making all content from ECS journals free and fully accessible to the public: an initiative that is gaining traction and attention in the scholarly publishing community.

UCL’s Town Hall meeting on Plan S

On January 8, the University College London (UCL) held a town hall meeting to discuss the principles of Plan S, a plan that supports open access initiatives like Free the Science, which aims to make all research funded by public grants provided by cOAlition S funders openly available by 2020.

The plan has since received some backlash and concerns from the academic and scholarly publishing communities, including UCL, the host of the Plan S discussion. (more…)

Seven new issues of ECS Transactions have just been added to the ECS Online Store for preorder.

The following issues of ECST will be published from symposia held during the 235th ECS Meeting in Dallas, Texas (May 26-30, 2019), and will be available in limited quantities for pick-up at the meeting.

Electronic (PDF) editions will be made available for purchase beginning May 17, 2019. To preorder a CD or USB edition, please follow the links below: (more…)

Since 2018, all the members of the German consortium of The Electrochemical Society led by the Technische Informationsbibliothek (TIB) – German National Library of Science and Technology have benefited from a special publishing option: ECS grants all institutions participating in its program an unlimited number of article processing charge (APC) credits. This allows all scientists affiliated with participating institutions to publish open access articles in ECS journals free of charge. (more…)

The Electrochemical Society and Enago have entered into a collaboration that will allow researchers within ECS’s member network easy access to Enago’s author services, including English manuscript editing and publication support, at every stage of the publication cycle.

ECS exists to advance global knowledge and practice in the sphere of electrochemistry and solid state science. It’s an international community, led by scientists, for scientists. Its members, individual and institutional, can take advantage of the vast programs offered, such as awards, grants, fellowships, and much more. (more…)

The Electrochemical Society has appointed Krishnan Rajeshwar as the new editor of the ECS Journal of Solid State Science and Technology for a three-year term.

Launched in 2012, the ECS Journal of Solid State Science and Technology focuses on fundamental and applied areas of solid state science and technology including experimental and theoretical aspects of the chemistry and physics of materials and devices. The journal’s technical scope covers (1) carbon nanostructures and devices, (2) dielectric science and materials, (3) electronic materials and processing, (4) electronic and photonic devices and systems, and (5) luminescence and display materials, devices, and processing.

Rajeshwar is a distinguished university professor at University of Texas at Arlington. He is also the founding director of the Center for Renewable Energy and Science Technology (CREST) on campus. (more…)

The proceedings from the First International Conference on 4D Materials and Systems are now available. ECS Transactions, volume 88, issue 1, contains 49 papers based on the research presented August 26-30, 2018, in Yonezawa, Japan. This issue covers the five parallel tracks held at the conference: (1) Gel Symposium, (2) Flexible and Printed Electronics, (3) Material Processing, (4) Electrochemical Materials and Devices for Energy Conversion and Storage, and (5) Sensors and Systems.

To browse the full table of contents, or purchase individual articles, please visit the ECS Digital Library. This issue is also available as an instant PDF download through the ECS Online Store.

In addition to the ECST issue, ECS is also publishing a JES Focus Issue on 4D Materials and Systems. For more information, or to submit your manuscript, see the focus issue Call for Papers.

To usher in the new year, ECS is highlighting the articles from the Journal of The Electrochemical Society, the ECS Journal of Solid State Science and Technology, ECS Transactions, and Interface that received the most full-text downloads in 2018. 

Please enjoy the articles below, and stay connected with ECS through 2019 for access to more innovative and influential research at the forefront of electrochemical and solid state science and technology.

All of the articles in the following roundup are open access/free to read.

Learn about ECS’s Free the Science initiative.

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To recognize the innovative research gaining attention across the diverse span of its topical interest areas, the Society highlights the top five most-downloaded journal articles in each TIA during each quarter of the year.

The most-downloaded ECS Journal of Solid State Science and Technology articles by TIA during the fourth quarter of 2018 (October through December) are listed below.

Highlights are based on articles published since January 1, 2016.

Articles marked OA are open access.

(more…)