Open Access Week is fast upon us, and this year’s theme is “Open in Action.” ECS’s participation in Open Access Week is a preview of our vision to Free the Science, a future where authors can publish with us for free and readers can access our Digital Library without paywalls (find out more about what we’re doing to celebrate).
In the spirit of this year’s theme, ECS has created a list of “action items” to help you make the most of the week:
Attention prospective and current ECS members! Did you know? As of this year, you can belong to more than one primary division!
Each ECS division corresponds to a topical interest area. ECS has seven electrochemistry divisions and six solid state science and technology divisions:
ECS would like to formally commend the University of South Carolina for being presented the Outstanding Student Chapter Award this year at PRiME 2016! The chapter has proven an incredible asset to the organization, and it was an honor to recognize its prodigious achievements.
The Outstanding Student Chapter Award was established in 2012 to recognize distinguished student chapters that demonstrate active participation in The Electrochemical Society’s technical activities, establish community and outreach activities in the areas of electrochemical and solid state science and engineering education, and create and maintain a robust membership base.
The award consisted of a recognition plaque, $1,000 toward student chapter funding, and chapter recognition in Interface.
At ECS, we offer your institution a subscription to ECS Plus, which gives your researchers access to a wealth of high-ranking, highly-cited research in electrochemistry and solid state science.
With ECS Plus, authors can publish an unlimited number of articles in our high-ranking journals (Journal of The Electrochemical Society and ECS Journal of Solid State Science and Technology) as Open Access, at no additional cost to them or your institution.
Please don’t hesitate to email Anna Olsen, Senior Content Associate and Library Liaison, with any questions you may have, or with your order!
You are cordially invited to join the ECS Canada Section for its 2016 Fall Symposium! 
The meeting will be held on November 12, 2016 at the University of Ontario Institute of Technology in Oshawa, Ontario. The theme of the symposium will be “Interdisciplinary Electrochemistry.”
The meeting will feature an illustrious array of distinguished speakers, as well as a poster competition open to students and postdoctoral fellows.
The scope of ECS transcends academia. Its members are more than scholars; they are global leaders in the fields of research, innovation, and industry. With each passing day, they further develop the potential of electrochemical and solid state science, paving the way toward a cleaner, brighter future.
We are proud to recognize the top 15 non-academic institutions based upon ECS membership:
Scholarly publishing news has been buzzing about 1science’s recently published large-scale study on the impact of Open Access. This study analyzed more than 3 million papers and found that Open Access papers have a 50% greater citation advantage than papers in subscription-based journals.
Meanwhile, ECS has also been performing its own (much smaller-scale) research to confirm this hypothesis. In May 2015, ECS launched a study, led by Daniela Solomon, a librarian at Case Western Reserve University, to examine the citation advantage for Open Access articles published in Journal of The Electrochemical Society (JES).
The study looks at both downloads and citations of articles published in a single volume of JES. This brief note outlines the results at the end of one year; however, we consider these results preliminary as we will continue to run the study for another year.
We will publish our findings again when the study closes: in the meantime we’d be interested in hearing your comments and thoughts on our findings so far.
Five ECS short courses will be offered at PRiME 2016 in Honolulu this October!
What are short courses? Taught by academic and industry experts in intimate learning settings, short courses offer students and professionals alike the opportunity to greatly expand their knowledge and technical expertise.
PRiME 2016 short courses will be held on Sunday, October 2, 2016 from 9:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
Don’t miss the early-bird deadline of September 2, 2016! Register today!
Hubert A. Gasteiger and Thomas J. Schmidt, Instructors
This short course develops the fundamental thermodynamics and electrocatalytic processes critical to polymer electrolyte fuel cells (PEFCs, including Direct Methanol and Alkaline Membrane FCs). In the first part, we will discuss the relevant half-cell reactions, their thermodynamic driving forces, and their mathematical foundations in electrocatalysis theory (e.g., Butler-Volmer equations). Subsequently, this theoretical framework will be applied to catalyst characterization and the evaluation of kinetic parameters like activation energies, exchange current densities, reaction orders, etc.
There’s only one week left to enter ECS’s Open Access Week Competition! Don’t forget to submit your brief 200-400 word essay for a chance to win one of two cash prizes and additional funding for your ECS Student Chapter.
1st prize: $250 to the individual, $500 to the affiliated ECS Student Chapter*
2nd prize: $100 to the individual, $250 to the affiliated ECS Student Chapter*
*In the event that there is no affiliated ECS Student Chapter, this prize money will be donated to the ECS Free the Science Fund. If a report is written by more than one individual, any prize money will be shared equally between those individuals.
Submissions Open: August 8, 2016
Submissions Close: September 15, 2016 (DEADLINE EXTENDED!)
Download our poster promoting the competition to distribute on your campus.
Not interested in participating, but want to get involved? Check out the Open Access Week website for information or inspiration: http://www.openaccessweek.org/
Thinking about starting a student chapter? There’s no better time to apply than now! Send us your completed application before September 15, 2016 and get your student chapter approved this October at PRiME 2016!
ECS student chapters are student-led groups which provide student members vital opportunities to enhance their professional development and academic experience through promoting electrochemical and solid-state science and technology. Every student chapter is a collaborative community which rewards its members with serviceable benefits.
ECS Munich Student Chapter
