''Acta Crystallographica'' is a series of peer-reviewed scientific

journals A journal, from the Old French ''journal'' (meaning "daily"), may refer to: *Bullet journal, a method of personal organization *Diary, a record of personal secretive thoughts and as open book to personal therapy or used to feel connected to onesel ...

, with articles centred on

crystallography Crystallography is the branch of science devoted to the study of molecular and crystalline structure and properties. The word ''crystallography'' is derived from the Ancient Greek word (; "clear ice, rock-crystal"), and (; "to write"). In J ...

, published by the

International Union of Crystallography The International Union of Crystallography (IUCr) is an organisation devoted to the international promotion and coordination of the science of crystallography. The IUCr is a member of the International Council for Science (ICSU). Objectives T ...

(IUCr). Originally established in 1948 as a single journal called ''Acta Crystallographica'', there are now six independent ''Acta Crystallographica'' titles: *'' Acta Crystallographica Section A: Foundations and Advances'' *'' Acta Crystallographica Section B: Structural Science, Crystal Engineering and Materials'' *'' Acta Crystallographica Section C: Structural Chemistry'' *'' Acta Crystallographica Section D: Structural Biology'' *'' Acta Crystallographica Section E: Crystallographic Communications'' *'' Acta Crystallographica Section F: Structural Biology Communications'' ''Acta Crystallographica'' has been noted for the high quality of the papers that it produces, as well as the large impact that its papers have had on the field of crystallography. The current six journals form part of the journal portfolio of the IUCr, which is completed by the ''

Journal of Applied Crystallography The ''Journal of Applied Crystallography'' is a peer-reviewed scientific journal published by Wiley-Blackwell on behalf of the International Union of Crystallography. It was established in 1968 with André Guinier as the founding editor. The journ ...

'', the '' Journal of Synchrotron Radiation'', the

open-access Open access (OA) is a set of principles and a range of practices through which nominally copyrightable publications are delivered to readers free of access charges or other barriers. With open access strictly defined (according to the 2001 de ...

'' IUCrJ'' and the open-access

data publication Data publishing (also data publication) is the act of releasing research data in published form for use by others. It is a practice consisting in preparing certain data or data set(s) for public use thus to make them available to everyone to use a ...

'' IUCr Data''.

History

''Acta Crystallographica'' was established in conjunction with the foundation of the

in 1948. Both were established to maintain an international forum for

after the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

had led to a loss of international subscription to, and the eventual nine-year closure of, the main pre-war crystallography journal, ''

Zeitschrift für Kristallographie A magazine is a periodical publication, print or digital, produced on a regular schedule, that contains any of a variety of subject-oriented textual and visual content forms. Magazines are generally financed by advertising, purchase price, p ...

''. The founding editor of ''Acta Crystallographica'' was P. P. Ewald, who wrote in the preface to the first issue A steady increase in the number of submitted papers led to the journal being split into '' Section A'', covering fundamental and theoretical studies, and '' Section B'', dedicated to reports of structures, in 1968, together with a new journal, the ''

''. In 1983, '' Section C'', devoted to the crystal structures of small molecules, was added, with ''Section B'' now focusing on biological, chemical, mineralogical and metallurgical crystallography. The rapid expansion in biological crystallography led to the launch of '' Section D'' in 1993. The journals launched online versions in 1999, and in 2000 the journals began to provide electronic article submission and subscription access online. This was followed by the launch of an online-only journal, '' Section E'', for brief reports of new small-molecule structures, in 2001; this journal became fully

open access Open access (OA) is a set of principles and a range of practices through which nominally copyrightable publications are delivered to readers free of access charges or other barriers. With open access strictly defined (according to the 2001 de ...

in 2008. A second online-only journal, '' Section F'', dedicated to short reports of macromolecular structures and reports on their crystallization, followed in 2005. The IUCr moved to online-only publication for all its journals from 2014.

References

{{Reflist

External links

IUCr journals official site
Chemistry journals Academic journals established in 1948 English-language journals Wiley-Blackwell academic journals Monthly journals Bimonthly journals Online-only journals Academic journals associated with learned and professional societies