--- name: jacs-au description: Use when targeting JACS Au or deciding whether a chemistry manuscript fits this gold open-access, broad, high-quality sister journal of JACS. Encodes the journal's fit, framing, method-and-evidence bar, house style, official-submission re-check, and desk-reject heuristics. --- # JACS Au (jacs-au) ## Journal positioning JACS Au is published by the American Chemical Society as the gold open-access companion to the Journal of the American Chemical Society (JACS). Its defining character is that it applies a JACS-level quality bar across the full breadth of chemistry while making every article freely available. A paper belongs in JACS Au when it reports an important, rigorous, broadly interesting chemical advance and the authors want — or are required to publish — fully open access. The journal is not a lower-tier outlet for JACS rejects; it is positioned as an equally selective, high-quality venue that spans organic, inorganic, physical, analytical, materials, biological, and computational chemistry. Readership is the whole ACS chemistry community. This skill is a **fit / venue-selection / re-framing** tool. It does not replace the journal's current official submission guidelines. Before submitting, re-check the live author instructions on the JACS Au / ACS Publications site. ## When to trigger - The author names JACS Au as the target venue for a broad, high-quality chemistry advance that they intend to publish gold open access. - A manuscript would be competitive at JACS but the authors need or prefer open access (funder mandate, visibility, reuse), and they are choosing between JACS Au, JACS, and ACS Central Science. - A strong, rigorous chemical result spans subfields and needs a broad, selective, open venue rather than a specialized journal. - The author needs JACS Au's quality bar, breadth, open-access expectations, and desk-reject criteria before submission. ## Scope & topic fit - Organic and organometallic chemistry: methodology, synthesis, catalysis, mechanism, and physical-organic studies of broad significance. - Inorganic and materials chemistry: new compounds, frameworks, functional materials, and structure–property relationships with rigorous characterization. - Physical, theoretical, and computational chemistry: spectroscopy, dynamics, electrochemistry, and modeling that advances chemical understanding. - Analytical and measurement science: new methods, sensors, and analytical strategies with demonstrated impact and validation. - Biological and bioorganic chemistry: chemical biology, biomolecular mechanism, and chemistry at the biology interface. - Energy, catalysis, and sustainability chemistry where the chemical advance is rigorous and broadly interesting. ## Method & evidence bar - The advance must be important and statable in one or two sentences; JACS Au applies the same significance and rigor expectations as JACS, so incremental or narrowly specialized work is misfit. - Claims must be supported by complete, rigorous evidence — full characterization (spectroscopic, analytical, structural) of all new compounds and materials, with spectra and data in Supporting Information. - Quantitative results (yields, selectivities, rates, errors) must be reported with appropriate replication and statistical treatment; scope and limitations stated honestly. - Mechanistic, control, and comparison experiments must support central claims and establish the advance over existing work. - Computational studies must use appropriate methods with stated assumptions, validation, and benchmarking; combined experiment–theory work should integrate the two. - Data, code, and crystallographic information must be deposited per ACS policy; the open-access model does not relax evidence or reproducibility standards. ## Structure & house style - JACS Au uses the ACS article format with current length, figure, and reference expectations; re-check limits and article types on the live site. - The opening must state the problem and the advance clearly; the writing is dense and expert-facing across a broad chemical readership. - Main-text figures and schemes carry the key results, structures, and mechanisms; full experimental detail and characterization go in Supporting Information. - A complete Supporting Information file with experimental procedures, characterization data, and spectra is required; structures and conditions must be unambiguous. - As a gold open-access journal, an article publishing charge (APC) applies and a CC license is selected at acceptance; confirm current terms and any waivers. - The abstract and graphical abstract must convey the chemical advance and its significance succinctly. ## Official-submission checklist - Before giving submission-ready advice, read `../../resources/source-basis.md` and `../../resources/official-source-map.md`; start from the official source anchors for this journal family, then cite the current journal-specific page you checked. - Search the live site for "JACS Au author guidelines" / "ACS Publications" and follow the current ACS version. - Re-check current length, figure, and reference expectations, article types, and Supporting Information requirements. - Re-check open-access terms — APC, CC license options, and any institutional or funder agreements or waivers. - Re-check data-availability, crystallographic deposition (CCDC), code-availability, competing-interests, funding, and AI-use disclosure; confirm preprint policy (ChemRxiv posting is generally compatible). - If the live official instructions conflict with this skill, the official instructions win. ## Pre-submission self-check - [ ] One sentence — the chemical advance and why it is important across subfields, at a JACS-level bar. - [ ] All new compounds/materials are fully characterized with spectra and data in Supporting Information. - [ ] Quantitative results are reported with replication, error, and honest scope/limitation statements. - [ ] Mechanistic, control, or benchmarking evidence establishes the advance over prior work. - [ ] Open-access terms (APC, CC license, waivers) are understood and acceptable. - [ ] Crystallographic and other structured data are deposited and accession details are ready. ## Common desk-reject triggers - An incremental or narrowly specialized result that does not meet the JACS-level significance bar. - Incomplete characterization or missing spectra/data for new compounds or materials. - A study whose claims outrun the evidence — insufficient replication, controls, or mechanistic support. - A manuscript better suited to a specialized subfield journal with no broad chemical interest. - Treating JACS Au as a fallback for a flawed manuscript rather than addressing the underlying rigor. ## Re-routing decision - A top-tier chemical advance the authors do not need to publish open access: `journal-of-the-american-chemical-society`. - A broad, high-impact result of central importance reaching beyond core chemistry: `acs-central-science`. - A specialized advance of strong interest within one subfield: a dedicated ACS subfield journal (e.g., organic, inorganic, or materials). - A synthesis-methodology-centered advance: a synthesis-focused venue such as Nature Synthesis. ## Output format ```text [Fit] High / Medium / Low (one-line reason) [Target] JACS Au [Topic tags] <2–3 closest topics> [Method/evidence] [Top risk] [Official items to re-check] [Re-route suggestion] ```