Has GPS landed with precision?

We like to call our young journal GPS, which stands for Green Processing and Synthesis. While this is not its official acronym, it has become commonly used that it is positively selling the journal’s mission. I like to think of another meaning for GPS: Global Positioning System. The two meanings have an unmistakable association of having a mission, going somewhere, following coordinates with highest precision. We’re not on the moon yet, but we’re on a rewarding and fascinating trajectory. In management trainings, including the scientific ones, I’ve learned to set challenging, yet realistic targets and then to benchmark progress toward them and look for bottlenecks and circumventing solutions. This can be applied to analyzing a magazine’s success.

Target 1: From its inception GPS was to advance chemistry and (chemical) engineering innovation and be also broad (holistic) in terms of applications (see our long list of suited topics on each journal’s title page). It was intended to be not only a journal, but a kind of “forum” for papers, their authors and disciplines so as to create awareness for the full “green dimension”. I would say this original benchmark has fully been reached. GPS is a truly open and open-minded journal. We publish about 60% chemical papers and 40% engineering papers that span a plethora of applications. For example, topics concern not just chemical engineering, but also metallurgy, material research, and other kinds of engineering. I had an original idea where the journal should go topic-wise as documented in above mentioned topical list. The authors and their proposed topics approaching us also shape GPS, creating a strategically adaptive momentum. Manuscripts range from monodisciplinary to multidisciplinary research and, luckily, true interdisciplinary research also comes our way. We can increasingly embrace different topics in the journal, different topics in one issue, and finally those even within one paper.

Target 2: As any journal, we need impact and impact factor. Some could critically remark that Target 1 could compromise the high impact factor. Our impact is two-fold. The GPS challenge is to get very good papers and, in addition, to convince the reader in each issue that they are privy to relevant research papers that are unavailable in the same composition in other journals. Stated another way, our editorial challenge is not to have a loosely assembled mixture but rather a structured, well composed mixture of unique contents. For this reason, we give a large share to special issues that pursue one theme in profound depth and breadth. This “seed” is meant to induce similar other articles and this principle works. We believe to have many topics, but not too many, and, more importantly, the right ones. Authors as well as readers are responding favorably to these cutting-edge approaches.

Knowing that we will receive and report an official impact factor only by this summer, we monitor in advance our citations carefully since from our start. This way, we see which papers steer interest and evoke an “internal impact factor.” This helps us also to check if we are on track with our benchmarks, once again. Very best papers in GPS have around 20 citations after 1–2 years and these rates are steadily growing. Almost all papers have citations after a short time. Thus, also as a whole the journal is active and present. In about 3 months we will announce the official score. We expect to be in league with engineering journals, and not yet with the highest-impact chemical journals. As a young journal and aiming for another profile, the latter would have been overambitious. But seeing the high share of chemical papers in GPS, we are optimistic and are benchmarked to serve those “clients” with an adequate impact in future. My personal goal is to build the impact steadily and I am confident, once we have it (which is so essential), it will continue to grow. Interdisciplinary journals typically have higher growth rates than monodisciplinary ones. Especially in the recent months, we are experiencing an increasing inflow of papers-much more so than what we saw 1 or 2 years ago. This will automatically lead to a better selection and higher quality of papers. We expect another boost of incoming papers when we release our impact factor.

Target 3: GPS is keen on breaking developments in green and synthesis research. The chemical industry is now facing a strong change following more than 100 years steady progressions. This is a steep change. GPS is and will be a particularly important journal for those who are part of this exciting wave. We are a young journal seeking revolutionary ideas. Yet, those which are mature enough to reach an industrial application finally, being it in 20 or 30 years. I think we have also succeeded here. Conferences that reflect the re-shaping and emerging world have discovered us; we regularly exhibit at them and they help us with special issues. Organizational platforms are aware of us and offer GPS exposure. We attract authors – who through their affiliations and networking – are a part of the changing scientific and industrial world. If GPS can be a small brick to all the Green Chemistry and Green Engineering changes of chemical and other industries, I would be happy about.

Having impact factor is imperative, but having impact is the mission and passion. We are constantly checking our coordinates and measuring our strategic progress toward our goals.