ACS Paragon Plus

ACS Paragon Plus
Title	ACS Paragon Plus
Discipline	Publishing platform
Publisher	American Chemical Society
Country	United States
History	2013–present

Contents

Overview
History and Development
Features and Functionality
Access and Subscription Model
Integration with ACS Journals and Platforms
Impact and Reception
Technical Infrastructure and Security
See Also

ACS Paragon Plus is a manuscript submission and peer-review platform developed by the American Chemical Society to manage workflows for scholarly articles across ACS journals. It connects authors, reviewers, and editors with editorial tools and metadata services that interface with indexing services and discovery platforms. The platform supports manuscript handling, supplemental data, peer review tracking, and production workflows for chemistry and related fields served by ACS journals.

Overview

ACS Paragon Plus operates as an online submission and editorial system that streamlines manuscript processing for periodicals published by the American Chemical Society, including flagship titles such as Journal of the American Chemical Society, Chemical Reviews, ACS Nano, ACS Catalysis, and Accounts of Chemical Research. It coordinates workflows with indexing and abstracting services like PubMed Central, Web of Science, Scopus, CrossRef, and ORCID to ensure persistent identifiers and discoverability. The platform integrates features familiar from other submission systems used by publishers such as Elsevier, Springer Nature, Wiley-Blackwell, Taylor & Francis, and Oxford University Press.

History and Development

Initial development of the system occurred as part of ACS efforts to modernize publishing operations during the 2010s, alongside broader industry moves exemplified by initiatives from National Institutes of Health, Wellcome Trust, European Research Council, and consortia like CLOCKSS and Portico. Early versions built on editorial experiences with third-party vendors and in-house systems used by publishers such as ACS Publications and were influenced by standards from Committee on Publication Ethics and identifiers from Digital Object Identifier agencies. Subsequent feature expansions responded to community feedback from contributors, editorial boards associated with societies including the Royal Society of Chemistry and collaborations with initiatives like CrossMark and FundRef.

Features and Functionality

The platform provides manuscript submission, cover letter upload, figure and supporting information handling, conflict-of-interest disclosures, and suggested reviewer tools that parallel capabilities in systems used by Nature Research and the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. It supports metadata tagging compatible with JSTOR, PubChem, ChemSpider, and citation export formats for EndNote, Zotero, and Mendeley. Editorial features include version control, communications logs with editors affiliated with journals such as ACS Energy Letters and Environmental Science & Technology, and production handoff modules for copyediting and typesetting workflows similar to those employed by SAGE Publications and Cambridge University Press.

Access and Subscription Model

Access to submission and review functions is available to corresponding authors, reviewers, and editors associated with ACS journals; final content distribution follows ACS subscription and open-access policies, which mirror models seen at PLOS, BioMed Central, and hybrid arrangements like those at Elsevier. Funding mandates from agencies such as the National Science Foundation, European Commission, and grant programs like Horizon 2020 influence open access choices, article processing charge workflows, and license selections including Creative Commons options. Institutional subscribers including university libraries such as Harvard University, Stanford University, and consortia like California Digital Library affect access policies and entitlements.

Integration with ACS Journals and Platforms

ACS Paragon Plus links closely with the ACS Publications website and journal-specific editorial offices, coordinating with production teams for journals such as Chemical & Engineering News and ACS Sensors. It interoperates with indexing services including Google Scholar, Dimensions, and institutional repositories at entities like MIT and University of California campuses. The platform’s metadata pipelines support bibliographic standards set by organizations like NISO and contribute to citation metrics tracked by services such as Altmetric and Clarivate Analytics.

Impact and Reception

Adoption by authors and editors has been shaped by evaluations comparing usability to platforms from Editorial Manager provider Aries Systems and alternatives like ScholarOne. Community response has engaged stakeholders from editorial boards of journals like ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces and professional associations including the American Chemical Society committees. Metrics on submission throughput, decision times, and production efficiency have been cited in internal reports and conferences such as meetings of the American Chemical Society National Meeting & Exposition.

Technical Infrastructure and Security

The platform is built on web technologies and enterprise infrastructure that adhere to standards for data integrity and security promoted by bodies like the National Institute of Standards and Technology and employs digital preservation practices in line with LOCKSS. Authentication integrates persistent identifiers like ORCID and institutional single sign-on via federations used by universities such as Columbia University and University of Oxford. Data privacy considerations are guided by regulations and frameworks from authorities like European Data Protection Board and institutional review policies of research organizations such as NIH.