Organic Letters

Organic Letters
Title	Organic Letters
Discipline	Chemistry
Abbreviation	Org. Lett.
Publisher	American Chemical Society
Country	United States
Frequency	Biweekly
History	1999–present
Impact	6.2
Impact-year	2023
Issn	1523-7060

Organic Letters is a peer-reviewed scientific journal publishing brief reports on research in synthetic chemistry and chemical biology. It emphasizes rapid disclosure of novel methodology, reaction mechanisms, and total synthesis that influence practice across pharmaceutical industry, biotechnology industry, materials science research, and academic laboratories at institutions such as Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Harvard University, University of California, Berkeley, and University of Cambridge. The journal interfaces with professional societies including the American Chemical Society, collaborations at national laboratories like Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, and conferences such as the American Chemical Society National Meeting and the Gordon Research Conferences.

Overview

Organic Letters publishes concise communications that report original experimental results in areas spanning synthetic organic chemistry research, organometallic chemistry, and medicinal chemistry. Articles are typically short-format communications designed for rapid dissemination to researchers at organizations such as Pfizer, Merck & Co., Roche, Novartis, and research groups at universities including Stanford University, Yale University, California Institute of Technology, and The Scripps Research Institute. The readership includes investigators participating in programs funded by agencies like the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation and contributors collaborating with facilities such as the European Molecular Biology Laboratory.

History

Established in 1999 under the auspices of the American Chemical Society, the journal was founded to provide a venue for swift publication of concise reports complementary to long-format journals such as Journal of the American Chemical Society and Angewandte Chemie. Early editorial leadership included editors drawn from departments at Columbia University, University of Illinois Urbana–Champaign, and Princeton University. Over its history the journal has reflected shifts in research priorities influenced by landmark initiatives at institutions like the National Institutes of Health Roadmap and by industrial trends at companies such as GlaxoSmithKline and AstraZeneca. Major milestones coincided with technological advances from instrument makers like Agilent Technologies and Bruker that enabled new spectroscopic insights adopted in submissions.

Scope and Content

The journal covers total syntheses, novel synthetic methodology, asymmetric catalysis, and mechanistic studies pertinent to practitioners at research labs such as Rockefeller University, Imperial College London, and University of Toronto. Topics include carbon–carbon bond formation, cross-coupling reactions originally developed by researchers recognized by the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, and new retrosynthetic strategies employed by groups at ETH Zurich. Authors hail from academic centers including University of Oxford, McGill University, and Peking University, as well as industrial laboratories at BASF and Bayer. The content frequently cites techniques from core facilities at institutions like Argonne National Laboratory and draws interest from participants in contests and fellowships such as the MacArthur Fellows Program.

Editorial and Publication Details

Published biweekly by the American Chemical Society, the editorial board is composed of scholars affiliated with universities such as Cornell University, University of Michigan, Johns Hopkins University, and University of Tokyo. The peer-review process engages reviewers from consortia including the Royal Society of Chemistry membership and utilizes manuscript management systems deployed by publishers like Wiley. The journal issues special thematic collections reflecting priorities championed at symposia like the Royal Society meetings and honors work connected to awards such as the Perkin Prize and other distinctions conferred by professional organizations including the Chemical Society of Japan.

Abstracting and Indexing

Organic Letters is indexed in major databases used by researchers at organizations such as Clarivate Analytics (Web of Science), Scopus (Elsevier), and bibliographic services run by PubMed/National Library of Medicine. The journal’s articles are discoverable via platforms managed by libraries at institutions like New York Public Library and digital services operated by consortia including Portico and CrossRef. Metrics reported by providers such as Journal Citation Reports inform authors from universities like Duke University and funding bodies including the European Research Council.

Notable Papers and Impact

The journal has published influential short reports from groups led by investigators affiliated with Scripps Research, Suntory Foundation-supported teams, and Nobel laureates whose work intersects with awards such as the Nobel Prize in Chemistry. Noteworthy contributions include concise communications that advanced palladium-catalyzed cross-coupling methodologies, asymmetric organocatalysis breakthroughs, and expedient routes to bioactive natural products pursued by teams at University of Illinois Chicago and Seoul National University. These reports have influenced practice in the pharmaceutical industry, enabled downstream patents filed at offices like the United States Patent and Trademark Office, and stimulated follow-on research presented at venues such as the International Symposium on Organic Chemistry.

Access and Licensing

As a journal of the American Chemical Society, Organic Letters follows the publisher’s policies on access, offering subscription access alongside open access options under article processing agreements used by institutions like Wellcome Trust-funded centers and university libraries such as Columbia University Libraries. Licensing choices include Creative Commons options negotiated in transformative agreements with consortia like the Knowledge Unlatched initiative and national agreements involving ministries in countries including Japan and Germany. Authors are guided by funding mandates from organizations such as the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the European Commission when selecting open access pathways.

Category:Academic journals