Publishing scientific articles in the digital era

In the digital era in which over 4 billion people regularly access the internet, the conventional process of publishing scientific articles in academic journals following peer review is undergoing profound changes. Following physics and mathematics scholars who started to publish their work on the freely accessible arXiv server in the early 1990s, researchers of all disciplines increasingly publish scientific articles in the form of freely accessible and fully citeable preprints before or in parallel to conventional submission to academic journals for peer review. The full transition to open science, I argue in this study, requires to expand the education of students and young researchers to include scholarly communication in the digital era

Waste‐to‐wealth: The economic reasons for replacing waste‐to-energy with the circular economy of municipal solid waste

Sharing the same raw material, recycling and composting are in direct conflict with incineration ofmunicipal solid waste in combined health and power plants. Indeed, waste‐to‐energy plants in regionswith high recycling rates import urban waste from other countries to use otherwise unused capacity andraise revenues. Using the case of Italy’s economically most developed region, I discuss the economicviability of municipal solid waste incineration to produce electricity and heat in the context of theincreasing role of electricity production from renewable energy sources as well as of the emergingcircular bioeconomy. Four lessons and three guidelines aimed at local authorities and policy makersemerge from the present study

The Role of the Journal Impact Factor in Chemistry Research

The journal impact factor (JIF) is a skewed metrics whose value is dictated by just a few highly cited articles. Therefore, the use of the JIF to evaluate journals, scholars, or research institutes is flawed. Still, the JIF continues to play a central role in evaluating scholarship in chemistry, the most reluctant amid scientific disciplines to embrace the principles of open science. This study investigates the origins of this social behavior, and suggests avenues to improve scholarly communication in the chemical sciences following the example of the life sciences

Open access publishing in chemistry: a practical perspective informing new education

In the late 1990s chemists were among the early adopters of open access (OA) publishing. As also happened with preprints, the early successful adoption of OA publishing by chemists subsequently slowed down. In 2016 chemistry was found to be the discipline with the lowest proportion of OA articles in articles published between 2009 and 2015. To benefit from open science in terms of enhanced citations, collaboration, job and funding opportunities, chemistry scholars need updated information (and education) of practical relevance about open science. Suggesting avenues for quick uptake of OA publishing from chemists in both developed and developing countries, this article offers a critical perspective on academic publishing in the chemical sciences that will be useful to inform that education

New recyclable catalysts for aerobic alcohols oxidation: sol-gel ormosils doped with TPAP

Novel nanoporous materials have been prepared that are recyclable catalysts for the aerobic oxidation of activated and non-activated alcohols. The catalysts are organically modified silicas (ormosils) doped with tetra-n-propylammonium perruthenate (TPAP) via the sol-gel process. Hydrophobicity and flexibility of the sol-gel cages were crucial in promoting catalysis

Green Chemistry in the Fine Chemicals and Pharmaceutical Industries

Biocatalysis is the main green chemistry technology adopted by the fine chemicals and pharmaceutical industries to manufacture chemicals with higher yield. Heterogeneously catalyzed processes using supported metal or molecular catalysts are still an exception. Reviewing the actual development of green chemistry in these important segments of the chemical enterprise, we investigate the reasons behind such a delay in innovation. Finally, we consider whether green metrics developed by chemists is actually purposeful to management, and find that this concept needs to be streamlined to include simple financial metrics quantifying the impact of prevention on the company’s bottom line

Natural product extraction via hydrodynamic cavitation

Hydrodynamic cavitation applied to natural product extraction from biological resources is the enabling technology of the bioeconomy. The study identifies the main economic and technical advantages of this relatively new natural product extraction route. Economic benefits chiefly originate from the low cost of manufacturing, low capital expense and superior product quality. The main technical benefits originate from the lack of noxious emissions, ease of scale-up, and highly controllable conditions affording lot-to-lot product consistency. We conclude suggesting arguments for which cavitation technology will be used both by incumbent companies, as well as by new entrants in the natural product market

The sol-gel entrapment of noble metals in hybrid silicas: a molecular insight

BACKGROUND: Why are metal nanoparticles sol-gel entrapped in ORMOSIL so active and stable? In other words, why ORMOSIL-entrapped metal nanoparticles are more active and selective than many heterogenized counterparts, including silica-entrapped noble metals? RESULTS: Unveiling specific interactions between MNPs and the molecular structure of ORMOSIL, this work investigates subtle structural aspects through DRIFT spectroscopy. CONCLUSIONS: The results point to interactions between entrapped Pd and Pt nanocrystallites with the organosilica sol-gel cages similar to those taking place in enzymes

Application of nanocellulose composites in the environmental engineering: A review

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