New Leadership, New Layout

Times are changing: After 14 years of working for the Macromolecular (and the Advanced) journals, the last seven of which I have served as the Editor-in-Chief for the Macromolecular family, I am extremely happy and proud to hand over my official role of Editor-in-Chief to my esteemed colleagues. While I am extremely proud of the success that the Macromolecular family has had under my leadership, these successes would not have been possible without the capable hands of my colleagues over the last several years. It comes as no surprise that Dr. Stefan Spiegel is now officially the Editor-in-Chief of Macromolecular Theory and Simulations and Macromolecular Reaction Engineering, the latter of which Stefan launched when I just joined the editorial team. Dr. Mara Staffilani has been integral to the continued advancement and direction of Macromolecular Chemistry and Physics for the last several years and she will continue her mission now with the official title of Editor-in-Chief. For Macromolecular Bioscience, there could be no better person to lead this journal than Dr. Anne Pfisterer, who obtained her Ph.D. from the Max-Planck-Institute for Polymer Research in Mainz under the supervision of Tanja Weil and Klaus Müllen. Anne has already been one of the deputy editors of the Macromolecular journals (just like Mara and David) and a deputy editor of Advanced Science since 2018. Dr. David Huesmann, who joined the team in 2015, will continue on his successful journey to lead the ever-growing journal Macromolecular Materials and Engineering. That leaves Macromolecular Rapid Communications—the journal that I have always felt closest to, and that I had already enjoyed reading when I started my Ph.D. at the Institute of Macromolecular Chemistry in Freiburg in 2001. Although it is very hard for me to give up my position, I am extremely happy to pass it on to my colleague Dr. Bo Weng (located in our Beijing office). Before joining Wiley in 2016, Bo worked at the Southwest University, Chongqing, China, as an associate professor, and already has contributed tremendously to the development of the Macromolecular journals. While it is extremely exciting to announce new Editor-in-Chiefs for each of the Macromolecular journals, it is important to note that we will be not working alone, nor solely on a single journal. The success of the journal family has and will always rely on our team spirit. And there is more to the team than just the Editors-in-Chief! We also enjoy the support of our peer-review colleagues Dr. Joseph Krumpfer and more recently Dr. Brenton Hammer, both located in our Weinheim office, as well as Dr. Liying (Lynn) Wang in our Beijing office. All post-acceptance aspects in our journals will continue to be dealt with by our experienced colleagues Bernadette Gmeiner and Dr. Kieran O'Brien, while the administration of the journals will continue to be done by Inge Dittmer. Production responsibilities continue to be in the hands of Katja Kornmacher. Although I am stepping down from my position as Editor-in-Chief of these journals, this is not to say that I will no longer continue to serve and promote them. I will remain the Publisher of the Macromolecular journals, and I am always open to everyone for ideas and suggestions on how to improve and support this family. Please join me in congratulating all of my colleagues on their well-deserved promotion! Kirsten Severing – Publisher of Macromolecular Rapid Communications It is now over 100 years since macromolecular sciences entered the stage of research, and the Macromolecular journal family has been supporting this crucial area of science for most of its history. In the 1920s, the fundamental understanding of macromolecular chemistry revolutionized materials science and its impact on wider society through the rest of the 20th century. In the 2020s, the unintended consequences of large-scale manufacturing of polymers—historical reliance on petrochemicals as raw materials, pollution, microplastics—has turned researchers’ attention to more sustainable methods and solutions in macromolecular chemistry, which must lead to equally revolutionary changes for the better in the 21st century. As our journal family looks to the future, we thought it was therefore also time for a make over. Since its acquisition in 1998 by Wiley-VCH, the Macromolecular journals have gone through a number of changes over the years, a timeline of which is shown in Figure 1. After 14 years of usage, the design of 2007 is being retired for a new generation of Macromolecular brand aesthetics. Starting in June 2021, the Macromolecular journals now feature a new, A4 cover picture layout with a consistent Macromolecular logo and title across the entire family (Figure 2). The design process behind this rebranding approached the journal from two angles; to make the Macromolecular journals stand out as modern, state-of-the-art platforms to publish the cutting edge in macromolecular sciences; and to maintain a level of familiarity for readers and contributors who have helped shape and grow the Macromolecular journals over the years. On this latter point, the individual color schemes which have become associated with each journal over the last two decades will remain intact, as these were introduced in 2000 after the journals’ acquisition by Wiley-VCH. The 2021 redesign therefore pays a little homage to this familiar design aspect. With these points in mind, the first angle of the design process—to give Macromolecular journals a more modern look—we believe has been achieved. Design is also a form of communication which speaks to us on a different level; as we publish more new and exciting research in the ever-expanding field of polymer science, the way this platform—the journal—looks needs to change alongside and reflect the historical progress this research is making. We hope therefore that you enjoy this new look, which will last until who-knows-when; perhaps another 14 years until 2035, or another two decades until 2041. We will have to see where polymer science (and design tastes!) takes us in the next few years. As a final note, we would also like to congratulate Frédéric Mondiot and his colleagues (article number 2100087) for being the first authors to submit a cover design and having it chosen with this new design layout. Kieran O'Brien – Technical Editor of Macromolecular Rapid Communications I am stepping down at the perfect time. For the first time in the history of the journal, Macromolecular Rapid Communications (MRC) has received an impact factor over 5. I am so proud that our team has finally reached this milestone. MRC has developed into a true broad scope journal within the last few years. Looking at the most cited papers from the relevant time window for the current impact factor we find topics like thermoelectrics, soft robotics, drug delivery, and supramolecular polymers, but of course also more classical research on ATRP and RAFT (see Table 1). The papers listed in the table below once more reflect our team effort in bringing MRC to where it is now. In fact, the most cited paper was specifically invited by Bo, several other papers were published in the special issue on PISA, which was acquired by David and guest-edited by our board member Jutta Rieger and Muriel Lansalot. Mara handled the special issue on “Functional Natural and Synthetic Polymers” that was guest-edited by one of our younger board members Markus Müllner and which contained the article by Georgina K. Such. Also among the most cited authors you find our board members, Kris Matyjaszewski and Patrick Theato, which contributed great review articles to the anniversary issue of MRC, and Wolfgang Binder, who published in the special issue on Supramolecular Polymers. With so much support we are looking into a bright future which I will follow closely also in the years to come. Now it is on Bo to steer the development of the journal, and she has the perfect experience to do so. Bo obtained her Ph.D. from the University of Wollongong, Australia, before she worked at the Southwest University, Chongqing, China, as an associate professor. Ever since Bo joined Wiley in 2016, she has contributed tremendously to the development of the Macromolecular journals, with the publication of several outstanding institutional special issues, her knowledge of the Chinese community, and last but not least, her promotional activities in the Asian market. It is my great honour to step into the Editor-in-Chief position of MRC from our excellent leader at such high starting point. Our impact factor has exceeded 5.0 for the first time, which brings me a great opportunity as well as a great challenge to continue to grow and make this journal even better in the years to come. As the new EiC, I oversee the journal after its transition to something new – new article types and new communications with authors. The limitations on article length and figure numbers have been removed in order to give authors more freedom to present and organize their work. And, in the near future, we are especially excited to be organizing even more Wiley Macro symposiums and conferences to communicate with our authors face-to-face. In fact, the next Macro symposium will be held in Beijing during the China National Polymer Congress this September. Your thoughts, ideas and especially your submissions will be highly welcomed. I look forward to seeing you in Beijing! Bo Weng – Editor-in-Chief of Macromolecular Rapid Communications