The following joint Editorial was originally published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society (DOI: 10.1021/jacs.0c04253).
The research community faces unprecedented disruption from the global COVID-19 pandemic. Some researchers are beginning to return to lab work after a hiatus, but others continue to work as best as they can from home, including ourselves. The global editorial, support, and production staff of ACS journals continue to work as usual, even though most are working from locations that are not their usual work environment.
Throughout this period, we seek to assist our authors, reviewers, and readers, despite the exceptional disruption to their normal research workflow. One area of particular concern is that authors may require extra time to prepare revised manuscripts, especially if additional laboratory-based experimental work is required to address specific reviewer or editor concerns. At this time, reviewers may consider limiting their recommendations for additional experimental work, except in those cases where they deem it necessary to support the central claims of the paper and maintain high standards of science/engineering. Please let us know if you require extra time to complete a revision of your manuscript as we are happy to work with you to determine an appropriate course of action. Should authors or reviewers have questions or concerns during this period regarding the need for additional time for a review or revision, please do not hesitate to contact the editorial office responsible for the manuscript and/or the editor-in-chief.
ACS Publications has a resource page for readers, authors and reviewers and it can be accessed here.
The editors and staff at our journals wish our community the best as it faces multiple challenges arising from the pandemic. Among those most impacted are young scientists and other early career members of the community, and we hope everyone does their best to support one another, especially those most affected by the disruption, and that, globally, we observe a quick resolution to the situation.