The Journal of Chemical Physics was founded over 80 years ago, and since that time, it has become the preeminent journal in the broadly defined field of chemical physics. Over the years, the field of chemical physics has grown tremendously in the nature and breadth of forefront research topics as well as in the depth of scientific understanding. The expansion of the field has subsequently led to enormous growth in the number of scholarly papers published in this and other top-tier journals, making it increasingly challenging for researchers to keep abreast of the latest developments in chemical physics and science more generally.

Over the past six years, I have had the privilege of leading The Journal of Chemical Physics and working with an outstanding team of distinguished scientists who serve as our Associate Editors. The focus of our editorial team has been to deliver high-quality peer review, rapid publication of Communications and Articles, and also to highlight many of the outstanding papers published in the Journal each year. The Journal is currently showcasing key areas of chemical physics through its Perspective articles and Special Topic Issues. The Journal is also identifying significant breakthroughs in the field through its Most Read articles, Editors’ Picks, Press Releases, and annual Editors’ Choice Collections.

Our community of authors, reviewers, and readers values the outstanding reputation of The Journal of Chemical Physics and its relevance to their evolving research interests. Increasingly, our community also seeks to publish in journals with the highest level of prestige, most often measured in terms of Impact Factor and, more generally, the number of downloads or citations. In response to both community input and the rapidly changing landscape of scientific publishing, The Journal of Chemical Physics is raising its standards for acceptance effective January 1, 2015.

Specifically, manuscripts submitted to The Journal of Chemical Physics after January 1, 2015 will need to meet at least one of the following criteria:

• novel research that makes a significant advance in improving scientific understanding in a modern area of chemical physics; • transformative theoretical methods or advanced experimental techniques for research in chemical physics; • chemical physics research that takes critical steps toward applications of scientific or technological relevance; • interdisciplinary scientific advances that generate new avenues of research related to chemical physics; • initial reports of highly significant research of broad interest to the chemical physics community through rapid Communications.

The Journal will continue to publish the most significant experimental, computational, and theoretical results across the full breadth of modern research in chemical physics. Raising the standards will enable the Journal to focus on leading work of vital interest to the community.

Concurrent with these changes, The Journal of Chemical Physics is putting into place a new editorial structure to ensure consistent and fair implementation of the new standards. The leadership of the journal will be expanded with the appointment of three outstanding Deputy Editors, Peter Hamm (Universität Zürich), David Manolopoulos (Oxford University), and James Skinner (University of Wisconsin), who will each lead teams of Associate Editors. Together, we will endeavor to make The Journal of Chemical Physics the community’s first choice for publication of important results of broad interest and lasting impact in the field.

We welcome your feedback on these changes and other ways that the Journal can serve the chemical physics community in the future.