Chemical Communications Formatting Requirements: Complete Author Guide

ChemComm is one of the premier rapid communication journals in chemistry, published by the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC). Unlike most journals that set word limits, ChemComm uses page limits as the primary constraint.

The 5-page limit for Communications is strict, and the main scientific story is still constrained. Up to 3.5 pages may be used for the title, authors, main text up to and including conclusions, figures, schemes, and tables. The remaining space is for conflicts of interest, data availability, author contributions, acknowledgements, and references. Most authors still need to keep the main text tight and use only a small number of figures or tables.

ChemComm has an impact factor around 4.2 and publishes around 3,000 articles per year (RSC lists 2,997 article publications for 2025). The review process is fast by chemistry standards: RSC says researchers typically receive a first decision on a peer-reviewed manuscript within three weeks of submission, and lists medians of 16 days for all decisions and 22 days for peer-reviewed submissions. RSC publishes no acceptance rate.

A practical point: the page constraint means ChemComm papers are almost always accompanied by substantial Electronic Supplementary Information (ESI). The communication itself presents the headline results; the ESI contains the full experimental details. This is expected, not optional.

ChemComm Communications use a very short abstract. The current RSC guidance caps Communication abstracts at 50 words, so it functions more like a compressed discoverability statement than a full journal abstract.

• Abstract: 50 words maximum for Communications.

• TOC entry text: A brief summary (1-2 sentences, maximum 250 characters) that accompanies the TOC graphic. This is the text that appears in the table of contents alongside your graphic.

• Keywords: RSC asks authors to use familiar, searchable terms and keywords in the title and abstract, and suggests including a 2-4 word phrase that researchers might search for.

The short abstract means the opening paragraph of your Communication still has to do real editorial work. It is what reviewers use to understand why this result deserves the rapid-communication format. State the problem and your finding in the first 2-3 sentences. Don't begin with generic background.

Feature Articles and the other article types use an abstract of 50 to 250 words. Feature Articles are normally submitted by invitation, so you'll usually receive specific guidance from the editor.

In a 5-page Communication with only 3.5 pages available for the main scientific story, figures still compete fiercely for space. Every figure must be essential.

Figure specifications:

TOC graphic (required, submitted at revision):

The TOC graphic is one of ChemComm's signature elements. It appears in the journal's table of contents and in feeds such as RSS. A good TOC graphic can significantly boost readership. Keep it simple: one reaction scheme, one structure, or one key result visualization. Don't try to cram your entire paper into the graphic.

RSC asks authors to include only a small number of figures and tables in a Communication. Chemical structures should ideally be prepared with chemistry drawing software and saved as images in TIFF, EPS or PDF format. You may also embed the graphics in your manuscript once they are saved as images. RSC provides ChemDraw settings (for example, bond length 0.43 cm or 12.2 pt and chain bond angle 120 degrees) and chemical structure templates for Mac and PC.

ChemComm uses the RSC numbered reference style (Vancouver style, not Harvard), in which article titles are optional for most journals, including ChemComm.

In-text citations: Superscript numbers: ^1, ^2, ^1,2, ^1-3. Numbers assigned sequentially based on first appearance.

Reference list format (worked example, RSC style, article title omitted, which RSC allows):

1 A. B. Smith, C. D. Jones and E. F. Williams, *Chem. Commun.*, 2024, **60**, 1234-1236.

Key formatting details:

• Article titles are optional. RSC says inclusion of the article title is optional for most journals, and required only for Food & Function, Inorganic Chemistry Frontiers, Materials Chemistry Frontiers, Organic Chemistry Frontiers and Industrial Chemistry & Materials. The cited form is authors, journal abbreviation, year, volume, page or article number(s), and an optional DOI.

• Author names: Initials then surname (e.g., "J. K. Smith")

• "and" before last author

• Journal abbreviations follow the Chemical Abstracts Service Source Index (CASSI); if you cannot find a recognised abbreviation, cite the full journal title

• Year follows journal name, preceded by a comma

• No issue numbers

• DOIs are optional, except that when page or article numbers are not yet known, the article should be cited by DOI

Because titles are optional, you can leave them out of an RSC-style reference list to save space. RSC provides EndNote style files for its journals, which format references automatically.

Reference counts for Communications typically range from 15 to 30. With the page limit, references consume significant space. Cite selectively.

Electronic Supplementary Information (ESI) is where the real depth of a ChemComm paper lives.

What goes in the ESI:

• Full experimental procedures (synthesis, purification, characterization)

• NMR spectra (1H, 13C, and any other nuclei)

• Mass spectrometry data

• X-ray crystallographic details, with the CIF itself deposited with the CCDC

• Computational details (methods, coordinates, energies)

• Additional figures, tables, and control experiments

RSC peer reviews supplementary data, so include the ESI with the original submission. The submission system allows up to five files to be uploaded at once, or a ZIP file containing up to 20 files. RSC publishes supplementary information as supplied, without editing it for style or content, and asks for common, widely known, machine-readable file formats.

ESI goes through peer review. Reviewers typically scrutinize the ESI as carefully as the Communication itself, particularly the characterization data. Missing NMR spectra or incomplete characterization data is a common reason for revision requests.

CIF files: For papers with crystallographic data, RSC asks authors to deposit the CIF with the Cambridge Crystallographic Data Centre (CCDC) before submission and to include the CCDC or ICSD number in the Data Availability Statement. CIFs should not be submitted with the manuscript, and a checkCIF report is required.

Compound characterization standards: RSC requires evidence of both purity and identity for all new compounds, and its experimental reporting requirements also apply to known compounds prepared by a new or modified method. Evidence for new compounds should, wherever possible, include good elemental analytical data. Where elemental analysis cannot be obtained, RSC says that for diamagnetic compounds the minimum is normally a high-resolution mass spectrometry measurement along with assigned 1H and/or 13C NMR spectra devoid of visible impurities. For known compounds made by a literature procedure, give a reference to the previously published characterization data.

These are ChemComm-specific details that regular authors know:

Very short abstract for Communications. The current RSC format gives Communications a 50-word maximum abstract. Treat it as a search-and-discovery statement, not a full summary.

TOC entry is required. RSC asks for the table of contents entry at the revision stage. It's not optional, not "encouraged," not "recommended." It's required.

Footnotes and notes. RSC uses footnote symbols for information such as authors' contributions or additional address information, and footnotes relating to the title or authors, including affiliations, go at the very bottom of the first page. If an author's present address differs from where the work was done, put it in a footnote, not in the affiliation. Notes that qualify the text go at the end of the article, just above the references, numbered with the same system as the references.

Article numbers. RSC's citation form is the journal abbreviation, year, volume, page or article number(s), and an optional DOI. When page or article numbers are not yet known, cite the article by its DOI, in the form A. Name, B. Name and C. Name, Chem. Commun., 2012, DOI: 10.1039/C2CC17634C.

Graphical abstract vs TOC graphic. RSC calls it the table of contents entry (graphical abstract), so the two names refer to the same item in ChemComm.

For manuscripts targeting Chemical Communications, four patterns generate the most consistent desk-rejection outcomes. Each maps to a specific part of the submission (the page budget, the cover-letter novelty argument, the TOC graphic, or the ESI characterization), and each is the kind of issue an editor catches in the first read, before the chemistry itself is judged.

Communication length exceeds the current 5-page structure. ChemComm is a communications journal with a strict 5-page limit, and only the first 3.5 pages are available for the main scientific story. Papers that use the added statement/reference space to hide extra results or discussion are still violating the Communication format. The most consistent error is submitting a full research article, or a communication with an oversized Experimental section, that has been written without counting against the RSC Communication template.

Novelty claim does not meet the "urgent" communications standard. RSC describes ChemComm Communications as urgent research of outstanding significance, so the work needs a reason to be communicated quickly. Papers that incrementally extend prior work, report one new compound in a known family, or demonstrate a modest improvement to a known method without a conceptual advance are desk-rejected. The cover letter's novelty argument must address why speed of communication is warranted.

Table of Contents (TOC) graphic wrong RSC dimensions or absent. RSC journals require a TOC graphic of at most 8 cm wide by 4 cm tall (not the ACS square format), submitted at the revision stage. The graphic must be self-contained and interpretable without reading the paper. Check the dimensions early, because a graphic built for ACS dimensions will need to be redrawn.

Experimental section incomplete per RSC standards. RSC requires experimental descriptions detailed enough for another skilled researcher to reproduce the work, and evidence of both purity and identity for new compounds, such as assigned NMR spectra (instrument frequency, solvent, standard, multiplicities and coupling constants) and high-resolution mass spectrometry, with elemental analysis where possible. RSC says data needed to understand and verify the research must be available on submission, and authors may be asked to provide missing data during peer review.

A Chemical Communications submission readiness check evaluates manuscript length, novelty framing, TOC graphic compliance, and characterization completeness against these desk-rejection patterns.