Journal Of Physical Chemistry C Pre Submission Checklist: 12 Items to Check Before Peer Review

For JPCC-targeted manuscripts, the 12 items below organize into 5 verification groups tuned to JPCC's specific desk-screen patterns. Three items address scope and significance, calibrated to the physical chemistry research on nanomaterials and surfaces with mechanistic depth and quantified spectroscopic characterization signal that JPCC editors look for in the abstract and cover letter.

Three items cover methods and data with JPCC's reviewer-pool expectations on protocol detail, repository deposits, and code availability. Two cover ethics and compliance against JPCC's declarations regime. Two items address citation cleanliness with retracted-DOI auditing tuned to Two items cover submission-package framing, including reviewer-suggestion list quality and adherence to JPCC's figure and word-count constraints.

Each item is verifiable against the manuscript before you click submit at ACS Publishing Center.

Scope and significance

• [ ] Scope-fit named in abstract. The abstract names physical chemistry research on nanomaterials and surfaces with mechanistic depth and quantified spectroscopic characterization within the first 100 words. JPCC editors triage on scope-fit at the abstract level; manuscripts that defer the contribution to the discussion section get desk-screened.

• [ ] Cover letter explicit on contribution. The cover letter explicitly addresses why this paper fits JPCC's editorial scope, not generic "we believe this work would be of interest." Editors at JPCC look for that fit signal in the first paragraph.

• [ ] Significance visible in title. The title makes the contribution visible without requiring specialist translation. Two-line titles with subordinate clauses signal scope-bounded papers, which JPCC editors triage out faster.

Methods and data

• [ ] Methods section reviewer-complete. Papers must provide enough information for calculations and experiments to be reproduced by others, and ACS encourages authors to use Supporting Information for this purpose; keep the detail a reviewer needs to follow the main argument in the main text. Preliminary spectroscopic claims without full assignment extend revision rounds.

• [ ] Data-availability statement names a repository. ACS strongly encourages authors to make research data publicly available and to describe availability in a Data Availability Statement, preferably linking to the data through a persistent identifier such as a DOI. Use a repository with a DOI: Zenodo, Dryad, or a domain-specific equivalent, with the DOI active at submission time.

• [ ] Code-availability statement (where applicable). If the analysis depends on custom code or program modifications, describe them fully or make them available; a versioned repository, a GitHub release tag or Zenodo deposit, is the strongest option. The ACS guidelines for computational results allow modifications to be fully described or available to other investigators upon request.

Ethics and compliance

• [ ] Ethics declarations complete for JPCC. IRB approval ID with institution name for human-subjects research at JPCC, animal-care protocol number for animal research, or explicit statement that the work does not require ethics approval. Generic "ethics approval was obtained" wording that lacks identifiers invites queries, particularly when the methods involve sensitive materials, biological samples, or any context that warrants explicit ethical oversight.

• [ ] Conflict-of-interest disclosure is complete. The corresponding author provides a conflict-of-interest statement on behalf of all authors during submission, and all funding sources and grant/award numbers are entered in both the Funder Registry Tool in the submission system and the manuscript.

Citation cleanliness

• [ ] Reference list audited against Crossref + Retraction Watch. Citing a retracted paper without a retraction-notice acknowledgment weakens credibility with editors and reviewers.

• [ ] References reflect current state of the field. Reference list contains citations from the last 18 months covering the headline finding's most recent counter-evidence. JPCC reviewers frequently flag manuscripts that ignore work published after the project started.

Submission-package framing

• [ ] Reviewer suggestions (optional) avoid conflicts. ACS makes reviewer suggestions optional and says they cannot always be accommodated. Avoid suggesting reviewers from the authors' institutions or anyone with a real or perceived conflict of interest, such as a co-author or close collaborator, and use institutional e-mail addresses where possible.

• [ ] Abstract, figures and tables follow JPCC's constraints. A 100-200-word abstract, no published main-text word cap for Articles, and graphics that follow the ACS size and resolution rules. Supplementary figures supplement, not replace, main-text content.