Contribution Guidelines

Deck with computer and person writing

Scope

The Chemical Education Xchange platform provides a space for discussion, exchange of ideas and resources, and collaboration among chemistry educators. By creating a free account, members may download resources, participate in discussions, and contribute unique content. The following manuscript types may be submitted. Some types are peer reviewed.

  • Articles (peer reviewed) provide a venue for exchanging ideas and resources valuable to the chemical education community. Topics relevant to teaching and learning chemistry at the precollege and college levels are welcome. Include references for information used.
  • Activities (peer reviewed) include laboratory experiences, computer-based exercises, demonstrations and manipulative exercises. Notes for instructors and descriptions of hazards should be included in order to allow educators to readily adapt them to their teaching objectives and local conditions. It is expected that the author has used the activity with students.
  • Blogs (mediated, but not peer reviewed) provide an opportunity for sharing less formal ideas, suggestions and concerns. If the blog describes a demonstration, instructor notes and descriptions of hazards should be included. Generally at least a minimum of three paragraphs are required to develop an idea.
  • Events of interest to chemical educators at the international, national, state or local level, including webinars, meetings, workshops, conferences, etc.
  • Picks of articles, websites, videos, software and other resources of interest to chemistry instructors. A pick should be authored by an instructor that has experience using the resource. We do not generally accept a pick authored by the creator of the resource. 

If you would like to contribute, you must first be a member of Chemical Education Xchange. You can join HERE. As a contributor you must also have a complete profile, including a headshot of yourself and a tagline that will both be published alongside your work. Then, you can submit using the Manuscript Template (Word version or Google Doc version) as an outline for your contribution.

Manuscript Preparation Details

Titles should be clear and descriptive. 

Preview Image: To maintain a consistent look for ChemEd X content, our editorial team will generate a preview image for your contribution. If you have something specific in mind, you may work with your editor during the proofing process on an alternative preview image.

Acknowledgments: Include grant and other financial support, technical assistance, colleagues’ advice, and so forth. If the manuscript refers to previously published material, give credit. If the content has been published previously in any form on any other platform, include an explanation and citation. If the original author is unknown, highlight other web sites where similar activities are already published. Cite any resources used in the creation of the manuscript, including literature cited, notes, and URLs. NOTE: If you have previously published any of the content included in your submission (even if it was on your own website) you need to include that work in your citations.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) Best Practices and Policies: ChemEd X follows the ACS Publications AI Policy (summarized below)

Authors using AI tools should use them transparently and ethically, in accordance with the ACS Ethical Guidelines to Publication of Chemical Research and following the best practices and policies detailed below. Authors are responsible for all submitted content including the accuracy of AI-generated content as well as referencing associated material as appropriate.

  • Transparency All use of AI tools should be disclosed within the submission. The use of AI tools for text or image generation should be disclosed in the manuscript within an Acknowledgment section with a description of when and how the tools were used. For more substantial use cases or descriptions of AI tool use, authors should provide full details within the appropriate section of the manuscript.
  • Authorship AI tools cannot meet the requirements for authorship as they cannot take responsibility and accountability for the published work. As such, AI tools should not be included in the authorship list. Instead, AI tools should be acknowledged and mentioned transparently (as described above).
  • Graphics For graphics, a brief description of AI use should be included in the figure caption to explain to readers how the image was created.
  • Editorial Discretion The ChemEd X editorial team may, at their discretion, determine that the AI use in a given submission is too extensive. This determination may result in submission rejection or a request for revision to remove or reduce AI-generated portions of the submission.
  • AI Use as a Peer Reviewer ACS Publications journals (including ChemEd X) ask for the expert opinion of consulted reviewers and expect that those opinions are those solely of the reviewer (with occasional exceptions noted in the ACS Ethical Guidelines to Publication of Chemical Research). Additionally, third party services such as AI tools may store or use any information provided as a prompt to generate future text, which could result in a breach of the confidentiality of the peer review process.

General Suggestions:

ChemEd X aims to help instructors at all levels make effective use of demonstrations, activities, and laboratories by providing (a) complete, accurate instructions; (b) a list of convenient sources for all equipment and supplies; (c) brief explanations of the chemistry involved; (d) a description of how a demonstration, activity, or laboratory has proven useful in teaching; (e) all suggested safety precautions; and (f) identification of standards addressed. If the demonstration, activity, or laboratory has yet to be tested in the classroom, it is important to identify that fact and ask for comments from readers that use it.

  • Videos are welcome additions to contributions. When including a video, all persons on the video should wear safety goggles, lab aprons or coats and gloves as necessary when using chemicals, glassware and other hazardous items. The author must obtain photo release forms for any recognizable adult or minor child in the video.
  • Place tables, figures, and graphs (with titles) where they are referred to in the text.
  • Use abbreviations and acronyms sparingly and define them at their first occurrence in the text.
  • Whenever possible, use systematic nomenclature as recommended by IUPAC for chemical compounds and SI units.
  • Include live links to associated web sites.
  • Be careful of copyright, always acknowledge any information / images / quotes / resources you have used within the manuscript.
  • Obtain signed ChemEd X photo release forms if using photographs of people. Photo Release for Minor Child & Photo Release for Adult Subject
  • ChemEd X expects that safety issues will be addressed by authors.

If your submission is published on Chemical Education Xchange, you cannot submit the same work for publication elsewhere without written permission from the editor-in-chief. If permission is granted, you must include a citation and link for that content.