New Editor-in-Chief for ChemPlusChem

Chemistry Europe and Wiley-VCH have named Dr. Axel Straube Editor-in-Chief of ChemPlusChem. He succeeds Dr. Jonathan Faiz, effective December 2023. The appointment was confirmed by the Chemistry Europe Council.

Axel Straube studied chemistry at Universität Leipzig, Germany, and Cardiff University, UK, with a brief placement at Uppsala Universitet, Sweden. He obtained his Ph.D. from Universität Leipzig in 2020 under supervision of Evamarie Hey-Hawkins, having worked on tridentate phosphanes with a redox-active tris(ferrocenyl)arene backbone for redox-switchable catalysis. After a short postdoctoral stint exploring the chemistry of carboranes, Axel joined Wiley-VCH in summer 2021 as an Assistant Editor for ChemistryOpen, ChemistrySelect, and Chemistry – Methods.

ChemistryViews talked to Axel about his promotion.

What fascinates you about the idea of the journal?

Chemistry is such a broad field, and over the last decades, it has become more and more clear that many of the big questions that we are facing can only be solved through collaborative efforts. In those efforts, chemistry will continue to play a vital role, and we already see how the chemistry community tackles global challenges in their work. Being such a central part of the puzzle, much of modern-day chemistry research is inherently multidisciplinary, and that’s exactly what ChemPlusChem aims to publish!

I have always been and am still very intrigued by this idea of the “Plus” in ChemPlusChem, and I love seeing how our authors and readers find the connections between different flavours of chemistry and to adjacent fields.

Do you have a message for your predecessor?

I cannot but thank Jonathan Faiz for the excellent work he has done for the journal. Successfully steering it through the very challenging COVID years, Jon has, together with our authors, reviewers, and our board, implemented a number of successful special collections that really showcase the breadth of what CPLU aims to publish. Through his work, CPLU has established itself as a very attractive home for multidisciplinary chemistry research.

It is also thanks to him that ChemPlusChem has had its first Early Career Advisory Board in 2021, and as a relatively young editor myself, I really value this initiative. I have big shoes to fill, but I am looking forward to the challenge!

What do you particularly like about Chemistry Europe?

To me, the European spirit is one of collaboration born not only out of geographical proximity but also from shared history, ideas and ideals. Chemistry Europe, as the publishing association of the 16 chemical societies that are currently involved with it, is the embodiment of that very spirit.

I value the input from our society partners very highly, and I am proud to serve the community in this position. Getting to work together with everyone and giving back, be it through institute visits, virtual or in-person workshops, or conference sponsorships for the member societies, is such an exciting opportunity!

What do you like to do in your spare time?

I’m an avid hiker, and Weinheim is located right in the middle of several beautiful hiking spots to unwind and get a fresh perspective on things.

Next to that and taking up a significant amount of my spare time, I’m a classically trained singer and a member of several chamber choirs in and beyond Mannheim. Much like chemistry, choral singing is a collaborative effort, and next to making beautiful music, one gets to know such a wide set of the most interesting people! (A little fun fact: Jonathan Faiz is also an excellent singer, so I’m happy to carry that torch forward)

What are you looking forward to?

Going out and about – attending conferences, giving workshops on all matters publishing, collaborating and networking with our boards and the fantastic ChemPlusChem author and reviewer community, those are all things that I am very excited about. Working together with the NFDI4Chem and its partner initiatives on furthering and supporting Open Data efforts from the publisher’s side is also part of my plans, so watch out for what’s to come!

Lastly, I’m looking forward to getting in touch with all of you – don’t ever hesitate to reach out to me and the ChemPlusChem team!

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