Under-representativeness of Physical Chemistry Journals

In the contemporary landscape of scientific publishing, the categorization and ranking of journals significantly influence academic research and scholarly careers [1-2]. Particularly in chemistry with numerous research fields, the issue of misclassification of journals has emerged as a notable concern. In this comment, we aim to examine the misclassification of physical chemistry journals in the Web of Science (WOS) and how this impacts their ranking in the Journal Citation Reports (JCR). We highlight that due to the erroneous categorization of physical chemistry journals within other fields, they are forced to compete with journals possessing much higher impact factors, adversely affecting their standings in the JCR rankings. This not only undermines the reputation of physical chemistry journals but also negatively impacts the academic research and scholars within the field. Through our analysis, we seek to illuminate the severity of this issue and propose recommendations for a more equitable and accurate evaluation of physical chemistry journals.