American Chemical Society

"ACS Publications" redirects here. For Association of Cricket Statisticians and Historians Publications, see The Association of Cricket Statisticians and Historians.

American Chemical Society
FormationApril 6, 1876; 148 years ago (1876-04-06)
TypeScientific society
Legal status501(c)(3) nonprofit organization
HeadquartersWashington, D.C.
Location
  • United States
Membership
more than 155,000
Mary K. Carroll
Key people
Albert G. Horvath (CEO)[1]
Budget (2016[2])
US$528 million
Websitewww.acs.org

The American Chemical Society (ACS) is a scientific society based in the United States that supports scientific inquiry in the field of chemistry. Founded in 1876 at New York University, the ACS currently has more than 155,000 members at all degree levels and in all fields of chemistry, chemical engineering, and related fields. It is one of the world's largest scientific societies by membership.[3] The ACS is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization and holds a congressional charter under Title 36 of the United States Code. Its headquarters are located in Washington, D.C., and it has a large concentration of staff in Columbus, Ohio.

The ACS is a leading source of scientific information through its peer-reviewed scientific journals, national conferences, and the Chemical Abstracts Service. Its publications division produces over 80 scholarly journals including the prestigious Journal of the American Chemical Society, as well as the weekly trade magazine Chemical & Engineering News. The ACS holds national meetings twice a year covering the complete field of chemistry and also holds smaller conferences concentrating on specific chemical fields or geographic regions. The primary source of income of the ACS is the Chemical Abstracts Service, a provider of chemical databases worldwide.

The ACS has student chapters in virtually every major university in the United States and outside the United States as well.[4] These student chapters mainly focus on volunteering opportunities, career development, and the discussion of student and faculty research.[5] The organization also publishes textbooks, administers several national chemistry awards, provides grants for scientific research, and supports various educational and outreach activities.

The ACS has been criticized for predatory pricing of its products (SciFinder, journals and other publications), for opposing open access publishing, as well as for initiating numerous copyright enforcement litigations despite its non-profit status and its chartered commitment to dissemination of chemical information.[6][7]

  1. ^ Alexandra A. Taylor (November 22, 2022). "Albert G. Horvath named new CEO of the American Chemical Society". Retrieved March 28, 2023.
  2. ^ "2016 audited financial statements" (PDF).
  3. ^ "Fast Facts about ACS". American Chemical Society. Retrieved January 28, 2016.
  4. ^ "Find an ACS Student Chapter". American Chemical Society. Retrieved November 13, 2020.
  5. ^ "ACS Student Chapters". American Chemical Society. Retrieved November 13, 2020.
  6. ^ Kemsley, Jyllian (October 3, 2018). "American Chemical Society, Elsevier file copyright infringement suit against ResearchGate in U.S." cen.acs.org. Retrieved July 6, 2023.
  7. ^ Manley S. On the limitations of recent lawsuits against Sci-Hub, OMICS, ResearchGate, and Georgia State University. Learn Publ. 2019;32(4), doi:10.1002/leap.1254