TCE
     
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In this section we hope to provide answers to common questions concerning this journal. Please feel free to submit your questions to tce@chemeducator.org - Clifford LeMaster
Frequently Asked Questions
Access
Strange numbers
Citations
Downloading and Filenames
Email Table of contents
Searching
Other
Access:
? Like most journal sites you can’t read the articles when you find one you like. How do I know if I want to subscribe to this journal if I can’t ever read an article?
The Chemical Educator is a nonprofit journal published for anyone interested in the problems associated with the teaching of chemistry at any level. We wish everyone could read our journal free. Since this is not possible, we hope a search of our site will encourage you to subscribe. To this end we make available the complete text of many articles called sample articles. As I write this answer there are 44 free downloadable samples available to everyone. Every new issue will provide another sample. To see the samples click on (surprise) samples.
? All right, I like it. Can I afford it?
Yes you can, or your school can. For a price equivalent to the purchase of three pizzas you can have your own one year subscription. For a price somewhat less than the cost of the CRC Handbook your Department can get a subscription shared by the faculty and students (Institutional subscriber). For details click on (surprise) order.
? I tried to login and download some files from my home computer. It didn't work, even though my school has an institutional subscription. Why not?
An institutional subscription must be used from the institution site because access is based on the IP number of the computers being used. You might be able to access TCE from home if you have dial-in privileges to your institution. You can also access the journal using any ISP if you can make a VPN (Virtual Private Network) connection to a server on campus.
? When I click on an article to download it, instead there is a long wait, then the article comes up on screen. I don’t want to read it on line. I want to download it. What is wrong?
Instead of left-clicking on the title, you should right-click (PCs) and choose save target as…. This should download the item.
Strange numbers attached to online articles :
? What is a DOI number, and what good are they?
A DOI is a unique and persistent identification code for digital objects. It can be assigned to objects of any size: a complete journal, an article within the journal, or even a specific paragraph or image within an article.The DOI itself consists of two parts:a prefix which is assigned to each publisher by the administrative DOI agency, e.g., "10.1007" for Springer-Verlag a suffix which is to be assigned by the publisher and can be any code that the publisher chooses. DOIs and corresponding URLs are registered in a central DOI directory that works as a routing system. The underlying technology is based on the Handle System® developed by the Corporation for National Research Initiatives. Our new DOI prefix is 10.1333.
To retrieve an object, the user should send the DOI to this directory, and the request will be forwarded to the associated URL, which may be the object itself or some response page with additional information (e.g., how access the object).Example: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00214990m180
The publisher is responsible for updating the directory whenever the URL of an object is changed. There is no need to change every hyperlink pointing to the object. Thus, DOIs are an important prerequisite for creating huge databases with hyperlinks, e.g., in bibliographic databases.For further information about DOIs, please look at the Web site of the International DOI Foundation at http://www.doi.org
? While visiting your site, I see that you are using several numbers to identify the journal articles you are retrieving, inclusive the ISSN and, of course, DOI. But another identifier seems to appear systematically, e.g.:
The Chemical Educator
ISSN: 1430-4171 (electronic version)
Table of Contents Vol. 3 Issue 4
In the Classroom
Richard Pendarvis:Infrared-Spectroscopy Checkers
Chem. Educator 4 (1998) 4, S1430-4171(98)04234-3
DOI 10.1007/s00897980234a
Article in PDF format (34 KB)
Could you please tell me if this "S-number" is an internal identifier and how it works?
The "S" number, as we call it, was used as an unique identifying number prior to our use of page numbers. We continue to use this internal numbering system along with the traditional volume, issue, page number method - this system was developed by Springer during the period when TCE was a Springer-Verlag Link journal.
Citations:
? How do I cite a Chemical Educator paper as a reference in ACS style? Can you provide an example?
Here is a citation example of a recent article:
Bamforth, C. W. Chem. Educator [Online] 2000,
5, 102–112; DOI 10.1007/s00897000378a
Downloading and Filenames:
? Sometimes I download a paper only to find that it is lost on my computer. I can't remember the name of the file. Why must the names be so cryptic?
The filenames are necessarily short and are mostly numbers. When you download it, if your computer supports long filenames, you can save it as any title you prefer. There is no need to keep the download name, but you must keep the same extension. The current naming structure is as follows: the first number is the volume number followed by the issue number, the next four digits is for the beginning page and last are the authors initials. For example, 560321es.pdf is the PDF version of Eugene Smith’s article beginning on page 321 that appeared in the sixth issue of volume five.
? Why does the same article that appears in Web First have a different filename than when it later appears in an issue?
An article appearing in the Web First section uses its DOI number for the filename. Once the article is assigned to an issue and volume, the article receives a page number and can now follow the filename convention mentioned above.
Email Table of Contents and Web First Articles
Join TCE's list server to receive notification of Web First articles and tables of contents. Just send an email to "listserv@chemeducator.org" with the words "join TCEAlert" in the body of the text. You can remove yourself at anytime by sending a message to the same address with the words "leave TCEAlert." You will receive confirmation via email.
Searching:
? Can I use the search function without subscribing?
Yes. The search function is very easy. Simply type in any word of phrase and titles, and abstracts, and keywords will be searched.
? Can I use wildcards?
Yes.
? Is The Chemical Educator abstracted by CAS, and how do I do a CAS search for only TCE articles?
Yes, TCE articles are abstracted by CAS and the search scheme is "s chedf5/co." Use database CA for most references. The newest abstracts first appear in the CAPLUS database.
Other:
? I have a reprint request for my Chemical Educator article. What can I do?
Download the PDF version to your computer. Then attach this file to an email to your correspondent.
? I have noted small differences between the HTML version of papers and the pdf versions. For example there are hyphenation errors occasionaly. Why is this?
The Chemical Educator's current policy is that the HTML version is provided as a convenience to our readers and we try to ensure consistency between the two versions; however, we consider the PDF version to be the official publication of the manuscript.
? Please tell me how you handle the review process for an electronic journal. Do your reviewers access articles online or is the review process based on paper with the article being "released" on-line only after revisions are made?
All aspects of reviewing and publication of manuscripts submitted to The Chemical Educator follow the same process used by most other peer-reviewed journals. We evaluate the manuscript and select three reviewers with appropriate expertise. The reviewers’ comments are then considered in the publication decision. If accepted for publication the manuscript is sent out for copyediting and a galley proof is then created for the author’s inspection and approval. The article is then ready for publication. It first appears on our OnLine first area which is similar to the American Chemical Society’s ASAP section for each journal. After this we then assign it to a volume and issue. Finally, a print version of The Chemical Educator is produced at the close of each volume (once per year).
Only the primary delivery method of the articles might be considered as different for The Chemical Educator. Given that all major journals have an online version that appears before the print version, I would say that the only real difference is that other journals began with a print version.
© The Chemical Educator 1996-2010