jacs-writing-style

ACS House Style and Claim Discipline (jacs-writing-style)

When to trigger

• The data and figures are solid and the manuscript needs language polish
• Prose is wordy, over-claimed, or uses vague boosters ("novel", "very important")
• Nomenclature, units, or abbreviations are inconsistent
• Citation style is not ACS-numbered

ACS prose conventions

• Concise and declarative. State what was done and found; avoid padding and throat-clearing.
• Tense/voice. Past tense for what you did and observed; present for established facts. Active voice is acceptable and encouraged in ACS writing where it improves clarity.
• Compound numbering. Bold numerals (e.g., 3a); the same number always means the same structure across text, schemes, and SI.
• Nomenclature. Correct IUPAC/ACS names or clearly defined trivial names; consistent throughout.
• Units and symbols. SI units, italic variables (e.g., J, T, k), roman unit symbols; spaces between number and unit (5 mol %, 80 °C).
• Abbreviations. Define at first use; use standard ACS abbreviations for reagents/solvents.
• Citations. ACS numbered style (superscript), references in citation order; abbreviated journal titles.

Section discipline

| Section | Job | Common failure |

|---------|-----|----------------|

| Abstract | Problem → advance → key numbers → significance | Vague, no quantitative result |

| Introduction | Frame the problem and the gap; end with what this paper shows | Mini-review with no clear thesis |

| Results & Discussion | Evidence in logical order; interpret as you go | Data dump without interpretation |

| Conclusion | What is now established and enabled | Repeats the abstract verbatim |

Claim discipline (what JACS referees punish)

• Match every adjective to evidence: "general" needs scope; "efficient" needs numbers; "mechanism" needs probes.
• Replace boosters with facts: not "dramatically improved", but "increased yield from 42% to 91%".
• Hedge appropriately where evidence is suggestive ("consistent with", "we propose") vs proven ("we show").
• State the closest prior art and the specific delta; do not imply more novelty than the search supports.

Booster blacklist (replace with a number or a fact)

novel · very important · dramatically · unprecedented (unless defensible) ·

a variety of (say how many) · excellent yield (give the %) · mild conditions

(state T/time) · clean reaction (give purity evidence).

Worked micro-edits (before → after, JACS register)

• Booster → number.

Before: "The novel catalyst showed excellent activity under mild conditions."

After: "Catalyst 1 (2 mol %) delivered 3a in 94% yield at 25 °C in 2 h."

• Hedge calibrated to evidence.

Before: "These results prove that a Pd(0)/Pd(II) cycle is operative."

After: "A first-order dependence on [1] and a KIE of 4.2 are consistent with turnover-limiting C–H cleavage at Pd(0)."

• Thesis sentence closing the Introduction.

Before: "C–H activation has attracted much attention in recent years."

After: "Here we show that a confined anionic ligand overrides innate site selectivity, fluorinating the distal methylene of unactivated alkanes with 95:5 er."

• Delta vs prior art stated, not implied.

Before: "Unlike all previous work, our system is truly general."

After: "Whereas prior amidation catalysts required directing groups, 1 functionalizes 24 of 27 undirected substrates, including three drug scaffolds."

Chemistry typography that referees notice

• Bonds and ranges take an en dash: C–H, Pd–O, 25–40 °C; hyphens only in names (tert-butyl).
• Isotope and decoupling notation set correctly: ¹³C{¹H}, ²H-labeled, d₆-DMSO (or DMSO-d₆ — pick one and hold it).
• Locants and descriptors italic: o-, m-, p-, cis/trans, E/Z, R/S, syn/anti, N-methyl.
• Greek letters roman when structural (α,β-unsaturated), italic when variables (λ, δ used as symbols follow ACS conventions).
• "ee" and "er" defined once; report er where the measurement is chromatographic, and be consistent.
• Reaction arrows in prose spelled out ("gave", "afforded", "underwent") — no "→" in running text.

Checklist

• [ ] Abstract has problem → advance → number → significance
• [ ] Every "general/efficient/selective/mild" is backed by a number or condition
• [ ] Compound numbering and nomenclature consistent text/scheme/SI
• [ ] Units, italics, and spacing follow ACS conventions
• [ ] Citations are ACS-numbered, in order, with abbreviated titles
• [ ] No booster from the blacklist survives unreplaced
• [ ] Conclusion adds the "now enabled", not a copy of the abstract

Anti-patterns

• Significance asserted by adjective rather than shown by data
• Inconsistent compound numbers or names across the paper
• Introduction that reviews the field but never states the paper's thesis
• Mixed citation styles; non-ACS reference formatting
• "Mild/clean/efficient" with no supporting numbers

Output format

【Abstract structure】OK / fix: [...]
【Booster hits】N — replaced: [...]
【Numbering/nomenclature consistent】Y/N
【Units/ACS conventions】OK / fix: [...]
【Citations ACS-numbered】Y/N
【Next】jacs-length-management → jacs-cover-letter

Related resources

• [../../resources/external_tools.md](../../resources/external_tools.md) — ACS citation styles for Zotero/EndNote, ACS Style Guide