2026 JCP Emerging Investigators Special Collection
Announcing the 2026 Emerging Investigators Collection and Awards!
The Journal of Chemical Physics is committed to recognizing the excellent work of early career investigators. We are therefore proud to open the eighth annual JCP Emerging Investigators Special Collection.
The 2026 JCP Emerging Investigators Special Collection is open for submissions. Papers accepted to the special collection before the end of 2026 will be published in the 2026 collection and eligible for a 2026 JCP Best Paper by an Emerging Investigator Award. Papers accepted after the end of 2026 will be included in the 2027 collection and considered for the 2027 award. These collections will be highly visible through promotion by JCP.
Eligibility: The primary principal investigator on an Article or Communication must be within 10 years of their PhD graduation date (not including career breaks such as maternity or paternity leave, adoption, elder care, etc.) upon completion of the manuscript submission.
Scope: The scope of the special collection encompasses the entire scope of the journal.
How to submit: Submit through the online submission system. Complete
the prompts (identifying primary investigator, PhD defense, and career breaks) in the manuscript classification section for the Emerging Investigators Special Collection.
Peer Review: The peer review process is unchanged from the regular, rigorous JCP process. However, inclusion in the special collection indicates that the handling editor considers your manuscript to be of very high quality and novelty. Manuscripts may be accepted for publication in the journal but not included in the special collection at the discretion of the editors, as the collection will be significantly more selective than the journal as a whole.
Award Selection Process: In early 2027, a subcommittee of the JCP Editorial Advisory Board will choose two winners from among the papers accepted to the special collection in 2026. The winners will be announced in 2027.
Awards: The winners will be announced in an editorial and an email from the journal, invited to write a JCP Perspective on their field, and awarded USD 2,000 each.
We look forward to your submissions to the Emerging Investigators Special Collection! If you have any questions, please contact us.
Topics covered include, but are not limited to:
- Theoretical Methods and Algorithms
- Advanced Experimental Techniques
- Atoms, Molecules, and Clusters
- Liquids, Glasses, and Crystals
- Materials, Surfaces, and Interfaces
- Polymers and Soft Matter
- Biological Molecules and Networks