Editorials

Reporting data according to standards accepted by the community is fundamental to the progress of science. In the broad area of catalysis, best practice principles are well consolidated in some subfields, but they are still developing in others.

The severity of the COVID-19 emergency has forced society to adopt drastic containment measures. In this Editorial we discuss some of their implications for the publishing sector and for our journal.

Action for a more sustainable society must be taken — calling for advances in technology. This Insight features artificial biocatalytic systems and functions not found in nature and emphasizes their potential to address major challenges faced by humankind, such as climate change.

Europe is following in the steps of Japan and California towards the implementation of fuel cell vehicles. We revisit the current state of affairs in Europe while one of its flagship projects is nearing its end.

As Nature Catalysis starts its third year, we look back and the past 12 months.

Plastic waste is a serious matter of concern due to its disruptive impact on the environment. While disposal and reclaim strategies represent the first lines of intervention to solve this problem, upcycling options based on catalytic transformations will eventually be necessary to reconvert enormous quantities of such material.

The global average temperature has been continuously rising for over a century. Action must be taken.

Precious metals are an integral part of chemistry and the modern economy. Given their high and volatile prices, alternatives must be sought.

The transportation sector represents a vibrant area of application for researchers in the catalysis community. This Insight presents a selection of topical articles showcasing the potential of catalysis research in an area of crucial societal relevance.

In between the twin certainties of reject and accept lies a large range of decisions covered by the blanket term of Revise. Here we discuss how to deal with this uncertain result.

Peer review has established itself as a crucial validation mechanism for modern science. Despite the disadvantages associated with its practice, it remains a powerful method to add value to scientific publications.

Preprints are openly available non-peer-reviewed manuscripts that precede the actual peer-reviewed publication. We analyse this phenomenon that is gaining popularity across all areas of catalysis.

As we celebrate our first birthday, we thank everyone involved and look back on an exciting 12 months.

Models play a significant role in the development of catalysts. However, they are constructed using a reductionist approach and this poses the question of their relevance for the comprehension of physical phenomenon.

In this Editorial, we discuss recent advances and challenges in the field of biocatalysis and introduce some relevant work you will find in this issue of Nature Catalysis.

Catalysis research has immensely benefited from the use of high-performance computing facilities. On the occasion of the twenty-fifth anniversary of the first Top500 list, we briefly revisit its content and evolution and the impact that supercomputers have had in catalysis.

Industrial publications are a very valuable and multifaceted tool for the wider catalysis community; they can foster the productive collaboration of university and corporate research laboratories, an essential partnership for the solution of important societal problems

The field of organic synthesis has benefited from a greater understanding of organometallic and coordination chemistry, and the applications of homogeneous catalysts continue to impress.

Historically catalysis has evolved as a set of different fields linked together by a unifying concept. While the distinctions between the various areas serve a purpose, exciting work is happening at the interfaces.