Park Mun-jung, a professor in the Department of Chemistry at Pohang University of Science and Technology POSTECH, has been appointed executive editor of Macromolecules, the flagship journal of the American Chemical Society (ACS) and one of the most prestigious journals in polymer science. This is the first time a Korean researcher has served as executive editor of the journal.
Park's term runs from Feb. 1 this year through 2036. The executive editor, together with the editor-in-chief, plays a key role in effectively overseeing the journal's academic direction and standards, including deciding whether to accept papers submitted to the journal. Macromolecules is a leading journal in polymer science launched in 1968 by the American Chemical Society.
Since 2016, Park has served as an associate editor of Macromolecules, taking part in the journal's editorial and review processes. With her 10-year term concluding this year, Park was appointed executive editor.
Park is a world-renowned scholar who has led the field through research on phase transitions in ionic polymers, regarded as a paradigm shift in polymer thermodynamics. In 2017, Park became the first Korean to receive the Dillon Medal from the American Physical Society (APS), and in 2021 was named an APS fellow. In 2023, Park became the first researcher affiliated with a university outside the United States to be elected vice chair of the APS Division of Polymer Physics and now serves as division chair. Last year, Park received the POSCO TJ Park Prize in Science.
Park said, "I feel a heavy sense of responsibility to serve as executive editor of Macromolecules, a journal with a long history and tradition," and added, "I will faithfully uphold the journal's academic standards while working to foster constructive communication with the international academic community."