IUPAC provides many recommendations on how to name polymers. They have been published over several decades and aim to support and guide scientists in communicating their ideas, inventions, and discoveries. This freely published information, while now an exceptional resource, requires a not inconsiderable time to access, read, and use in an effective manner.

Members of the publishing community and the Subcommittee on Polymer Terminology, supported by IUPAC’s Polymer Division, came together to resolve this problem. Over the last five years and at meetings around the world, they prepared, A Brief Guide to Polymer Nomenclature. This short, two-page document gives a summary of all the polymer-relevant recommendations. Furthermore, it provides direct hyperlinks to freely available references. It calls on IUPAC and CAS resources, making it a proper portal to polymer nomenclature.

There has been exceptional support from the publishing community for this project. In addition to participating in the construction of the document, there has been extensive reprinting of the “Brief Guide” by journals, be they run by the ACS, Elsevier, Springer, Wiley, and other publishers. Journals discussing polymers are referring to the “Brief Guide” in their Instructions to Authors.

It is hoped that A Brief Guide to Polymer Nomenclature will empower authors to communicate their polymer structures in a way that readers will easily access.

The “Brief Guide” can be downloaded for free at: http://www.iupac.org/web/ins/2008-032-1-400