I’ve just uploaded a new version of my rsc package to CTAN. There are a few improvements to the BibTeX styles the package provides (mciteplus is still supported, but is no longer mandatory), but the main change is that I’ve added a short template to the bundle. I get the occasional e-mail seeking advice about writing papers to submit to the RSC, so it seemed like a good idea to provide something a bit more formalised than the odd hint to individuals.
Of course, I don’t know what the RSC want, but I’ve got a pretty good idea about what most chemistry paper drafts look like. I’ve also got the work I’ve done on achemso to go from. The basic points are to keep it simple and not to expect ‘publication ready’ formatting. I think this confuses a lot of people who come from a more physics-based background. A lot of physics journals typeset stuff directly from authors’ drafts, and so print-ready templates are common. On the other hand, in chemistry papers tend to be submitted in Word format and are extensively altered by the publishers. So there is no real need for print-ready material when submitting to chemistry journals.
Hopefully, the clues I’ve provided in the rsc bundle will make life a little easier for prospective authors.