American Chemical Society

ACS Periodic Report

2025 Guide & FAQ
Includes a full preview of the blank form

Updated December 2024 (AIP)

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 Links and Resources

The Periodic Report is a lengthy document. If you have questions or technical

trouble, please email [email protected].

Periodic Reports are due June 30th.

Checklist of Information to Gather (USEFUL)

CPARS Institution Portal Sign-In
2023 Guidelines for ACS Approval
CPARS Information & Training
Information on maintaining ACS approval

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 Before we begin…

• We encourage you to SAVE OFTEN in case the webpage times out. The form does NOT save automatically.
• “Current year” refers to the 2024-2025 academic year.
– Why? The periodic report is available starting January 1st and programs completing the report early do not have 2025-
2026 data yet.

• ACS’s definitions may not match your institution’s. Please categorize faculty and courses according to the
ACS definition explained in the form. If you have questions, email [email protected] and we will help you out.
– Why? Our program currently approves over 700 programs across the country. The guidelines are designed to provide a
standard structure so that CPT can review programs equitably, even when curricula differ.

We want you to succeed! Our goal is to continue approval of every program.

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Table of Contents
• Contact Information • MSN Requirements
• Institutional Environment • Laboratory Experiences –
Instrumentation & Computation
• Students and Degrees Summary
• Undergraduate Research
• Faculty and Staff Summary (Full-Time) • Skill Development & Creating a Safety
• Faculty and Staff Summary (Part-Time) Culture
• Faculty and Staff Summary (Temporary) • DEIR & Program Reflections
• Guidance for Classifying Faculty • Guidelines & Final Comments
• Summary and Disclaimer (Part I)
• Faculty and Staff Additional Information
• Reminders for Submitting Part I
• Infrastructure • Periodic Report Part II
• Instrumentation • Contact Hours: Page 1
• Infrastructure – Journals, Laboratory, and Safety • Contact Hours: Input Page
• Curriculum – Availability & Degree Tracks • Summary and Disclaimer (Part II)
• Submitting the full Periodic Report
• Curriculum – Courses
• Curriculum – Additional Information
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Contact Information
You can navigate the report form by using these
breadcrumbs. Hover to view the name of each section.

Institutional information is pre-

filled with the data we have on
file when the report is opened.
Please email [email protected]
with any necessary changes.

The form does not save automatically. Use the

“save and next” option to continue with the report.

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Institutional Environment (1)

Throughout the report, text

boxes will appear if the
answer requires more
information.

How does your department function relative

to your institution? Do chemistry faculty have Selecting “no” here is the
input in hiring and curricular decisions?
first example.

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Institutional Environment (2)

Smaller programs unable to share salary data can enter “0” for
all salary fields. We understand this to mean “unable to report.”
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Expenditures (if less than $60,000 annually)

If you report that department expenditures are not greater than $60,000, you
will be asked to provide more detailed information.

These don’t need to be exact numbers, so give us your best estimate.

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Students and Degrees Summary

Please provide enrollment data for AY 2024-2025.

Undergraduate placement data has moved to the Annual Report.

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Faculty and Staff Summary (Full-Time)

Please use ACS’s definitions

of full- and part-time faculty.
This improves the accuracy of
Use this drop-down to choose what category our data.
to record (e.g. assistant vs. full professor).

If you do not have faculty in a

particular category, please type
“0.”

Create a new category for each

type of faculty, for example
assistant/associate professor,
or lecturer.

Use the “Add” button to record an

additional type of full-time faculty. 10
Faculty and Staff Summary (Part-Time)

Use the “Add” button to record an

additional type of part-time faculty.

ACS classifies part-time faculty as those who work full-time at the institution but split their time
between the chemistry department and other duties.

Do not include adjuncts as part-time faculty. They fall under temporary faculty.
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 Faculty and Staff Summary (Temporary)

Use the “Add” button to record an

additional type of temporary faculty.

Temporary faculty do not have an expectation of employment past their current contracts.

ACS classifies adjuncts as temporary faculty.

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Guidance for Classifying Faculty

Please use these definitions instead

of institution designations or titles.

This helps us with data collection.

NOTE: Adjuncts are temporary

faculty, not part-time.

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Faculty and Staff Additional Information

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Faculty and Staff Additional Information (2)

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Infrastructure

Answering “no” in this section will reveal

a text box asking how the department’s
needs are not being met.

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NMR & Optical Molecular Spectroscopy

NMRs do not need to be research

quality to meet the guidelines.
What is required from the
instrumentation section has
changed.

Only the type and the

name of the instrument is
required.

If the form does not allow

you to continue with a blank
field, type “0.”

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Optical Atomic Spectroscopy & Mass Spectrometry

Only the type

and the name of
the instrument is
required.

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Chromatography & Separations and Electrochemistry

Only the type and

the name of the
instrument is
required.

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Instruments – Additional & Other

Only the type and

the name of the
instrument is
required.

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Infrastructure – Journals, Laboratory, and Safety

Use the arrows to move database options to the “selected” column on the right.

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Laboratory Environment

If you select “no” for these questions, you

will be prompted to explain in a text box.

For a smooth review process, please give

us as much information as possible.

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Safety Culture

Answering “no” in this section will reveal a

text box asking how the department
promotes a safety culture in that area.

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Curriculum – Availability and Degree Tracks

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Curriculum – Courses

We encourage you to save often throughout in case the webpage times out.
The form does not save automatically.

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Curriculum – Courses (2)

This box is the only place to report Use the “Add” button to create a
biological macromolecules content section for each course offered.
in the current form. If you’d like to
add more information, include it as an
upload under “Other.”

Fill out a course section for every course offered by your chemistry department.
The character limit for course titles is 80 characters.
The easiest way to avoid an error here is by abbreviating. Use “Intro” vs “Introductory,” “Adv,” “Chem,” etc.
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Curriculum – Additional Information (Uploads)

Use the arrow buttons to select a document

type. Then, the upload option will appear.

Please check that you have all required uploads and save once they are added to the form.

A 4-Year Plan is not required but is very useful during CPT’s review.
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MSN Requirements (1)

To meet the guidelines,

you must cover at least
one of the areas listed
in addition to biological
macromolecules:

• Synthetic Polymers
• Supramolecular
Aggregates
• Meso or Nanoscale
Materials

If this page is left blank,

we will reach out to you
for more information.

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MSN Requirements (2)

If MSN content is entirely in

electives, is there a formal
path to the certified degree?
How are students advised to
get their MSN coverage?

CPT consistently asks this

question when the path to
certification is unclear.
A note or a 4-Year Plan is
incredibly helpful. More
information can make for a
smoother review. Thanks!

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Laboratory Experiences – Instrumentation & Computation

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Undergraduate Research

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Research Reports

Research reports are only required if your program uses research to

meet in-depth course or lab hour requirements.

Example: all chemistry majors take the same series of labs, totaling to 300
lab hours. Students seeking certification do research to make 350 hours.
If there is a path for students to meet the guidelines without research, you
do not need to include reports here.
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Publications and Presentations

The publications list should only include titles and authors.

You do not need to include the full publication in the document.

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Off Campus Work

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Skill Development & Creating a Safety Culture

The skills you will need to report on are:

– Problem Solving Skills
– Reading and, or, searching the primary literature
– Communication: Writing
– Communication: Oral
– Ethics
– Safety
– Team Skills

Each skill asks the same 3 questions as seen on the next slides:
– Course/Lab where the skill is first introduced
– Courses where development of this skill is emphasized
– Briefly describe up to 3 examples of assignments and assessments.

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Skills Section: Topics (1)

For each skill, reviewers look

for development and growth

throughout the curriculum.

Skills introduced in an earlier

course should be reinforced

in later courses.

A single example of an

assignment and its

assessment is acceptable.

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Skills Section: Topics (2)

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DEIR & Program Reflections

If you are unable to answer these questions due to state

regulations, please indicate that in the text box.
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Guidelines & Final Comments

You do not need to discuss DEIR guidelines/initiatives in the Normal Expectations or Markers of Excellence
questions. Feel free to discuss any guideline, and please tell us which ones you reference.

These questions give you an opportunity to describe aspects of your department where your program is excelling while
also offering you a chance to self reflect on areas where you would like to improve.

Use the final question to explain any anomalies in the report, for example, contact hour situational variances.
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Summary and Disclaimer (Part I)

On the last page of the form, you will see a summary of all your entered responses.
It has not been submitted yet. Scroll to the bottom of the page and click “Submit”
(NOT “Save and Exit”).

If “Submit” is not an option, email [email protected].

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Reminders for Submitting Part I

• You must Submit Part I to open Part II. Part I will not reopen.

• Please try to add all courses that are taught by faculty with 15 or more
contact hours in Part I so you do not have to wait for us to add courses
in Part II.

• If you’re still able to edit Part I after moving to Part II, EMAIL US.
There is an issue with your form, and we can help you to fix it.

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Part II

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Contact Hours: Page 1
The first question is dynamic. Your responses will determine
whether you must enter contact hour data:

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Contact Hours: Input Page
If you don’t see a faculty member,
deselect the “Existing Faculty?” box and
enter their information directly in the form.

For each semester/quarter in which the faculty member taught,

enter all information for the courses.

Enter each section separately.

Enter the exact time (in minutes) that the faculty member
teaches (i.e., enter 50 minutes not 60 minutes if that reflects
the amount of time that the faculty member teaches).

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Summary and Disclaimer (Part II)

On the last page of the form, you will see a summary of all your entered responses.
It has not been submitted yet. Scroll to the bottom of the page and click “Submit”
(NOT “Save and Exit”).

If “Submit” is not an option, email [email protected].

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 Submitting the Full Report

• After you click “Submit” in Part II, check your

email (including spam/junk) for a confirmation.

• The confirmation is automated, so you should

receive it quickly after a successful submission.

• If you did not receive an email, there may be an

issue with your form. Email [email protected] and we

will figure out where the error is.

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Thank you!