JFM Rapids

JFM Rapids articles are short, yet still self-contained and complete, articles addressing timely research challenges of broad interest. Rapids articles should present exciting results that are likely to have a high impact on some aspect of currently active fluid mechanical research, typically triggering upon publication further significant research activity of the fluid mechanics community.

The Rapids review process process is expediated, with typical submission-to-publication times under 100 days and a first decision within 30 days.

JFM Rapids Submission

Rapids manuscripts are restricted in length on submission to be at most 10 pages when compiled with an unmodified JFM LaTeX style file including all appendices, figures, and references. With this restriction the review process can be conducted more rapidly than for (usually longer) Standard articles.

Authors will be asked to highlight to the Editor the timeliness and potential for exceptional impact which justifies submission of the research as a Rapids article.

For the avoidance of doubt, Rapids articles are not preliminary reports to be followed up subsequently by more thorough studies by (essentially) the same authors, nor are they brief extensions of previously published work. Authors are also reminded that “supplementary material” must be completely ancillary and cannot be used as a means of shortening a article: any such artificial shortening will lead either to the manuscript being transferred for consideration as a Standard article, or being rejected without review.

JFM Rapids Review Process

JFM Rapids are prioritised in peer review to ensure rapid publication. If the Associate Editor chooses to send the manuscript for peer review, reviewers are asked to provide reports with a short turnaround. Referees will be asked to comment specifically on: the timeliness and potential for exceptional impact of the submitted manuscript; and the clarity and completeness of the arguments presented in the submitted manuscript.

To be accepted for publication in JFM Rapids, articles must be strongly endorsed by the referees and should require only minor revisions to improve clarity, usually without recourse to a second round of reviewing. In this case, and at the discretion of the editor, some additional pages may be allowed to address specific points raised by the reviewers, such as the addition of an extra figure or some explanatory text.

In light of the referees’ comments, the Associate Editor may transfer the manuscript to the “Standard” track, either because the results presented in the manuscript are definitely valuable but do not reach the required threshold of timeliness and impact, and/or because the manuscript is not complete as submitted, requiring substantial lengthening to present the underlying key results clearly. In these cases a decision of `revise and resubmit' will be given. On re-submission, such manuscripts will be handled as standard JFM papers and if accepted will not subsequently appear as JFM Rapids.

Articles that are rejected having been submitted as a JFM Rapids are rejected on behalf of the whole Journal and may not be submitted for consideration by another associate editor of JFM, whether for JFM Rapids or JFM Papers.