Instructions - manuscript types
Articles
JMR publishes original research reports that include complete, detailed, self-contained descriptions of research efforts. In addition to being technically correct, articles must also advance the scientific understanding of the topic.
Article requirements:
- All articles must contain an abstract and section headings.
- Approved word count is 3250-8000 words, excluding figures, captions and references. A minimum of 6/maximum of 10 figures and tables combined are required. Additional figures or tables should be submitted as supplemental information.
- Authors are requested to limit the number of references to those that are key to the paper and to avoid self citation, unless merited.
Review articles
Review articles provide a valuable contribution to the literature because they present a critical analysis of the literature in the field of interest at that moment in time. They are more than a simple chronological telling of progress, or a tutorial of the review subject. As such, review articles require the author(s) to have significant expertise in the subject of the paper as evidenced by prior peer-reviewed publications. A critical analysis of the subject literature requires the authors to review many papers in the field, to underscore the state of the art, and to point out new challenges in the field. When there are related review articles in publication, the authors should reference those prior reviews and then analyze the developments and new advances since the publication of earlier reviews. As an expert in the field the author is in a unique position to understand the literature in his or her field of study and to be able to critically assess that subject. In this manner the reader benefits from the review with a timely, expert analysis of the subject literature. The Journal of Materials Research encourages review articles on topics of particular interest to the materials community. The maximum length is fifteen journal pages (15,000 words), with no more than 15 figures.
Authors must submit a proposal to the Editor-in-Chief before submitting a review article. This proposal should include (1) a rationale for a review at this time, (2) an outline of the review article, and (3) a short curriculum vita demonstrating the author(s) expertise in the field.
The proposal form can be found here. All completed forms should be submitted to jmr@mrs.org.
Review article requirements:
- All pre-approved review articles must contain an abstract and section headings.
- Approved word count is 5500-15,000 words, excluding figures, captions, and references. A limit of 15 figures and tables combined is required. Word count may be exceeded only at the discretion of the Editor-in-Chief.
- Review articles may have up to 150 references.
Invited Feature Papers (IFPs) report leading-edge research presented at MRS meetings. Presenters are invited to submit IFPs by the EIC based on nominations received from meeting organizers. Upon acceptance, IFPs are highlighted in a special JMR Invited Feature Paper section, the JMR table of contents, the online edition of JMR, the JMR Highlighted Articles section in Cambridge Journals Online, and in relevant MRS publicity.
Communication-length papers are published by MRS in MRS Communications, a full-color high-impact, journal consisting of rapid communications only.