Notes for Contributors - International Materials Reviews

The journal now operates an online submission and peer review system at http://imr.edmgr.com. To submit a manuscript, you must have received an invitation from one of the Editors, following the assessment procedure laid out below. Unsolicited manuscripts cannot be uploaded to the site.

Click here to download an Endnotes style file for this journal.

Click here to download a .bst file to format LaTeX bibliographies.

Click here to download a Copyright Permissions For

Click here to download the standard proposal template for unsolicited submissions

SCOPE

International Materials Reviews publishes peer reviewed critical assessments of the literature on topics relating to all aspects of materials science and engineering. Reviews may focus on aspects of specific materials disciplines such as metals, ceramics, polymers, composites and functional materials, on process technologies and applications, or on areas where interdisciplinary interaction is occurring with, for example, biological or medical research. Computational materials science, including modelling and simulation, and materials and process development also fall within the scope of the journal. 

Full reviews should be authoritative and convey accurately the state of the art to those who are not specialists in the particular field, but who need a focused, comprehensive overview. The review must be critical and interpret the literature. Annotated literature surveys, however comprehensive, will not be accepted. Reviews are typically 5000-12,000 words in length, but this is a guideline that may be varied at the Editors' discretion.

In the case of a first review of a subject, it may be necessary to include material over 10 years old; if so, this should be on a very selective basis, the criterion being that exclusion would seriously affect comprehension by the non-specialist reader. Where an adequate and readily available critical, interpretative review has already been published, the author should concentrate on developments subsequent to that review. All the most important items of literature should be surveyed, including patents where appropriate, and the accompanying bibliography must be comprehensive but selective. 

Reference must not be made to unpublished work. It is expected that the author will draw on personal experience to comment critically throughout the review. 

An authoritative summary and conclusions section is of particular importance. Authors should seek to draw together the main themes and findings of the review, and where appropriate comment on the future direction and development of the field.

Leading edge reviews aim to provide an overview of important rapidly developing areas of the discipline (guide length 3000-5000 words). While maintaining the same standards of rigour and critical assessment as full reviews, the aim is to assess progress to date and highlight areas of particularly rapid development.

All contributions are refereed before publication and an honorarium may be paid on publication.

SUBMISSION PROCEDURE

Presumptive authors should submit a proposal consisting of an extended abstract (300-500 words) and an outline indicating the balance of the proposed review, including estimated word counts for individual sections, together with a short biography. Complete manuscripts may also be considered at the Editors' discretion. On agreement of the scope and delivery date for a proposed review, the author(s) will receive an invitation giving details of how to submit the completed manuscript online for peer review.

Proposals should be emailed, using the standard template (click here to download), to: 

Professor Philip J. Withers

UK Editor, International Materials Reviews

or to

Professor Krishan K. Chawla

US Editor, International Materials Reviews

CONDITIONS OF SUBMISSION

By submitting to International Materials Reviews, authors acknowledge and accept that papers are considered for publication on the basis:

1) that the review represents original work that is not being considered or reviewed by any other publication, and has not been published elsewhere in the same or a similar form

2) that all authors are aware of, and have consented to, the submission of the paper to International Materials Reviews

3) that due regard has been paid to ethical considerations relating to the work reported

4) that the paper contains no libellous or unlawful statements, and that permission has been obtained to reproduce any material to which the authors do not hold the copyright.

COPYRIGHT

Authors will be required, before publication, to transfer copyright of their article to the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining and ASM International (this condition may be waived if Crown (or equivalent) copyright is involved and a licence to publish given). The standard copyright form may be viewed here. Authors are responsible for obtaining permission to reproduce any material or illustrations for which they do not hold the copyright.

Under Maney's open access policy, authors will receive a PDF file of the published version of their paper. This PDF may be forwarded to co-authors without separate permission being required from the publisher. The PDF cannot be used for commercial purposes. International Materials Reviews must be cited as the original source of publication and a link to www.ingentaconnect.com/content/maney/imr included with any listing. This PDF may be posted on authors' individual websites or that of their institution. Authors are entitled to make copies of the article for reasonable personal use only.

SUBMISSION PROCEDURE AND FILE REQUIREMENTS

Full manuscripts must be submitted online at http://imr.edmgr.com. 

You will receive details of your username and password in the invitation to submit a full manuscript. Information on the submission procedure is provided online, but you will be asked to provide the information and files listed below. Failure to conform to these requirements may delay the typesetting and publication of your paper. Authors will be asked to submit their work according to the requirements of the journal.

For an initial submission you must upload:

• a PDF file of the complete paper
• OR a Word file containing the complete paper
• OR a Word file containing the text, references, tables and figure captions plus an individual file of each figure, prepared to the specification laid out below.

You will be asked to input separately the title, abstract and keywords for the article and contact details for all authors. This information may be cut and pasted. 

You must also download, complete and return the author agreement.

Supplementary information such as datasets, animations, models or videos must be submitted offline, but you will need to indicate that an item of this type is being included in the submission.

When submitting a revised article you must upload:

• a text file containing the revised text, references, tables and figure captions, prepared to the specification described below. This file must not include graphics. 
  The preferred file format is Word (.doc) or rich text format (.rtf), but Word-compatible word processor files (e.g. .wpd) and LaTeX2e files are also acceptable
• a separate image file of each figure. Ensure that figures will be legible and comprehensible at final size and are of sufficiently high resolution (see guidelines below).
  Permitted file formats are TIFF (.tif), JPEG (.jpg) and EPS (.eps).
• a response to the referees' comments, as a Word or PDF file.

It is not necessary to upload, for a second time, files that were uploaded with the initial submission and have not been altered.

Multiple files can be uploaded as a single zip file rather than individually.

FORMATTING AND STYLE GUIDELINES 

Formatting of manuscript

In preparing the manuscript as a Word or rtf file, there is no need to format the article to a specific template, but please include italic or bold type where necessary. 

Use hard returns at the end of paragraphs only; switch autohyphenation off; and do not justify text. 

Consistency in spacing, punctuation, and spelling is essential. The journal uses UK and 'ise' spellings, e.g. 'characterise' rather than 'characterize'.

Tables  should be included within the manuscript file, not provided as separate files. Use Word Table mode, not tabs or spaces between columns. Do not provide tables as image files.

Equations should be produced using Word Equation Editor.

Structure of submission

The submitted manuscript must contain: 

• a title page giving full contact details, including email addresses, for all authors
• an abstract of no more than 200 words, giving a concise summary of the scope, coverage and conclusions of the review
• up to eight keywords to be used for indexing purposes
• text: section and subsection headings should be clearly differentiated, using a structured numbering system if necessary (note that this numbering is to guide typesetting and will not appear in the printed version)
• appendices (if any)
• acknowledgements (if any), grouped before the reference list
• references (see below)
• tables and list of figure captions

pages must be numbered consecutively with the title page as page 1.

Style guidelines

Use of SI units is mandatory. Journal style is to use the form Sm-1, Am-2, Wm-1K-1, not S/m, A/m2, W/m.K 

The full form of any abbreviation or acronym should be given in the text when the term is first used. Do not use full points within abbreviations (e.g. SEM, XPS).

Be careful not to use the same symbol to represent more than one variable. Ensure that Greek symbols are clear and that similar characters, e.g. the letter 'el' and the number 'one' and the letter 'oh' and the number 'zero', are clearly distinguished and used consistently. 

A list of symbols and abbreviations should be provided if this would be helpful to the reader.

Figures should be cited in a single sequence throughout the text as 'Fig.1', 'Fig.2', …

Equations and tables should also be numbered in sequence and referred to in the text as, for example, 'equation (1)' and 'Table 1' respectively. 

Reference and notes should be numbered serially in a single sequence. Citations in the text should be as superior characters, thus,1,2,4-6 outside any punctuation marks. References cited for the first time in a table or figure caption should be numbered as if they appeared in the text where the table or figure is first mentioned. References should be set out in a complete list at the end of the paper, numbered according to their appearance in the text, not positioned as footnotes. 

All references given must be complete, including all authors where known, and should be verified at source.

Journal abbreviations in references follow the ISO system, e.g.

M. M. Stack: Int. Mater. Rev., 2005, 50, 1-18.

R. Sinclair, M. Preuss and P. J. Withers: Mater. Sci. Technol., 2005, 21, 27-34.

J.-W. Park, J. M. Vitek, S. S. Babu and S. A. David: Sci. Technol. Weld. Joining, 2004, 9, 472-482.

If the abbreviation is not known, the journal title should be given in full. Where the pagination is not consecutive through the volume, it is essential to give the month or part number.

Book references should give full bibliographic details, e.g.

H. K. D. H. Bhadeshia: 'Bainite in steels', 2nd edn, 240; 2001, London, IoM Communications.

J. V. Wood: in 'Future developments of metals and ceramics', (ed. J. A. Charles et al.), Vol.1, 235-239; 1992, London, The Institute of Materials.

Standard texts should not be cited in their entirety: indicate the appropriate page or section.

Conference references must include the date, location, and organiser or publisher of the meeting, e.g.

M. H. Loretto: Proc. 2nd Int. Conf. on 'Research and development in net shape manufacturing', Birmingham, UK, March 1999, University of Birmingham, Paper 23.

Reports, theses, etc. should be presented in the form:

R. D. Niel: 'Interfacial structures in intermetallic/steel joints after high temperature service', Report 1131, AVS plc, Huntingdon, UK, 2000.

D. Sha: 'Characterisation of melt integrity in injection micromoulding', PhD thesis, Imperial College, London, UK, 2002.

Titles of journal or conference papers may be included if felt to be of assistance to the reader.

Click here to download an Endnotes style file for this journal.

ILLUSTRATIONS

Authors must provide high resolution digital files of all figures to the specification laid out below. 

Policy on colour

Barring the exceptions below, all illustrations must be suitable for reproduction in black and white. Limited use of colour in the printed journal may be possible at the Editors’ discretion: otherwise colour is available in print only if the author is prepared to pay the additional cost of colour reproduction. 

Colour illustrations will carried free in the online version of the journal, where this enhances the information being presented, provided the figures involved are supplied in the correct electronic format (see below). For these figures, two separate files must be supplied, optimised for black and white and colour reproduction respectively.

Conversion of colour figures for greyscale reproduction

Graphs with coloured lines and keys, contour maps, model outputs, etc. will not reproduce adequately if converted direct to greyscale. In particular, red and blue convert to similar grey levels and will not be distinguishable. Suitable labelling or reformatting must be used to ensure clarity. 

Colour photographs will in general convert to greyscale satisfactorily but optimisation for greyscale reproduction may improve the final result. 

Figure size and legibility

Check that all labels are correct and free of spelling or numerical errors.

In general, figures will be reproduced to single column width (80mm) or page width (168mm).

Authors must ensure that the labelling on figures will be legible when reduced to final size. Lettering should be approximately 8pt in size (equivalent to 2mm in height for capital letters) at final width (i.e. figures that are wider before reproduction generally require larger type sizes). Keys must be legible when the figure is reduced to final size. 

Ensure that curves on multiple plots are clear, in particular that any symbols used on graphs can be distinguished following reduction. Labelling of individual curves may be preferable to keys in these circumstances.

Axis labels should be of the form:

Stress, MPa

Velocity (v), m s-1

log(l, nm)

Image file formats and resolution

Each figure must be supplied in digital form as a separate, clearly named file. 

Acceptable file formats are TIFF, JPEG and EPS. If supplying EPS files ensure that all fonts are attached. Figures embedded in Word documents are not suitable for reproduction.

Images should be saved at a resolution of at least 600 dpi at final size (dpi=dots or pixels per inch; 600dpi=240 dots per centimetre). Do not save at the default resolution (72dpi).

Crop any unwanted white space from around the figure before sizing. 

Halftones (photographs) should be supplied as greyscale images.

Line drawings or diagrams should be scanned as line art or produced to the appropriate resolution using a standard package such as PhotoShop.

Diagrams with shaded or toned areas or line/tone figures should be submitted as greyscale images. 

Colour figures for printing should be provided in CMYK format. 

Colour figures for online use only should be provided in RGB format. In some instances a reduced resolution of 72dpi at final size may be acceptable for these figures.

FOLLOWING ACCEPTANCE

Following typesetting, you will receive by email PDF proofs for checking together with a copyright transfer form. It is imperative that authors check proofs carefully, particularly numerical data and equations. All corrections should be returned together within three days of receipt, by email fax or first class post/airmail. Corrections should be kept to a minimum and authors may be asked to bear the cost of excessive changes, other than typesetting errors.

Authors will receive a PDF file of the final version of the paper on publication and will be sent details on how to order hard copy reprints with their proofs. 

FURTHER INFORMATION

For further information or clarification contact imr.ed@materials.org.uk.

International Materials Reviews is published six times per year for the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining and ASM International by Maney Publishing, 1 Carlton House Terrace, London SW1Y 5DB, UK, tel. +44 (0) 207 451 7312, fax +44 (0) 207 451 7307, email imr@materials.org.uk.