Composite Functional Materials (CFM) is an interdisciplinary journal that caters to chemists, physicists, material scientists, engineers, and biologists, focusing on the development and application of innovative composite materials. The journal publishes peer-reviewed short communications, review articles, and full-length research papers that present cutting-edge advances in composite science and technology. Articles are supported by fundamental theoretical modeling, interface engineering, and functional approaches to composite development. The scope covers research across multiple length scales, ranging from the nanoscale to micro, meso, and full-scale product or structural levels. Emphasis is placed on composite processes aimed at high-performance applications, spanning both low-volume/high-cost and high-volume/low-cost production. This includes work that pushes the boundaries of composite materials for diverse applications, supported by advanced research in processing, performance, and functionalization.

CFM accepts submissions of original research and reviews, including those on the design, processing, structure-property relationships, performance and life-time prediction of composite materials from both fundamental and application-oriented perspectives.

The following areas of the science and engineering of materials are of particular interest:

1. Advanced Composite Materials in Aerospace

2. High-Strength and High-Conductivity Metal Alloys

3. Mineral Composite Materials for Energy and Environmental Applications

4. Intelligent Composite Materials for Optoelectronic Devices

5. Functional Composite Materials for Biological and Pharmaceutical Applications

6. Inorganic and/or Organic Composite Materials used in Catalysis

This journal follows a double anonymized review process. Your submission will initially be assessed by our editors to determine suitability for publication in this journal. If your submission is deemed suitable, it will typically be sent to a minimum of two reviewers for an independent expert assessment of the scientific quality. The decision as to whether your article is accepted or rejected will be taken by our editors. This decision is final.

Our editors are not involved in making decisions about papers which:

• they have written themselves.

• have been written by family members or colleagues.

• relate to products or services in which they have an interest.

Any such submissions will be subject to the journal's usual procedures and peer review will be handled independently of the editor involved and their research group.

• All manuscripts are reviewed by the editorial board. Any papers which fail to meet the basic standards of the journal will be desk-rejected for reasons like out of scope, ethical conflicts, high similarities, lack of originality, flaws in research design or methods, etc. The editorial office will reassign selected papers to the Editor-in-chief.  

• The Editor-in-chief will invite multiple reviewers to review the paper or assign an editorial board member to invite reviewers to review this paper.

• After at least two reviewers give their reviews and comments, the Editor-in-chief (or the assigned Editor) provides feedback to the authors, based on reviewer comments and his own review comments.

• When the author submits the revised manuscript, the assigned editor and Editor-in-chief will collaborate to make a final decision.

• For submissions from the Editor-in-Chief, Associate Editors, Guest Editor(s), other journal Board members, and authors who have conflicts of interest with them, we ensure that the paper is handled confidentially by a different team member.

• For submissions to Special Issues; if there are conflicts of interest between the Guest Editor(s) and authors, the submissions will be handled by another Editor from the Editorial Board who will manage the peer review process and make the decision whether to accept or reject the paper after peer review.

This is an open access journal: all articles will be immediately and permanently free for everyone to read and download. To provide open access, this journal has an open access fee (also known as an article publishing charge APC) which needs to be paid by the authors or on their behalf e.g. by their research funder or institution.

Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) Lets others distribute and copy the article, create extracts, abstracts, and other revised versions, adaptations or derivative works of or from an article (such as a translation), include in a collective work (such as an anthology), text or data mine the article, even for commercial purposes, as long as they credit the author(s), do not represent the author as endorsing their adaptation of the article, and do not modify the article in such a way as to damage the author's honor or reputation.

Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs (CC BY-NC-ND) For non-commercial purposes, lets others distribute and copy the article, and to include in a collective work (such as an anthology), as long as they credit the author(s) and provided they do not alter or modify the article.

As an open access journal with no subscription charges, a fee (Article Publishing Charge, APC) is payable by the authors, or their institution or funders, to cover the costs associated with publication. This ensures your article will be immediately and permanently free to access by everyone.

The APC will be covered by the publisher in the years of 2025-2027 in order to encourage contributions with highly attractive novelty and significance.

All authors must disclose any financial and personal relationships with other people or organizations that could inappropriately influence or bias their work. Examples of potential competing interests include:

• Employment

• Consultancies

• Stock ownership

• Honoraria

• Paid expert testimony

• Patent applications or registrations

• Grants or any other funding

The Declaration of Interests tool is encouraged to be completed.

Authors with no competing interests to declare should select the option, “I have nothing to declare”.

The resulting Word document containing your declaration should be uploaded at the “attach/upload files” step in the submission process. It is important that the Word document is saved in the .doc/.docx file format. Author signatures are not required.

Authors must disclose any funding sources who provided financial support for the conduct of the research and/or preparation of the article. The role of sponsors, if any, should be declared in relation to the study design, collection, analysis and interpretation of data, writing of the report and decision to submit the article for publication. If funding sources had no such involvement this should be stated in your submission.

List funding sources in this standard way to facilitate compliance to funder's requirements:

Funding: This work was supported by the National Institutes of Health [grant numbers xxxx, yyyy]; the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Seattle, WA [grant number zzzz]; and the United States Institutes of Peace [grant number aaaa].

It is not necessary to include detailed descriptions on the program or type of grants, scholarships and awards. When funding is from a block grant or other resources available to a university, college, or other research institution, submit the name of the institute or organization that provided the funding.

If no funding has been provided for the research, it is recommended to include the following sentence:

This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.

We accept that authors sometimes need to enhance images for clarity but any manipulation of images for the purpose of deception or fraud will be seen as scientific ethical abuse and will be dealt with accordingly.

Authors must adhere to this journal’s policy for graphical images:

• No specific feature within an image may be enhanced, obscured, moved, removed or introduced.

• Adjustments of brightness, contrast, or color balance are acceptable if, and only as long as, they do not obscure or eliminate any information present in the original image.

• Nonlinear adjustments such as changes to gamma settings must be disclosed in the figure legend.

• We do not permit the use of generative AI or AI-assisted tools to create or alter images in submitted manuscripts. Please read our policy on the use of generative AI and AI-assisted tools in figures, images and artwork, which can be found in GenAI Policies for Journals.

To verify compliance with the above, this journal may send your images to a third-party service who screen for image irregularities. Our editors may ask you to provide original data or images if any questions arise as a result of the screening. The final decision as to whether images are acceptable will be taken by our editors.

Authors are encouraged to carefully check all images before submission and to connect all the data in any figures to the original, unprocessed data.

9.1 File format

We ask you to provide editable source files for your entire submission (including figures, tables and text graphics). Some guidelines:

• Save files in an editable format, using the extension .doc/.docx for Word files and .tex for LaTeX files. A PDF is not an acceptable source file.
• Lay out text in a single-column format.
• Use spell-check and grammar-check functions to avoid errors.

9.2 Double anonymized peer review

This journal follows a double anonymized review process which means author identities are concealed from reviewers and vice versa. To facilitate the double anonymized review process, we ask that you provide your title page (including author details) and anonymized manuscript (excluding author details) separately in your submission.

The title page should include:

• Article title
• Author name(s)
• Affiliation(s)
• Acknowledgements
• Declaration of Interest statement
• Corresponding author address (full address is required)
• Corresponding author email address

The anonymized manuscript should contain the main body of your paper including:  

• References
• Figures
• Tables

It is important that your anonymized manuscript does not contain any identifying information such as author names or affiliations.

9.3 Title page

You are required to include the following details in the title page information:

• Article title. Article titles should be concise and informative. Please avoid abbreviations and formulae, where possible, unless they are established and widely understood, e.g., DNA).
• Author names. Provide the given name(s) and family name(s) of each author. The order of authors should match the order in the submission system. Carefully check that all names are accurately spelled. If needed, you can add your name between parentheses in your own script after the English transliteration.
• Affiliations. Add affiliation addresses, referring to where the work was carried out, below the author names. Indicate affiliations using a lower-case superscript letter immediately after the author's name and in front of the corresponding address. Ensure that you provide the full postal address of each affiliation, including the country name and, if available, the email address of each author.
• Corresponding author. Clearly indicate who will handle correspondence for your article at all stages of the refereeing and publication process and also post-publication. This responsibility includes answering any future queries about your results, data, methodology and materials. It is important that the email address and contact details of your corresponding author are kept up to date during the submission and publication process.
• Present/permanent address. If an author has moved since the work described in your article was carried out, or the author was visiting during that time, a "present address" (or "permanent address") can be indicated by a footnote to the author's name. The address where the author carried out the work must be retained as their main affiliation address. Use superscript Arabic numerals for such footnotes.

9.4 Abstract

You are required to provide a concise and factual abstract which does not exceed 250 words. The abstract should briefly state the purpose of your research, principal results and major conclusions. Some guidelines:

• Abstracts must be able to stand alone as abstracts are often presented separately from the article.
• Avoid references. If any are essential to include, ensure that you cite the author(s) and year(s).
• Avoid non-standard or uncommon abbreviations. If any are essential to include, ensure they are defined within your abstract at first mention.

9.5 Structured abstract

A structured abstract, by means of appropriate headings, should provide the context or background for your research. Some guidelines:

• State the purpose of your research.
• Outline basic procedures followed such as the selection of study subjects or laboratory animals and observational and analytical methods.
• Include your main findings, providing specific effect sizes and their statistical significance, if possible, and your principal conclusions.
• Emphasize new and important aspects of your study or observations.

9.6 Keywords

You are required to provide 5 to 8 keywords for indexing purposes. Keywords should be written in English. Please try to avoid keywords consisting of multiple words (using "and" or "of").

We recommend that you only use abbreviations in keywords if they are firmly established in the field.

9.7 Highlights

You are encouraged to provide article highlights at submission.

Highlights are a short collection of bullet points that should capture the novel results of your research as well as any new methods used during your study. Highlights will help increase the discoverability of your article via search engines. Some guidelines:

• Submit highlights as a separate editable file in the online submission system with the word "highlights" included in the file name.
• Highlights should consist of 3 to 5 bullet points, each a maximum of 85 characters, including spaces.

9.8 Graphical abstract

You are required to provide a graphical abstract at submission.

The graphical abstract should summarize the contents of your article in a concise, pictorial form which is designed to capture the attention of a wide readership. A graphical abstract will help draw more attention to your online article and support readers in digesting your research. Some guidelines:

• Submit your graphical abstract as a separate file in the online submission system.
• Ensure the image is a minimum of 531 x 1328 pixels (h x w) or proportionally more and is readable at a size of 5 x 13 cm using a regular screen resolution of 96 dpi.
• Our preferred file types for graphical abstracts are TIFF, EPS, PDF or MS Office files.

We encourage you to view example graphical abstracts and read about the benefits of including them.

9.9 Units, classifications codes and nomenclature

This journal requires you to use the international system of units (SI) which follows internationally accepted rules and conventions. If other units are mentioned within your article, you should provide the equivalent unit in SI.

Please provide up to 6 standard Inspec classification codes.

Please provide up to 6 standard JEL classification codes.

Please provide up to 6 standard MSC classification codes.

Please consult IUPAC Nomenclature of Organic Chemistry for further information.

Please consult IUBMB: Recommendations on Biochemical & Organic Nomenclature, Symbols & Terminology for further information. 

Please consult IUPAC Nomenclature of Inorganic Chemistry for further information.

Please consult IUGS: Nomenclature for geological time scales and rock names for further information.

9.10 Phonetic transcription

Please adhere to IPA conventions in your choice of phonetic symbols. The Charis SIL IPA font is preferred for the presentation of IPA symbols.

9.11 Math formulae

• Submit math equations as editable text, not as images.
• Present simple formulae in line with normal text, where possible.
• Use the solidus (/) instead of a horizontal line for small fractional terms such as X/Y.
• Present variables in italics.
• Denote powers of e by exp.
• Display equations separately from your text, numbering them consecutively in the order they are referred to within your text.

9.12 Tables

Tables must be submitted as editable text, not as images. Some guidelines:

• Place tables next to the relevant text or on a separate page(s) at the end of your article.
• Cite all tables in the manuscript text.
• Number tables consecutively according to their appearance in the text.
• Please provide captions along with the tables.
• Place any table notes below the table body.
• Avoid vertical rules and shading within table cells.

We recommend that you use tables sparingly, ensuring that any data presented in tables is not duplicating results described elsewhere in the article.

9.13 Figures, images and artwork

Figures, images, artwork, diagrams and other graphical media must be supplied as separate files along with the manuscript. Some excerpts:

When submitting artwork:

• Cite all images in the manuscript text.
• Number images according to the sequence they appear within your article.
• Submit each image as a separate file using a logical naming convention for your files (for example, Figure_1, Figure_2 etc).
• Please provide captions along with the artwork.
• Text graphics may be embedded in the text at the appropriate position. If you are working with LaTeX, text graphics may also be embedded in the file.

9.14 Artwork formats

When your artwork is finalized, "save as" or convert your electronic artwork to the formats listed below taking into account the given resolution requirements for line drawings, halftones, and line/halftone combinations:

• Vector drawings: Save as EPS or PDF files embedding the font or saving the text as "graphics."
• Color or grayscale photographs (halftones): Save as TIFF, JPG or PNG files using a minimum of 300 dpi (for single column: min. 1063 pixels, full page width: 2244 pixels).
• Bitmapped line drawings: Save as TIFF, JPG or PNG files using a minimum of 1000 dpi (for single column: min. 3543 pixels, full page width: 7480 pixels).
• Combinations bitmapped line/halftones (color or grayscale): Save as TIFF, JPG or PNG files using a minimum of 500 dpi (for single column: min. 1772 pixels, full page width: 3740 pixels).

Please do not submit:

• files that are too low in resolution (for example, files optimized for screen use such as GIF, BMP, PICT or WPG files).
• disproportionally large images compared to font size, as text may become unreadable.

9.15 Figure captions

All images must have a caption. A caption should consist of a brief title (not displayed on the figure itself) and a description of the image. We advise you to keep the amount of text in any image to a minimum, though any symbols and abbreviations used should be explained.

Provide captions in a separate file.

9.16 Color artwork

If you submit usable color figures with your accepted article, we will ensure that they appear in color online.

Please ensure that color images are accessible to all, including those with impaired color vision. Learn more about color and web accessibility.

For articles appearing in print, you will be sent information on costs to reproduce color in the printed version, after your accepted article has been sent to production. At this stage, please indicate if your preference is to have color only in the online version of your article or also in the printed version.

9.17 Generative AI and figures, images and artwork

Please read our policy on the use of generative AI and AI-assisted tools in figures, images and artwork, which can be found in GenAI Policies for Journals. This policy states:

• We do not permit the use of Generative AI or AI-assisted tools to create or alter images in submitted manuscripts.
• The only exception is if the use of AI or AI-assisted tools is part of the research design or methods (for example, in the field of biomedical imaging). If this is the case, such use must be described in a reproducible manner in the methods section, including the name of the model or tool, version and extension numbers, and manufacturer.
• The use of generative AI or AI-assisted tools in the production of artwork such as for graphical abstracts is not permitted. The use of generative AI in the production of cover art may in some cases be allowed, if the author obtains prior permission from the journal editor and publisher, can demonstrate that all necessary rights have been cleared for the use of the relevant material, and ensures that there is correct content attribution.

9.18 Supplementary material

We encourage the use of supplementary materials such as applications, images and sound clips to enhance research. Some guidelines:

• Cite all supplementary files in the manuscript text.
• Submit supplementary materials at the same time as your article. Be aware that all supplementary materials provided will appear online in the exact same file type as received. These files will not be formatted or typeset by the production team.
• Include a concise, descriptive caption for each supplementary file describing its content.
• Provide updated files if at any stage of the publication process you wish to make changes to submitted supplementary materials.
• Do not make annotations or corrections to a previous version of a supplementary file.
• Switch off the option to track changes in Microsoft Office files. If tracked changes are left on, they will appear in your published version.

We recommend you upload research data to a suitable specialist or generalist repository.

9.19 Video

This journal accepts video material and animation sequences to support and enhance your scientific research. We encourage you to include links to video or animation files within articles. Some guidelines:

• When including video or animation file links within your article, refer to the video or animation content by adding a note in your text where the file should be placed.
• Clearly label files ensuring the given file name is directly related to the file content.
• Provide files in one of our recommended file formats. Files should be within our preferred maximum file size of 150 MB per file, 1 GB in total.
• Provide "stills" for each of your files. These will be used as standard icons to personalize the link to your video data. You can choose any frame from your video or animation or make a separate image.
• Provide text (for both the electronic and the print version) to be placed in the portions of your article that refer to the video content. This is essential text, as video and animation files cannot be embedded in the print version of the journal.

We publish all video and animation files supplied in the electronic version of your article.

9.20 Research data

We are committed to supporting the storage of, access to and discovery of research data.

Research data refers to the results of observations or experimentation that validate research findings, which may also include software, code, models, algorithms, protocols, methods and other useful materials related to the project.

Option A: Research data deposit and citation

You are encouraged to:

• Deposit your research data in a relevant data repository.
• Cite this dataset in your article.

9.21 Data statement

To foster transparency, you are required to state the availability of any data at submission.

Ensuring data is available may be a requirement of your funding body or institution. If your data is unavailable to access or unsuitable to post, you can state the reason why (e.g., your research data includes sensitive or confidential information such as patient data) during the submission process. This statement will appear with your published article on ScienceDirect.

9.22 Data linking

Linking to the data underlying your work increases your exposure and may lead to new collaborations. It also provides readers with a better understanding of the described research.

If your research data has been made available in a data repository there are a number of ways your article can be linked directly to the dataset:

• Provide a link to your dataset when prompted during the online submission process.
• For some data repositories, a repository banner will automatically appear next to your published article on ScienceDirect.
• You can also link relevant data or entities within the text of your article through the use of identifiers. Use the following format: Database: 12345 (e.g. TAIR: AT1G01020; CCDC: 734053; PDB: 1XFN).

9.23 Mendeley data

This journal supports Mendeley Data, enabling you to deposit any research data (including raw and processed data, video, code, software, algorithms, protocols and methods) associated with your manuscript in a free-to-use, open access repository.

Before or during the submission process, you can deposit the relevant datasets to Mendeley Data. Please include the DOI of the deposited dataset(s) in your main manuscript file.

The datasets will be listed and directly accessible to readers next to your published article online.

9.24 Article structure

Article sections

• Divide your article into clearly defined and numbered sections. Number subsections 1.1 (then 1.1.1, 1.1.2, ...), then 1.2, etc.
• Use the numbering format when cross-referencing within your article. Do not just refer to "the text."
• You may give subsections a brief heading. Headings should appear on a separate line.
• Do not include the article abstract within section numbering.

Introduction

The introduction should clearly state the objectives of your work. We recommend that you provide an adequate background to your work but avoid writing a detailed literature overview or summary of your results.

Methods

The methods section should provide sufficient details about your materials and methods to allow your work to be reproduced by an independent researcher. Some guidelines:

• If the method you used has already been published, provide a summary and reference the originally published method.
• If you are quoting directly from a previously published method, use quotation marks and cite the source.
• Describe any modifications that you have made to existing methods.

Results

Results should be clear, concise and reproducible. We advise you to read the sections in this guide on supplying tables, artwork, supplementary material and sharing research data.

Discussion

The discussion section should explore the significance of your results but not repeat them. You may combine your results and discussion sections into one section, if appropriate. We recommend that you avoid the use of extensive citations and discussion of published literature in the discussion section.

Conclusion

The conclusion section should present the main conclusions of your study. You may have a stand-alone conclusions section or include your conclusions in a subsection of your discussion or results and discussion section.

Theory and calculation

The theory section should lay the foundation for further work by extending the background you provided in the introduction to your article. The calculation section should represent a practical development from a theoretical basis.

Glossary

Please provide definitions of field-specific terms used in your article, in a separate list.

Footnotes

We advise you to use footnotes sparingly. If you include footnotes in your article, ensure that they are numbered consecutively.

You may use system features that automatically build footnotes into text. Alternatively, you can indicate the position of footnotes within the text and present them in a separate section at the end of your article.

Acknowledgements

Include any individuals who provided you with help during your research, such as help with language, writing or proof reading, in the acknowledgements section. Include acknowledgements only in the title page since this journal follows a double anonymized peer review process. Do not add it as a footnote to your title.

Author contributions: CRediT

Corresponding authors are required to acknowledge co-author contributions using CRediT (Contributor Roles Taxonomy) roles:

• Conceptualization
• Data curation
• Formal analysis
• Funding acquisition
• Investigation
• Methodology
• Project administration
• Resources
• Software
• Supervision
• Validation
• Visualization
• Writing – original draft
• Writing – review and editing

Not all CRediT roles will apply to every manuscript and some authors may contribute through multiple roles.

Funding sources

Authors must disclose any funding sources who provided financial support for the conduct of the research and/or preparation of the article. The role of sponsors, if any, should be declared in relation to the study design, collection, analysis and interpretation of data, writing of the report and decision to submit the article for publication. If funding sources had no such involvement this should be stated in your submission.

List funding sources in this standard way to facilitate compliance to funder's requirements:

Funding: This work was supported by the National Institutes of Health [grant numbers xxxx, yyyy]; the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Seattle, WA [grant number zzzz]; and the United States Institutes of Peace [grant number aaaa].

It is not necessary to include detailed descriptions on the program or type of grants, scholarships and awards. When funding is from a block grant or other resources available to a university, college, or other research institution, submit the name of the institute or organization that provided the funding.

If no funding has been provided for the research, it is recommended to include the following sentence:

This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.

Appendices

We ask you to use the following format for appendices:

• Identify individual appendices within your article using the format: A, B, etc.
• Give separate numbering to formulae and equations within appendices using formats such as Eq. (A.1), Eq. (A.2), etc. and in subsequent appendices, Eq. (B.1), Eq. (B. 2) etc. In a similar way, give separate numbering to tables and figures using formats such as Table A.1; Fig. A.1, etc.

Vitae

Please submit a short (maximum 100 words) biography of each author. Please provide the biography in an editable format (e.g. Word, not in PDF format).

9.25 References

References within text

Any references cited within your article should also be present in your reference list and vice versa. Some guidelines:

• References cited in your abstract must be given in full.
• We recommend that you do not include unpublished results and personal communications in your reference list, though you may mention them in the text of your article.
• Any unpublished results and personal communications included in your reference list must follow the standard reference style of the journal. In substitution of the publication date add "unpublished results" or "personal communication."
• References cited as "in press" imply that the item has been accepted for publication.
• Do not cite references too much from the same journal. The same journal references should be less than 5% of total references.
• All authors of reference should be full name.
• The journal titles of reference should be full title.
• Only the first letter of the first word in the article title of reference should be capitalized.
• Please add doi for each reference.

Linking to cited sources will increase the discoverability of your research.

Before submission, check that all data provided in your reference list are correct, including any references which have been copied. Providing correct reference data allows us to link to abstracting and indexing services such as Scopus, Crossref and PubMed. Any incorrect surnames, journal or book titles, publication years or pagination within your references may prevent link creation.

We encourage the use of Digital Object Identifiers (DOIs) as reference links as they provide a permanent link to the electronic article referenced. See the example below, though be aware that the format of such citations should be adapted to follow the style of other references in your paper.

DOI link example (for an article not yet in an issue):

[1] Loc Tan Nguyen, Stephan Maes, Filip E. Du Prez. Enabling the reprocessability and debonding of epoxy thermosets using dynamic poly(β-amino amide) curing agents. Advanced Functional Materials 2024, In Press. https://doi.org/10.1002/adfm.202419240.

[2] Yutong Ding, Hongxin Guo, Mi Ouyang, Ge Meng, Feng Chen, Tairong Kuang. Humidity-resistant wearable triboelectric nanogenerator utilizing a bound-water-rich zwitterionic hydrogel with microphase-separated domains. Advanced Functional Materials 2024, In Press. https://doi.org/10.1002/adfm.202421164.

Reference style

Indicate references by adding a number within square brackets in the text. You can refer to author names within your text, but you must always give the reference number, e.g., "as demonstrated [3,6]. Barnaby and Jones [8] obtained a different result ....".

Number references in the order they appear in your article.

Examples:

Reference to a journal publication:

[1] Tetsuya Kambe, Reina Hosono, Shotaro Imaoka, Akiyoshi Kuzume, Kimihisa Yamamoto. Solution phase mass synthesis of 2D atomic layer with hexagonal boron network. Journal of the American Chemical Society 2019, 141, 12984-12988. https://doi.org/10.1021/jacs.9b06110.

[2] Jing Zou, Jing Wu, Yizhou Wang, Fengxia Deng, Jizhou Jiang, Yizhou Zhang, Song Liu, Neng Li, Han Zhang, Jiaguo Yu, Tianyou Zhai and Husam N. Alshareef. Alshareef. Additive-mediated intercalation and surface modification of MXenes. Chemical Society Reviews 2022, 51, 2972-2990. https://doi.org/10.1039/D0CS01487G.

Reference to a journal publication with an article number:

[3] G. Krishnamurthy Grandhi, David Hardy, Mokurala Krishnaiah, Brenda Vargas, Basheer Al-Anesi, Mahesh P. Suryawanshi, Diego Solis-Ibarra, Feng Gao, Robert L. Z. Hoye, Paola Vivo. Wide-bandgap perovskite-inspired materials: Defect-driven challenges for high-performance optoelectronics. Advanced Functional Materials 2024, 34, 2307441. https://doi.org/10.1002/adfm.202307441.

[4] Roujia Chen, Chu Lun Alex Leung, Chun Huang. Exploring the properties of disordered rocksalt battery cathode materials by advanced characterization. Advanced Functional Materials 2024, 34, 2308165. https://doi.org/10.1002/adfm.202308165.

Reference to a book:

[5] William Strunk Jr., E. B. White, Test Editor, Roger Angell. The Elements of Style, fourth ed., Longman, New York, 2000.

Reference to a chapter in a book:

[6] G.R. Mettam, L.B. Adams, in: B.S. Jones, R.Z. Smith (Eds.), Introduction to the Electronic Age, E-Publishing, Inc. New York, 2023, pp. 281–304.

Reference to a website:

[7] Cancer Research UK, Cancer statistics reports for the UK. http://www.cancerresearchuk.org/aboutcancer/statistics/cancerstatsreport/, 2023 (accessed 13 March 2023).

Reference to a dataset:

[8] M. Oguro, S. Imahiro, S. Saito, T. Nakashizuka, Mortality data for Japanese oak wilt disease and surrounding forest compositions [dataset], Mendeley Data, v1, 2015. https://doi.org/10.17632/xwj98nb39r.

Reference to software:

[9] E. Coon, M. Berndt, A. Jan, D.  Svyatsky, A. Atchley, E. Kikinzon, D. Harp, G. Manzini, E. Shelef, K. Lipnikov, R. Garimella, C. Xu, D. Moulton, S. Karra, S. Painter, E. Jafarov, S. Molins, Advanced Terrestrial Simulator (ATS) v0.88 [software], Zenodo, March 25, 2020. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.3727209.

Web references

When listing web references, as a minimum you should provide the full URL and the date when the reference was last accessed. Additional information (e.g. DOI, author names, dates or reference to a source publication) should also be provided, if known.

You can list web references separately under a new heading directly after your reference list or include them in your reference list.

Data references

We encourage you to cite underlying or relevant datasets within article text and to list data references in the reference list.

When citing data references, you should include:

• author name(s)
• dataset title
• data repository
• version (where available)
• year
• global persistent identifier

Add [dataset] immediately before your reference. This will help us to properly identify the dataset. The [dataset] identifier will not appear in your published article.

Software references

Cite software (including computational code, scripts, models, notebooks and libraries) in the same way as other sources of information to support proper attribution and credit, reproducibility, collaboration and reuse, and encourage building on the work of others to further research. To facilitate this, useful information is provided.

A reference to software should include the following elements:

• Creator(s): the authors or project that developed the software.
• Title: the name of the software.
• Publication venue: the publication venue of the software, preferably, an archive or repository that provides permanent identifiers.
• Date: the date the software was published. This is the date associated with a release or version of the software, or “n.d.” if the date is unknown.
• Identifier: a resolvable pointer to the software, preferably, a PID that resolves to a landing page containing descriptive metadata about the software, similar to how a Digital Object Identifier (DOI) for a paper that points to a page about the paper rather than directly to a representation of the paper, such as the PDF. DOIs are preferable, and other examples of PIDs include Handles, RRIDs, ASCL IDs, swMath IDs, Software Heritage IDs, ARK Alliance, etc. If there is no PID for the software, a URL to where the software exists may be the best identifier available.
• Version: the identifier for the version of the software being referenced. If the version is unidentified or unknown, the date of access should be used.
• Type: some reference styles (e.g., APA), require a bracketed description of the citation (e.g., [Computer software]) to be included.

If an article exists that describes the software, it should be cited as an additional reference, as well as citing the software itself. Do not cite the article instead of the software.

Preprint references

We ask you to mark preprints clearly. You should include the word "preprint" or the name of the preprint server as part of your reference and provide the preprint DOI.

Where a preprint has subsequently become available as a peer-reviewed publication, use the formal publication as your reference.

If there are preprints that are central to your work or that cover crucial developments in the topic, but they are not yet formally published, you may reference the preprint.

Reference management software

If you use a citation plug-in from these products, select the relevant journal template and all your citations and bibliographies will automatically be formatted in the journal style. We advise you to remove all field codes before submitting your manuscript to any reference management software product.

If a template is not available for this journal, follow the format given in examples in the reference style section of this Guide for Authors.

10.1 Submission checklist

Before completing the submission of your manuscript, we advise you to read our submission checklist:

• One author has been designated as the corresponding author and their full contact details (email address, full postal address and phone numbers) have been provided.
• All files have been uploaded, including keywords, figure captions and tables (including a title, description and footnotes) included.
• Spelling and grammar checks have been carried out.
• All references in the article text are cited in the reference list and vice versa.
• Permission has been obtained for the use of any copyrighted material from other sources, including the Web.
• For gold open access articles, all authors understand that they are responsible for payment of the article publishing charge (APC) if the manuscript is accepted. Payment of the APC may be covered by the corresponding author's institution, or the research funder.

10.2 Suggest reviewers

To support the peer review process, we ask you to provide names and institutional email addresses of several potential reviewers for their manuscript. Some guidelines:

• Reviewers should not be colleagues or have co-authored or collaborated with you during the last three years.
• Do not suggest reviewers with whom you have competing interests.
• Suggest reviewers who are located in different countries or regions from yourself. This helps to provide a broad and balanced assessment of your work and to ensure scientific rigor.
• Consider diversity in your reviewer suggestions, such as gender, race and ethnicity and career stage.
• Do not suggest members of our Editorial Board.

The journal editors will take the final decision on whether to invite your suggested reviewers.

11.1 Copyright

Authors will be asked to complete a publishing agreement after acceptance. The corresponding author will receive a link to the online agreement by email.

11.2 Permission for copyrighted works

If excerpts from other copyrighted works are included in your article, you must obtain written permission from the copyright owners and credit the source(s) within your article.

11.3 Proof correction

To ensure a fast publication process we will ask you to provide proof corrections within two days.

Corresponding authors will be sent an email which includes a link to our online proofing system, allowing annotation and correction of proofs online. The environment is similar to Word. You can edit text, comment on figures and tables and answer questions raised by our copy editor. Our web-based proofing service ensures a faster and less error-prone process. 

You can choose to annotate and upload your edits on the PDF version of your article, if preferred. We will provide you with proofing instructions and available alternative proofing methods in our email.

The purpose of the proof is to check the typesetting, editing, completeness and correctness of your article text, tables and figures. Significant changes to your article at the proofing stage will only be considered with approval of the journal editor. 

11.4 DOI link

A Digital Object Identifier (DOI) link to the published version of your open access article on ScienceDirect will be sent by email to the corresponding author. You can share the DOI link via email and within your social networks.

11.5 Responsible sharing

We encourage you to share and promote your article to give additional visibility to your work, enabling your paper to contribute to scientific progress and foster the exchange of scientific developments within your field.

11.6 Post-publication amendments

Errata and Corrigenda

We will publish a correction of your article if a significant error is discovered after publication. An Erratum will be published if we introduced the error; a Corrigendum if the author introduced the error.

Retractions

Articles may be withdrawn, retracted, removed or replaced after publication if they contain substantial errors that cannot be corrected by publishing an Erratum or a Corrigendum, or if ethical violations come to light after publication.