Guide for authors

To submit your article, please, use https://fm.isc.kh.ua/

The journal Functional Materials publishes regular articles and reviews in the following areas:

  • Development of functional materials with tailored properties, including light-emitting materials, electro- and magneto-optical materials, semiconductors, ferroics, piezoelectric and pyroelectric materials, superconductors, and others, with a focus on their synthesis and design.
  • Investigation of the structure, phase transformations, and properties of single crystals, ceramics, composites, amorphous solids, liquid crystals, polymers, thin films, and low-dimensional systems (such as whiskers, superlattices, heterostructures, and surface layers), as well as nanostructures (quantum dots, nanowires, nanocrystals, and their ensembles) in the context of materials science.
  • Modern methods for modeling, investigating, and characterizing functional materials.
  • Challenges and methods related to the application of functional materials in advanced technologies, including nanotechnology, optics, electronics, ionizing radiation detection, light-emitting devices, sensors, and information storage systems.
  • Design and study of multifunctional nanomaterials for a broad range of biological and medical applications.

 

Language

Please write your text in good English (American or British usage is accepted, but not a mixture of these). Ukrainian authors should additionally provide the article title, authors' names and affiliations, and abstract in Ukrainian.

 

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.
  • Remove any strikethrough and underlined text from your manuscript, unless it has scientific significance related to your article.
  • Use spell-check and grammar-check functions to avoid errors.

 

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.

 

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.

 

Keywords

You are required to provide 1 to 7 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.

 

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.

 

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.

 

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. Acknowledgements should be placed in a separate section which appears directly before the reference list. Do not include acknowledgements on your title page, as a footnote to your title, or anywhere else in your article other than in the separate acknowledgements section.

 

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.

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.

 

Reference format

  • Author names, journal or book titles, chapter or article titles, year of publication, volume numbers, article numbers or pagination must be included, where applicable.
  • Use of DOIs is recommended.

 

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.   

Abbreviate journal names according to the List of Title Word Abbreviations (LTWA).

 

Examples:

Reference to a journal publication:

[1] J. van der Geer, T. Handgraaf, R.A. Lupton, The art of writing a scientific article, J. Sci. Commun. 163 (2020) 51 – 59. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sc.2020.00372.

Reference to a journal publication with an article number:

[2] J. van der Geer, T. Handgraaf, R.A. Lupton, 2022. The art of writing a scientific article. Heliyon. 19, e00205. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2022.e00205.

Reference to a book:

[3] W. Strunk Jr., E.B. White, The Elements of Style, fourth ed., Longman, New York, 2000.

Reference to a chapter in a book:

[4] G.R. Mettam, L.B. Adams, How to prepare an electronic version of your article, in: B.S. Jones, R.Z. Smith (Eds.), Introduction to the Electronic Age, E-Publishing Inc., New York, 2020, pp. 281 - 304.

Reference to a website:

[5] 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:

[6] 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/10.1234/abc12nb39r.1.

Reference to software:

[7] 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/10.1234/zenodo.3727209.

 

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.

 

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.

 

Tables

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

  • Place tables next to the relevant text 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.

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

 

Figures, images and artwork

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

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 for all figures, images, and artwork.
  • Text graphics must be embedded in the text at the appropriate position. If you are working with LaTeX, text graphics must also be embedded in the file.

 

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.

 

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.

 

Color artwork

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

 

Submission declaration

When authors submit an article to an Elsevier journal it is implied that:

  • the work described has not been published previously except in the form of a preprint, an abstract, a published lecture, academic thesis or registered report.
  • the article is not under consideration for publication elsewhere.
  • the article's publication is approved by all authors and tacitly or explicitly by the responsible authorities where the work was carried out.
  • if accepted, the article will not be published elsewhere in the same form, in English or in any other language, including electronically, without the written consent of the copyright-holder.

To verify compliance with our journal publishing policies, we may check your manuscript with our screening tools.

 

Authorship

All authors should have made substantial contributions to all of the following:

  1. The conception and design of the study, or acquisition of data, or analysis and interpretation of data.
  2. Drafting the article or revising it critically for important intellectual content.
  3. Final approval of the version to be submitted.

Authors should appoint a corresponding author to communicate with the journal during the editorial process. All authors should agree to be accountable for all aspects of the work to ensure that the questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved. All authors must disclose any financial and personal relationships with other people or organizations that could inappropriately influence or bias their work. 

 

Funding sources

Authors can 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, can 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 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.

 

Peer review

This journal follows a single 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. Editors are not involved in decisions about papers which they have written themselves or have been written by family members or colleagues or which relate to products or services in which the editor has an interest.