Author Guidelines

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Scope of the Journal

ACS Applied Energy Materials is an interdisciplinary journal publishing original research covering all aspects of materials, engineering, chemistry, physics, and biology relevant to energy conversion and storage. The journal is devoted to reports of new and original experimental and theoretical research of an applied nature that integrate knowledge in the areas of materials, engineering, physics, bioscience, and chemistry into important energy applications. Sample research topics that span the journal’s scope are materials for energy storage including battery, supercapacitor, and redox flow batteries, fuel cell electrodes, catalysts, membranes and biofuel cells, solar cell materials including inorganic, hybrid, and organics, thermoelectric materials, solar fuel materials and processes, novel approaches to the synthesis of new and existing materials for energy storage and conversion, energy conversion materials, and electrochromic and thermochromic materials.

 

Manuscripts that are essentially reporting data or applications of data are, in general, not suitable for publication in ACS Applied Energy Materials. All manuscripts are subject to critical, anonymous peer review. It is to be understood that the final decision relating to a manuscript’s suitability rests solely with the Editor.

Manuscript Types

ACS Applied Energy Materials publishes 6 types of papers: Letters, Articles, Reviews, invited Spotlights on Applications, invited Forum Articles, and Comments.

 

A. Letters are short articles that report results whose immediate availability to the applied electronic science and engineering community is deemed important. Letters are restricted to 2500 words or the equivalent (8 double-spaced word-processed pages of text and 3-4 figures), and no more than 30 references. A brief abstract of less than 100 words should be included along with 5-8 keywords. Letters are intended to provide rapid communication of important results and should be written in a form that is engaging and easy to follow. The narrative should flow continuously, without separate subsections, through introductory material, followed by a sufficient outline of the research performed to allow the reader to follow what was done, results presented and described in a way that captures their essential details, and concluding remarks. Experimental details that are not essential to the understanding of the Letter but that would be useful for those trying to reproduce the results or in providing helpful additional information for experts should be included as supporting information. Letters often will be complete publications, but follow-up publications might occasionally be justified when the research is continued and a more complete account of the work is deemed necessary. Special efforts will be made to expedite the reviewing and publication of Letters. The time for proof reading the galley proofs is relatively short. For this reason, authors of Letters should ensure that manuscripts are in final, error-free form when submitted.

 

B. Articles should cover their subjects with thoroughness, clarity, and completeness, but should be as concise as possible.

 

The narrative should be divided into the following six subsections: (1) Abstract followed by 5-8 keywords, (2) Introduction, (3) Experimental Section, (4) Results and Discussion, (5) Conclusions, and (6) References. Abstracts to Articles are limited to 300 words and should summarize the significant results and conclusions. The total number of references for Articles is typically limited to 70.

 

Articles are scheduled for publication in the order of acceptance within limitations of available space. Articles describing related work divided into two or more manuscripts (e.g, part 1, part 2…) submitted concurrently are strongly discouraged.

 

C. Reviews are usually invited by the Editor and are limited to a maximum of 10 journal pages (approximately 50 pages of double-spaced manuscript), including tables, figures, and references. Reviews should constitute concise, yet complete, surveys of the literature written by experts for nonexperts. Their purpose is to acquaint the readers of the journal with recent progress in key materials or interfaces research areas, with a focus on application. Reviews should be written for a more general audience of “materials scientists and engineers” and provide a balanced view of the topic in question. Exclusive (or near exclusive) focus on the author’s research is discouraged in Reviews. Reviews will be peer-reviewed in the same manner as research Articles.

 

Authors interested in contributing a Review must submit a single document that includes the following for consideration (eic@aem.acs.org):

  • Proposed title
  • Corresponding author names, affiliations, and websites
  • A short (~400-word) description of the focused topic
  • A list of 5–10 lead references that might form the foundation of the final manuscript
  • A list of recent review articles published on this topic written by the submitting authors or others, and how the proposed review will differ in focus and advance the literature on the subject.

 

Reviews will be considered only if they are approved and invited for submission by the Editor. A review invitation does not guarantee that a review will be peer-reviewed or published. It is incumbent on authors to submit copyright permissions for material that is being reproduced from other sources.

 

D. Spotlights on Applications are usually invited by the Editor and will be so designated. By focusing on active research areas, these articles are not intended to be standard reviews of the literature. The author will be asked to provide a clear, concise, and critical status report of the field as an introduction, and the author’s own contribution to the field should constitute the main body of the article. An emphasis should be placed on drawing a clear relationship between electronic materials synthesis, structure, and/or properties and the application that is the focus of the Spotlight. Authors in important active research fields in the area of applied electronic materials are encouraged to propose Spotlights. One-page proposals should be sent to the Deputy Editor’s office (eic@aem.acs.org) for consideration.

 

E. Forum Articles. Occasionally a group of manuscripts that are focused in a particular topical area will be published as a Forum, which is essentially a “virtual symposium”. Scientists and engineers in important active research fields in the area of applied electronic materials are encouraged to propose Forum topics. One-page proposals should be sent to the Deputy Editor’s office (eic@aem.acs.org) for consideration.

 

F. Comments are technical contributions providing, with supporting material, a respectful but alternative point of view to one that has appeared in ACS Applied Energy Materials.

ACS Researcher Resources

While this document will provide basic information on how to prepare and submit the manuscript as well as other critical information about publishing, we also encourage authors to visit ACS Researcher Resources for additional information on everything that is needed to prepare (and review) manuscripts for ACS journals and partner journals, such as

Manuscript Preparation

Submit with Fast Format

All ACS journals and partner journals have simplified their formatting requirements in favor of a streamlined and standardized format for an initial manuscript submission. Read more about the requirements and the benefits these serves authors and reviewers here.

 

Manuscripts submitted for initial consideration must adhere to these standards:

  • Submissions must be complete with clearly identified standard sections used to report original research, free of annotations or highlights, and include all numbered and labeled components.
  • Figures, charts, tables, schemes, and equations should be embedded in the text at the point of relevance. Separate graphics can be supplied later at revision, if necessary.
  • When required by a journal's structure or length limitations, manuscript templates should be used.
  • References can be provided in any style, but they must be complete, including titles. For information about the required components of different reference types, please refer to the ACS Style Quick Guide.
  • Supporting Information must be submitted as a separate file(s).

Document Templates and Format

The templates facilitate the peer review process by allowing authors to place artwork and tables close to the point where they are discussed within the text. Learn more about document templates here.

 

General information on the preparation of manuscripts may also be found in the ACS Guide to Scholarly Communication.

Acceptable Software, File Designations, and TeX/LaTeX

See the list of Acceptable Software and appropriate File Designations to be sure your file types are compatible with the submission system. Information for manuscripts generated from TeX/LaTeX is also available.

Cover Letter

A cover letter must accompany every manuscript submission. During the submission process, you may type it or paste it into the submission system, or you may attach it as a file.

  • A paragraph explaining why your manuscript is appropriate for ACS Applied Energy Materials. This paragraph should clearly indicate what application is described in the work.
  • If the manuscript was previously rejected by ACS Applied Energy Materials, provide the manuscript number of the rejected manuscript and a detailed response to each reviewer’s comments. As noted above, a consent to re-submit must be obtained from the editor who handled the previous version. For more information, see section on Editorial Policies.
  • If the manuscript was previously rejected by any other ACS journal, provide the name of the journal, the manuscript number, an explanation of the basis for the rejection, and a statement granting ACS Applied Energy Materials permission to obtain the Editor’s decision letter and review for the rejected manuscript. Also indicate if the newly submitted manuscript has been revised based on the previous reviews. If so, provide a detailed response to each reviewer’s comments.
  • A statement confirming the manuscript, or its contents in some other form, has not been published previously by any of the authors and/or is not under consideration for publication in another journal at the time of submission.
  • A description of any Supporting Information and/or Review-Only Material.
  • The names and e-mail addresses of five possible reviewers.
  • If the manuscript was invited, whether as part of a Forum, special issue, or as an individual contribution, this should be noted in the cover letter.

Manuscript Text Components

All sections of the paper must be presented in a clear and concise manner. Authors should include an introductory statement outlining the scientific motivation for the research. The statement should clearly specify the relevance of the present work to applications, the problems it has solved or the practical advances it will enable. In Articles, the Introduction should be a separate section of the paper. In the Results and Discussion section, the author should discuss the significance of his/her observations, measurements, or computations and their implications for the applications outlined in the Introduction. An extensive review of prior work is not appropriate in Articles, and documentation of the literature should be selective rather than exhaustive, particularly if reviews can be cited. Tabulation of experimental results is encouraged whenever it leads to a more effective presentation or economical use of space. Authors are encouraged to make extensive use of the Supporting Information format, because this material is now widely available on the Web at http://pubs.acs.org. Figure captions should be concise and easy to read but should be sufficiently detailed to provide a reasonable understanding of the figures without reference to the main text. For example, in a graph the caption should include enough information to readily distinguish between different datasets, provide an indication of the statistics used to derive error bars, and indicate briefly any trend that is shown. In the case of an image, the sample, imaging technique, and scale should be clearly provided.

Supporting Information

This information is provided to the reviewers during the peer-review process (for Review Only) and is available to readers of the published work (for Publication). Supporting Information must be submitted at the same time as the manuscript. See the list of Acceptable Software by File Designation and confirm that your Supporting Information is viewable.

 

If the manuscript is accompanied by any supporting information files for publication, these files will be made available free of charge to readers. A brief, nonsentence description of the actual contents of each file, including the file type extension, is required. This description should be labeled Supporting Information and should appear before the Acknowledgement and Reference sections.  Examples of sufficient and insufficient descriptions are as follows:

 

Examples of sufficient descriptions: “Supporting Information: 1H NMR spectra for all compounds (PDF)” or “Additional experimental details, materials, and methods, including photographs of experimental setup (DOC)”.

 

Examples of insufficient descriptions: “Supporting Information: Figures S1-S3” or “Additional figures as mentioned in the text”.

 

When including supporting information for review only, include copies of references that are unpublished or in-press. These files are available only to editors and reviewers.

Research Data Policy

All ACS journals strongly encourage authors to make the research data underlying their articles publicly available at the time of publication.

Research data is defined as materials and information used in the experiments that enable the validation of the conclusions drawn in the article, including primary data produced by the authors for the study being reported, secondary data reused or analyzed by the authors for the study, and any other materials necessary to reproduce or replicate the results.

The ACS Research Data Policy provides additional information on Data Availability Statements, Data Citation, and Data Repositories.

Data Requirements

Particular attention should be given to ensuring that experimental procedures are reported in sufficient detail to allow full understanding by the expert reader to the extent that would allow ready reproduction of the experiments. (References to methods used in previous publications may be used, provided the details are very similar.) Technical details that are not essential, but would nevertheless be useful to anyone wanting to fully understand the experiments may be included as Supporting Information. (This may be especially useful in the case of Letters, where succinct communication in the main text is paramount.) Rigorous attention to the control and measurement of experimental parameters should be described, including considerations of possible sources of systematic and statistical errors, such that the conclusions of the article may be fully justified. Careful consideration of significant figures (the number of digits that carry meaning relevant to the resolution of the measurement) should be given when reporting data in the abstract, text, and tables. It is especially important when describing device characterization to indicate how many devices were characterized and to differentiate between average, typical, and best-case results. The Virtual Issue on best practices for reporting the properties of materials and devices provides useful guidance.

 

As part of the Supporting Information, authors must provide an electronic copy of the structural data as a Crystallographic Information File (CIF) and must clearly notify the Editor in the cover letter that the manuscript contains structural data. (See the journal homepage for further instructions.) A checkcif file for each structure should also be uploaded as supporting information for review (https://checkcif.iucr.org). Authors must confirm that the data in the CIF file correspond to the structures reported in the manuscript. During the review process, the CIFs will be available only to the reviewers of the manuscript and will remain confidential. Authors should note that the ACS does not forward coordinates to crystallographic databases such as the Fachinformationszentrum Karlsruhe (FIZ) or the Cambridge Structural Database (CSD). This is the responsibility of the author.

Language and Editing Services

A well-written paper helps share your results most clearly. ACS Publications’ English Editing Service is designed to help scientists communicate their research effectively. Our subject-matter expert editors will edit your manuscript for grammar, spelling, and other language errors so your ideas are presented at their best.

Preparing Graphics

The quality of illustrations in ACS journals and partner journals depends on the quality of the original files provided by the authors. Figures are not modified or enhanced by journal production staff. All graphics must be prepared and submitted in digital format.

 

Graphics should be inserted into the main body whenever possible. Please see Appendix 2 for additional information.

 

Any graphic (figure chart, scheme, or equation) that has appeared in an earlier publication should include a credit line citing the original source. Authors are responsible for obtaining written permission to re-use this material.

Figure and Illustration Services

The impact of your research is not limited to what you can express with words. Tables and figures such as graphs, photographs, illustrations, diagrams, and other visuals can play a significant role in effectively communicating your findings. Our Artwork Editing and Graphical Abstract services generate publication-ready figures and Table of Contents (TOC) graphics that conform to your chosen journal’s specifications. For figures, this includes changes to file type, resolution, color space, font, scale, line weights, and layout (to improve readability and professional appearance). For TOC graphics, our illustrators can work with a rough sketch or concept or help extract the key findings of your manuscript directly for use as a visual summary of your paper.

Preparing for Submission

Manuscripts, graphics, supporting information, and required forms, as well as manuscript revisions, must all be submitted in digital format through ACS Paragon Plus, which requires an ACS ID to log in. Registering for an ACS ID is fast, free, and does not require an ACS membership. Please refer to Appendix 1 for additional information on preparing your submission

Prior Publication Policy

ACS Applied Energy Materials allows authors to deposit an initial draft of their manuscript in a preprint service such as ChemRxiv, arXiv, bioRxiv, or the applicable repository for their discipline prior to submission. Please note any use of a preprint server in the cover letter, and as appropriate, state how the manuscript has been adjusted/updated between deposition and submission. All other prior/redundant publication is forbidden.

 

Publication of a preprint or extended abstract in an ACS division meeting preprint book, in either print or electronic format, does not preclude consideration of a manuscript for publication, provided that the manuscript includes significant new information and data beyond what was in the preprint or extended abstract. It is the author’s responsibility to provide the editor with copies of any relevant preprint(s).

 

Upon publication, authors are advised to add a link from the preprint to the published paper via the Digital Object Identifier (DOI).

 

The Editors of ACS Applied Energy Materials have determined that content from the following publicly available sources may also be reused, with permission from the copyright holder, in an ACS Applied Energy Materials article (co)authored by at least one of the authors of the original material:

  1. A thesis or dissertation required to obtain a degree.
  2. A publicly available research report that was mandated by a government agency or funding agency.

Editorial Policies

Addition and Corrections

Additions and Corrections may be used to address important issues or correct errors and omissions of consequence that arise after publication of an article. They are not intended to report subsequent scientific progress or refinements, which often in part consist of reinterpreting previously published data. Additions and Corrections may be requested by the author(s) or initiated by the Editor after discussions with the corresponding author. Readers who detect errors of consequence in the work of others should contact the corresponding author of that work. All Additions and Corrections are subject to approval by the Editor, and minor corrections and additions will not be published. Additions and Corrections from authors should be submitted via the ACS Paragon Plus environment by the corresponding author for publication in the “Addition/Correction” section of the Journal. The corresponding author should obtain approval from all of the article coauthors prior to submitting an Addition and Correction, or provide evidence that such approval has been solicited. For proper formatting, see examples in a current issue of the Journal.

 

Addition/Corrections should consist of a submitted manuscript document file that contains the following information:

  • The document title lines should include title, authors, affiliations and citation (including the DOI) of the original published manuscript.
  • The submitted addition/correction manuscript file should contain text that explains exactly what is being corrected and why. A statement should also be included indicating whether the conclusions of the work have been affected, and if so in what way.
  • All authors are deemed to be equally responsible for any errors. A statement of regret for the mistake may be included. Statements should not be included that attempt to assign responsibility for any errors or mistakes to any particular authors or persons.
  • If graphics are being corrected, the manuscript file should contain the graphics, along with captions that clearly describe the contents of the figures. The figure(s) should be labeled with numbers consistent with the figure number(s) in the original paper that is (are) being corrected.

Revised Manuscripts

A manuscript sent back to an author for revision should be returned to the Editor as soon as possible. If a revision is not received within 21 days, it will be considered withdrawn. Revised manuscripts are sometimes sent back to the original reviewers, who are asked to comment on the revisions. If only minor revisions are involved, the Editor will examine the revised manuscript in light of the recommendations of the reviewers without seeking further opinions.

 

On resubmission, two copies of the final manuscript file will be required: (a) The final revised manuscript file that does not contain any highlighting or editing marks. This file should be uploaded as the primary manuscript document file. (b) A marked copy of the revised manuscript that shows changes made on revision clearly highlighted. This file should be uploaded separately from the manuscript file as Supporting Information for Review.

 

A letter from the author must also accompany the revised manuscript and provide a detailed account of how the author has responded to the reviewer’s and Editor’s comments, addressing each comment point-by-point. The dates of receipt of the original and revised manuscripts will both appear in the publication.

 

Manuscripts that have been declined from ACS Applied Energy Materials are not usually reconsidered. However, in unusual circumstances, an author may wish to re-submit for consideration a paper that has been previously declined. Before such a re-submitted paper will be considered, the corresponding author must obtain a consent to re-submit by sending a well-reasoned, concise appeal to the Associate Editor who made the decision to decline the paper.

Providing Potential Reviewer Names

Please suggest 5 reviewers, including their current affiliation, email and justification for being suggested as a reviewer. Authors are encouraged to avoid suggesting reviewers from the authors’ institutions. Do not suggest reviewers who may have a real or perceived conflict of interest. Whenever possible, suggest academic email addresses rather than personal email addresses.

Manuscript Transfer

If your submission is declined for publication by this journal, the editors might deem your work to be better suited for another ACS Publications journal or partner journal and suggest that the authors consider transferring the submission. Manuscript Transfer simplifies and shortens the process of submitting to another ACS journal or partner journal, as all the coauthors, suggested reviewers, manuscript files, and responses to submission questions are copied to the new draft submission. Authors are free to accept or decline the transfer offer.

 

Note that each journal is editorially independent. Transferring a manuscript is not a guarantee that the manuscript will be accepted, as the final publication decision will belong to the editor of the next journal.

PRODUCTION AND PUBLICATION

Proofs via ACS Direct Correct

Correction of the galley proofs is the responsibility of the Corresponding Author. The Corresponding Author of an accepted manuscript will receive e-mail notification and complete instructions when page proofs are available for review via ACS Direct Correct. Extensive or important changes on page proofs, including changes to the title or list of authors, are subject to review by the editor.

 

It is the responsibility of the Corresponding Author to ensure that all authors listed on the manuscript agree with the changes made on the proofs. Galley proofs should be returned within 48 hours in order to ensure timely publication of the manuscript.

Publication Date and Patent Dates

Accepted manuscripts will be published on the ACS Publications Web site as soon as page proofs are corrected and all author concerns are resolved. The first date on which the document is published on the Web is considered the publication date.

 

Publication of manuscripts on the Web may occur weeks in advance of the cover date of the issue of publication. Authors should take this into account when planning their patent and intellectual property activities related to a document and should ensure that all patent information is available at the time of first publication, whether ASAP or issue publication.

 

All articles published ahead of print receive a unique Digital Object Identifier (DOI) number, which is used to cite the manuscript before and after the paper appears in an issue. Additionally, any supplemental information submitted along with the manuscript will automatically be assigned a DOI and hosted on Figshare to promote open data discoverability and use of your research outputs.

ASAP Publication

Manuscripts will be published on the “ASAP Articles” page on the web as soon as page proofs are corrected and all author concerns are resolved. ASAP publication usually occurs within a few working days of receipt of page proof corrections, which can be several weeks in advance of the cover date of the issue.

Post-Publication Policies

The American Chemical Society follows guidance from the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) when considering any ethical concerns regarding a published article, Retractions, and Expressions of Concern.

Additions and Corrections

Additions and Corrections may be requested by the author(s) or initiated by the Editor to address important issues or correct errors and omissions of consequence that arise after publication of an article. All Additions and Corrections are subject to approval by the Editor, and should bring new and directly relevant information and corrections that fix scientific facts. Minor corrections and additions will not be published. Readers who detect errors of consequence in the work of others should contact the corresponding author of that work.

 

Additions and Corrections must be submitted as new manuscripts via the ACS Publishing Center by the Corresponding Author for publication in the “Addition/Correction” section of the Journal. The corresponding author should obtain approval from all coauthors prior to submitting or provide evidence that such approval has been solicited. The manuscript should include the original article title and author list, citation including DOI, and details of the correction.

Retractions

Articles may be retracted for scientific or ethical reasons and may be requested by the article author(s) or by the journal Editor(s), but are ultimately published at the discretion of the Editor. Articles that contain seriously flawed or erroneous data such that their findings and conclusions cannot be relied upon may be retracted in order to correct the scientific record. When an article is retracted, a notice of Retraction will be published containing information about the reason for the Retraction. The originally published article will remain online except in extraordinary circumstances (e.g. where deemed legally necessary, or if the availability of the published content poses public health risks).

Expressions of Concern

Expressions of Concern may be issued at the discretion of the Editor if:

  • there is inconclusive evidence of research or publication misconduct by the authors;
  • there is evidence that the findings are unreliable but the authors’ institution will not investigate the case;
  • an investigation into alleged misconduct related to the publication either has not been, or would not be, fair and impartial or conclusive;
  • an investigation is underway but a judgment will not be available for a considerable time.

 

Upon completion of any related investigation, and when a final determination is made about the outcome of the article, the Expression of Concern may be replaced with a Retraction notice or Correction.

Sharing Your Published Article

At ACS Publications, we know it is important for you to be able to share your peer reviewed, published work with colleagues in the global community of scientists. As sharing on sites known as scholarly collaboration networks (SCNs) is becoming increasingly prevalent in today’s scholarly research ecosystem, we would like to remind you of the many ways in which you, a valued ACS author, can share your published work.

 

Publishing open access makes it easy to share your work with friends, colleagues, and family members. In addition, ACS Publications makes it easy to share your newly published research with ACS Articles on Request (see below). Don’t forget to promote your research and related data on social media, at conferences, and through scholarly communication networks. Increase the impact of your research using the following resources: Altmetrics, Figshare, ACS Certified Deposit

E-Prints

When your article is published in an ACS journal or partner journal, corresponding authors are provided with a link that offers up to 50 free digital prints of the final published work. This link is valid for the first 12 months following online publication, and can be shared via email or an author’s website. After one year, the access restrictions to your article will be lifted, and you can share the Articles on Request URL on social media and other channels. To access all your Articles on Request links, log in to your ACS Researcher Resources account and visit the “My Published Manuscripts” page.

Reprints

Article, journal, and commercial reprints are available to order.

Appendix 1: PREPARING FOR SUBMISSION

We’ve developed ACS’ publishing and editorial policies in consultation with the research communities that we serve, including authors and librarians. Browse our policies below to learn more.

Ethical Guidelines

ACS editors have provided Ethical Guidelines for persons engaged in the publication of chemical research—specifically, for editors, authors, and reviewers. Each journal also has a specific policy on prior publication.

OFAC Compliance

As a U.S.-based non-profit organization, the American Chemical Society (ACS) is required to comply with U.S. sanctions laws and regulations administered by the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC). While these laws and regulations permit U.S.-based publishers like ACS to engage in publishing-related activities with authors located in sanctioned regions in many cases, ACS may be prohibited under U.S. law from engaging in publishing-related activities in some cases, including, but not limited to, instances where an author or the institution with which an author is affiliated is located in a particular sanctioned region or has been designated by OFAC as a Specially Designated National (SDN) pursuant to certain U.S. sanctions programs. ACS reserves the right to refrain from engaging in any publishing-related activities that ACS determines in its sole discretion may be in violation of U.S. law.

 

Safety Considerations

Authors must emphasize any unexpected, new, and/or significant hazards or risks associated with the reported work. This information should be in the Experimental Section of a full article and included in the main text of a letter. Statement examples can be found in the Safety Statement Style Sheet and additional information on communicating safety information from the ACS Guide to Scholarly Communication is freely available here.

Conflict of Interest Disclosure

A statement describing any financial conflicts of interest or lack thereof is published in each ACS journal and partner journal article.

 

During the submission process, the Corresponding Author must provide a statement on behalf of all authors of the manuscript, describing all potential sources of bias, including affiliations, funding sources, and financial or management relationships, that may constitute conflicts of interest. If the manuscript is accepted, the statement will be published in the final article.

 

If the manuscript is accepted and no conflict of interest has been declared, the following statement will be published in the final article: “The authors declare no competing financial interest.”

Plagiarism

In publishing only original research, ACS is committed to deterring plagiarism, including self-plagiarism. ACS Publications uses CrossCheck's iThenticate software to screen submitted manuscripts for similarity to published material. Note that your manuscript may be screened during the submission process.

 

Further information about plagiarism can be found in Part B of the Ethical Guidelines to Publication of Chemical Research. See also the press release regarding ACS' participation in the CrossCheck initiative.

Authorship, Author List, and Coauthor Notification

Authors are required to obtain the consent of all their coauthors prior to submitting a manuscript. The submitting author accepts the responsibility of notifying all coauthors that the manuscript is being submitted.

 

During manuscript submission, the submitting author must provide contact information (full name, email address, institutional affiliation, and mailing address) for all of the coauthors. Because all of the author names are automatically imported into the electronic Journal Publishing Agreement, the names must be entered into the submission system. (Note that coauthors are not required to register in the ACS Publishing Center.) Author affiliation should reflect where the work was completed, even if the author has since left that institution. Authors may include a note with a current address if their institution has changed since the work was completed.

 

To expedite the processing of your manuscript, please format your author and affiliation information according the guidelines in this document.

 

Criteria for authorship can be found in Part B of the Ethical Guidelines to Publication of Chemical Research. Artificial intelligence (AI) tools do not qualify for authorship. The use of AI tools for text or image generation should be disclosed in the manuscript within the Acknowledgment section with a description of when and how the tools were used. For more substantial use cases or descriptions of AI tool use, authors should provide full details within the Methods or other appropriate section of the manuscript.

 

If any change in authorship is necessary after a manuscript has been submitted, confirmation is required that all of the authors (including those being added or removed) have been notified and have agreed to the change. To provide this confirmation, authors are asked to complete and sign an authorship change form and provide the completed form to the appropriate editorial office.

 

Authors with a single name: If you, or any of your coauthors, have only one name, please follow these steps for proper submission to the ACS Publishing Center:

  1. First (Given) Name Field: Enter an asterisk (*) into the "First (Given) Name" field.
  2. Last (Family) Name Field: Enter your single name into the "Last (Family) Name" field.

If your paper is accepted, the asterisk (*) will be removed from the published version of the paper.

 

 

Patent Activities and Intellectual Property

Authors are responsible for ensuring that all patent activities and intellectual property issues are satisfactorily resolved prior to first publication (ASAP or in issue). Acceptance and publication will not be delayed for pending or unresolved issues of this nature.

Open Researcher and Contributor ID (ORCID)

Authors submitting manuscript revisions are required to provide their own personal, validated ORCID iD before completing the submission, if an ORCID iD is not already associated with their ACS Publishing Center user profiles. This ID may be provided during original manuscript submission or when submitting the manuscript revision. All authors are strongly encouraged to register for an ORCID iD, a unique researcher identifier. The ORCID iD will be displayed in the published article for any author on a manuscript who has a validated ORCID iD associated with ACS when the manuscript is accepted.

 

ORCID iDs should not be typed into the manuscript. ACS publishes only those ORCID iDs that have been properly verified and linked before the manuscript is accepted. After your ORCID iD is linked, it will be displayed automatically in all subsequently accepted manuscripts for any/all ACS journals. We do not publish ORCID iDs provided during proof review or via other communications after a manuscript is accepted for publication.

 

With an ORCID iD, you can create a profile of your research activities to distinguish yourself from other researchers with similar names, and make it easier for your colleagues to find your publications. If you do not yet have an ORCID iD, or you wish to associate your existing ORCID iD with your ACS Publishing Center account, you may do so by clicking on “Profile” from your ACS Publishing Center dashboard and following the ORCID-related links. Learn more at www.orcid.org.

To obtain forms and guidelines for completing the Journal Publishing Agreement or obtaining permissions from copyright owners, and to explore a Copyright Learning Module for chemists, click here.

Funder Reporting Requirement

Authors are required to report funding sources and grant/award numbers. Enter ALL sources of funding for ALL authors in BOTH the Funder Registry Tool in the submission system and in your manuscript to meet this requirement.

Open Access Compliance

ACS offers options by which authors can fulfill the requirements for open access and deposition into repositories for funded research. Visit our ACS Open Science site to see how to fulfill requirements for specific funders and to find out if you are eligible to publish under a Read + Publish agreement between ACS and your institution. You can also find out more about Open Access Compliance and ACS Open Science initiatives.

Diversity and Inclusion Statement

During manuscript submission, ACS journal authors have the option to submit a statement sharing information related to diversity and inclusion that is relevant for their paper. If supplying a diversity and inclusion statement, the corresponding author must provide this on behalf of all authors of the manuscript during the submission process. These statements include but are not limited to analysis of citation diversity and acknowledgment of indigenous land on which research was conducted. Statements expressing political beliefs are not permitted and may be removed by the journal office. All statements are subject to final review by the Editor.

  • Citation Diversity Statement:The citation diversity statement should appear in the Acknowledgements section of the manuscript. ACS recommends including the following: (1) the importance of citation diversity, (2) the proportion of citations by gender and race/ethnicity for the first and last authors, (3) the method used to determine those proportions and its limitations, and (4) steps taken to by the authors to improve citation diversity in the article. We recognize that one limitation of the current methods is that it cannot account for intersex, non-binary, and transgender people, or Indigenous and mixed-race authors. (Adapted from BMES/Springer Guidelines)
  • Land acknowledgment:The land acknowledgment statement should appear in the Acknowledgements section of the manuscript. The statement should link to the institutions’ formal land acknowledgments on which the research took place, if possible. Further guidance for creating these statements can be found here: https://nativegov.org/news/a-guide-to-indigenous-land-acknowledgment/.

 

Appendix 2: Preparing Graphics

Resolution

Digital graphics pasted into manuscripts should have the following minimum resolutions:

  • Black and white line art, 1200 dpi
  • Grayscale art, 600 dpi
  • Color art, 300 dpi

Size

Graphics must fit a one- or two-column format. Single-column graphics can be sized up to 240 points wide (3.33 in.) and double-column graphics must be sized between 300 and 504 points (4.167 in. and 7 in.). The maximum depth for all graphics is 660 points (9.167 in.) including the caption (allow 12 pts. For each line of caption text). Lettering should be no smaller than 4.5 points in the final published format. The text should be legible when the graphic is viewed full-size. Helvetica or Arial fonts work well for lettering. Lines should be no thinner than 0.5 point.

Color

Color may be used to enhance the clarity of complex structures, figures, spectra, and schemes, etc., and color reproduction of graphics is provided at no additional cost to the author. Graphics intended to appear in black and white or grayscale should not be submitted in color.

Type of Graphics

Table of Contents (TOC)/Abstract Graphic

Consult the Guidelines for Table of Contents/Abstract Graphics for specifications.

Our team of subject-matter experts and graphical designers can also help generate a compelling TOC graphic to convey your key findings. Learn more about our Graphical Abstract service.

Figures

A caption giving the figure number and a brief description must be included below each figure. The caption should be understandable without reference to the text. It is preferable to place any key to symbols used in the artwork itself, not in the caption. Ensure that any symbols and abbreviations used in the text agree with those in the artwork.

Charts

Charts (groups of structures that do not show reactions) may have a brief caption describing their contents.

Tables

Each table must have a brief (one phrase or sentence) title that describes the contents. The title should be understandable without reference to the text. Details should be put in footnotes, not in the title. Tables should be used when the data cannot be presented clearly in the narrative, when many numbers must be presented, or when more meaningful inter-relationships can be conveyed by the tabular format. Tables should supplement, not duplicate, information presented in the text and figures. Tables should be simple and concise.

Schemes

Each scheme (sequences of reactions) may have a brief caption describing its contents.

Chemical Structures

Chemical structures should be produced with the use of a drawing program such as ChemDraw.

Cover Art

ACS Applied Energy Materials authors are encouraged to submit an image to be considered for use on the journal’s front cover or Supplementary Covers at the time the revised manuscript is submitted. If your article is accepted for publication, your submitted image may be selected for use on one of the journal’s covers. Images chosen for the front cover will be published at no cost to the author and the ACS will send you information about how to request one complimentary 18” by 24” poster featuring your images.

 

Cover image submissions should be colorful and visually engaging, with minimal text. The cover image should not resemble a graphical abstract or data figure, but rather should be an artistic and scientifically accurate representation of the manuscript.

 

Image files should be submitted as TIF, JPG, PNG or EPS files with a resolution of at least 300 dpi for pixel-based images. Images should be 8.19 in × 8.47 in. (or 20.80 cm × 21.51 cm). Authors should submit the cover image, along with a short, clear legend (less than 50 words) explaining the image, as supplementary files to ACS Paragon Plus with their revised manuscript.

 

If you wish to be considered only for the front cover, and not a paid supplementary cover, please respond NO accordingly to the Journal Covers question in ACS Paragon Plus. For more information on the Supplementary Covers program, please see this webpage.

Web Enhanced Objects (WEO)

The Web editions of ACS journals allow readers to view multimedia attachments such as animations and movies that complement understanding of the research being reported.

 

WEOs should be uploaded in the submission system with ‘Web Enhanced Object’ selected as the file designation. Consult the list of compatible WEO formats.

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