Journal of Materials Chemistry Blog

This year we are pleased to celebrate 10 years since Journal of Materials Chemistry was split into three respective journals: Journal of Materials Chemistry A, B and C, each focusing on a different aspect of materials chemistry. We are grateful to our fantastic community of authors, reviewers, Board members and readers and wanted to showcase just some of them in a series of ‘Community Spotlight’ blog articles.

Next in our ‘Community Spotlight’ series, we feature some more of our outstanding peer reviewers who have gone above and beyond in supporting the quality, timely and rigorous peer review model for Journal of Materials Chemistry A, B or C over the years. Check out their interview responses below to find out how reviewing has helped in the preparation of their own manuscripts and to discover their top advice for new reviewers and authors.

Dr Sijie Chen

Dr. Sijie Chen received her BSc in Biology from Wuhan University in 2009 and PhD in Bioengineering from Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) in 2013, under the supervision of Prof Ben Zhong Tang. She worked as a Postdoctoral Fellow at HKUST and then as an Endeavour Fellow at the University of Melbourne and as a visiting scientist at Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research. She joined Prof Ana Teixeira’s group as a Postdoc in the Division of Biomaterials and Regenerative Medicine at the Department of Medical Biochemistry and Biophysics in Karolinska Institutet since late 2015. Dr. Chen was recruited as an Assistant Professor at Ming Wai Lau Centre for Reparative Medicine, Karolinska Institutet in 2017. She will be moving to the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) this year. Dr. Chen is working on fluorescent sensors and fluorescence imaging. Her current research interests focus on the development of new luminescent materials for mechanobiology studies and regenerative medicine studies.

What encouraged you to become a reviewer for Journal of Materials Chemistry B?

As a researcher who publishes papers every year, I usually receive feedback from 2-5 reviewers for each of my papers. I am grateful for the time and effort that reviewers invest in providing constructive suggestions, which help to improve the quality of our research and ensure that the scientific community runs smoothly. I also have some of my own papers published in the Journal of Materials Chemistry B, which has motivated me to contribute my own knowledge and experience to the journal as a reviewer. I am excited to have the opportunity to give back to the scientific community and contribute to the dissemination of high-quality research.

What would you recommend to new reviewers to ensure their report is helpful?

The primary goal of the review process is to provide authors with constructive feedback that can help them improve their work. When reviewing a manuscript, it is important to consider several key factors. These can include the significance and novelty of the work, the design of the project, the clarity of expression, and any errors that have been identified.In providing feedback, it is helpful to be as specific and detailed as possible. For instance, if you question the novelty of the work, you might provide references or examples to support your concerns. Similarly, if you identify language or writing issues, it can be useful to list specific examples or offer suggestions for improvement.

Dr Marcus Johns

Dr. Marcus Johns is an analytical materials scientist who focuses his research on developing new analytical techniques. These use light to directly investigate the intermolecular structures of polymers and the interparticle interactions of nanomaterials. This research direction emerged from his curiosity about the background fluorescence observed from bio-based scaffolds for tissue engineering. He completed his PhD at the Centre for Sustainable Chemical Technologies, University of Bath, UK in 2017 and is currently a Mitacs Accelerate postdoctoral research fellow in the Faculty of Forestry at the University of British Columbia, Canada. Marcus has been recognized as an outstanding reviewer for the Journal of Materials Chemistry B in both 2020 and 2021.

What would you recommend to new reviewers to ensure their report is helpful?

My top recommendation is to always provide constructive comments, regardless of your opinion on the manuscript’s quality. If you believe the paper needs significant revisions or should be rejected, explain your reasoning and suggest experiments or alternative theories for the authors to consider. Conversely, even if you initially think that the manuscript is flawless, there may still be areas that need clarification or references that the authors might have missed. Additionally, don’t hesitate to propose new research directions based on the manuscript’s results and your expertise, or ask questions that require further investigation (clarify that you don’t expect answers in the current manuscript). As reviewers, our role extends beyond ensuring scientific soundness; we also support researchers in developing new avenues of inquiry and expanding humanity’s knowledge.

Has being a reviewer affected how you approach the preparation of your recent manuscripts?

Yes, absolutely! First and foremost, I ensure that I prepare the manuscript to the highest possible standard before submission, even if it means taking an extra month. As a reviewer, it becomes challenging to focus solely on the scientific content when the manuscript’s structure is poor or important details are missing. The initial time invested in enhancing the manuscript’s quality is always less than going through multiple review rounds due to confusion or missing information. Similarly, I dedicate time to ensure that the supplementary information for the manuscript includes all relevant data, enabling readers to draw their own conclusions. As a reviewer, there’s nothing more frustrating than being unable to assess the reasonability of a conclusion due to incomplete data. Lastly, I’ve made an effort to educate myself on statistical analysis and ensure its correct application. I often encounter incorrect claims of significance as a reviewer, where the analysis has been repeated but not reproduced, for example.

Professor Jennifer Schaefer

Jennifer L. Schaefer is the Sheehan Family Collegiate Professor of Engineering and the Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion of the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at the University of Notre Dame, USA. Her research group investigates materials chemistry phenomena relevant for sustainable technologies, including electrochemical energy storage devices. Prior to joining the University of Notre Dame in 2015, she was a National Research Council Postdoctoral Associate at the National Institute of Standards and Technology. She earned a PhD in chemical engineering at Cornell University, and prior degrees in chemistry and chemical engineering from Widener University.

What encouraged you to become a reviewer for Journal of Materials Chemistry A?

The peer-reviewed publication system requires both authors and reviewers. As leader of a research group that submits manuscripts, I feel that it is my duty to also review manuscripts. I strive to provide at least the number of manuscript reviews in a given year as a reviewer as I have received as an author. Being a reviewer for manuscripts for non-profit society journals is a way that I serve the global scientific community.

What would you recommend to new reviewers to ensure their report is helpful?

A helpful review considers both the big picture and the details. For manuscripts under review for Journal of Materials Chemistry A, I consider whether the report advances our knowledge of materials chemistry in the application of relevance in light of prior published work. I also look at the details of how the experiments were conducted and compare the displayed data with the claims in the discussion. When claims made in the manuscript do not align with the data presented, then it is constructive to explain in the review exactly what is not aligned. Specific feedback helps authors to more fully understand the reviewer’s perspective and to more quickly identify how to improve their manuscript.

Dr Uroš Lačnjevac

Dr Uroš Lačnjevac is a Full Research Professor at the Institute for Multidisciplinary Research, University of Belgrade, Serbia. He earned his BSc/MSc degree (2005) in electrochemistry from the Faculty of Technology and Metallurgy, University of Belgrade, and his PhD (2010) in energy conversion from the University of Belgrade. His research interests are related to the synthesis of nanostructured materials and composite coatings for electrocatalysis applications, with a focus on water electrolysis. He has published 3 international book chapters and more than 50 papers in peer-reviewed international journals. He has served as a referee for 70 scientific journals and completed more than 430 review reports. For his peer review work, he received the Outstanding Reviewer Award from Journal of Materials Chemistry A in 2019, 2021 and 2022.

What would you recommend to new reviewers to ensure their report is helpful?

As reviewers, your role is crucial as the bridge between the editor and the authors. It is essential to keep in mind that your responsibility extends in two directions. Firstly, you should assist the editor in making the best decision for the journal’s interests. Secondly, you should help the authors improve their manuscript, irrespective of whether your recommendation is to reject or accept it. When providing your report, strive to be constructive, specific, and comprehensive. This approach demonstrates respect for both the authors and the journal. Remember to maintain a polite tone while remaining firm and persistent in upholding high standards.

Has being a reviewer affected how you approach the preparation of your recent manuscripts?

Being a reviewer, particularly for esteemed journals like Journal of Materials Chemistry A, has had a transformative impact on my approach to manuscript preparation. It represents a pivotal moment for me, especially as I conduct scientific research in a country with its unique set of challenges. Witnessing how my comments, suggestions, and interpretations can significantly enhance the manuscripts of top research groups has instilled a newfound value in my own knowledge and experience. This realization serves as a powerful motivation, boosting my confidence to strive for success in publishing my own work in high-impact journals. Moreover, reviewing the work of other researchers has been a rich source of ideas, feedback, and insights that I now apply to my own projects and writing process. It has made me more mindful of certain aspects, such as clarity, organization, and addressing potential questions or concerns that reviewers may have. Furthermore, experiencing constructive criticism as a reviewer has deepened my appreciation for the importance of thorough revisions and ensuring the overall quality of my own work prior to submission.

Prof. Sheng-Heng Chung

Highly recommended Plan B!

Sheng-Heng Chung received his B.S. in Resource Engineering and Materials Science and Engineering from National Cheng Kung University and his M.S. in Materials Science and Engineering from National Tsing Hua University in Taiwan. He joined the Ph.D. program in Materials Science and Engineering and worked as a research associate with Professor Arumugam Manthiram at the University of Texas at Austin. Currently, he is an associate professor in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at National Cheng Kung University. His current research focuses on electrochemical conversion and storage technology.

What do you like most about being a reviewer for Journal of Materials Chemistry A?

I have been invited by more than 100 journals and thousands of peer review papers. The peer-review invitation from Journal of Materials Chemistry A always shows high-quality manuscripts with novelty, solid science, and great performance progresses. It is a very nice experience to support these high-standard manuscripts with detailed reviewing and data checking. Moreover, as a reviewer for Journal of Materials Chemistry A, I am always assigned with the papers in my research fields, which means that the authors’ manuscript would be reviewed and polished by researchers in the same and similar research filed. I believe this is important to improve the quality of publications and to help authors.

What encouraged you to become a reviewer for Journal of Materials Chemistry A?

It was a chance that I received a reviewer comment from Journal of Materials Chemistry A, in which the reviewer encourages me to revise my paper with specific suggestions rather than subjective questioning. This encourages me to optimize my reviewer report to a summary with a specific general comment followed by detailed comments supported by my suggestion to address the comment or make improvements. In other words, borrowing from a previous reviewer from Journal of Materials Chemistry A, I believe that the role of a reviewer is to improve the quality of the journal’s publication by offering constructive suggestions for high-level research.

Dr Jianxun Ding

Dr. Jianxun Ding is a professor at Changchun Institute of Applied Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CIAC, CAS), P. R. China. Dr. Ding received his B.S. degree from University of Science and Technology of China in 2007 and obtained his Ph.D. at CIAC, CAS, in 2013 under the supervision of Dr. Xuesi Chen. From 2017 to 2019, Dr. Ding worked as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow with Dr. Omid C. Farokhzad and Dr. Jinjun Shi from Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School. His research focuses on synthesizing biodegradable bioactive polymers, developing bioresponsive polymer platforms for controlled drug delivery, exploiting polymer-based adjuvants for immunotherapy, and preparing polymer scaffolds for regenerative medicine. Dr. Ding has published more than 150 academic articles in mainstream journals, including Advanced Materials, Angewandte Chemie International Edition, and so forth, with over 13,000 citations. Moreover, Dr. Ding has applied for over 70 patents in China, of which over 60 have been authorized. Meanwhile, owing to his significant accomplishments, Dr. Ding has won more than 10 awards, such as the Natural Science Award of Jilin Province, the Science and Technology Progress Award of Jilin Province, the Chinese Chemical Society Polymer Young Scholar Award, and Young Scholar Award of Jilin Province

What do you like most about being a reviewer for Journal of Materials Chemistry B?

Ever since I served as a reviewer for Journal of Materials Chemistry B, what impresses me most is the accuracy and efficiency with which the Editorial Office executes manuscript decisions. What’s more, it offers me the opportunity to assist authors in advancing the publication of excellent, valuable studies while also giving me the authority to eliminate research of low quality and lacking rigor or innovation. When you are personally involved in this process, you will be delighted and proud of the gradual growth of the journal.

Do you have any advice to first-time authors seeking publication in the journal?

A meaningful study should meet the following standards: 1) Innovation is the most critical issue. The authors should put forward a brand-new viewpoint based on their experimental data, which will make the reviewers pay more attention to the manuscript; 2) Journal of Materials Chemistry B is a representative materials chemistry journal in which the manuscript published should include the successful synthesis of materials and the application prospect brought by material property. This requires the authors to pay attention to the intersection of multidisciplinary during the research process, further enhancing the practical significance of this study; 3) By paying attention to the details, the authors should standardize all documents submitted with a uniformly high standard, including but not limited to the main text and supporting information.

What has been your biggest learning point from reviewing?

The reviewer looks at the manuscript from a completely different perspective from the authors. When reviewing a manuscript, readability will severely affect the reviewer’s attitude toward the manuscript, which is always overlooked in the writing process. In addition, reviewing the manuscript in related research fields inspires my insights and perspectives on the future research direction. Overall, becoming the reviewer of Journal of Materials Chemistry B is an excellent opportunity to examine myself, and this has undoubtedly increased my rigor in dealing with scientific problems and my sensitivity to identifying critical points during my daily research.

Thank you to all of our outstanding and dedicated reviewers for their support of the Journal of Materials Chemistry family of journals over the years.

We hope you enjoyed finding out more about some of our reviewers. Keep an eye out for our next ‘Community Spotlight’!

If you missed any of our previous ‘Community Spotlight’ blog posts, check them all out here.

This year we are pleased to celebrate 10 years since Journal of Materials Chemistry was split into three respective journals: Journal of Materials Chemistry A, B and C, each focusing on a different aspect of materials chemistry. We are grateful to our fantastic community of authors, reviewers, Board members and readers and wanted to showcase just some of them in a series of ‘Community Spotlight’ blog articles.

Next in our ‘Community Spotlight’ series, we feature some of our outstanding peer reviewers who have gone above and beyond in supporting the quality, timely and rigorous peer review model for Journal of Materials Chemistry A, B or C over the years. Check out their interview responses below to find out why they like reviewing for the journals and to discover their top advice for first-time authors and reviewers.

Dr Ady Suwardi

Ady Suwardi received his PhD from University of Cambridge, UK, and B.Eng from Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore. He is currently a group leader in A*STAR and also an Adjunct Assistant Professor in the department of Materials Science and Engineering (MSE), National University of Singapore (NUS), Singapore. His main research area focuses on fundamental thermal and electronic properties of sustainable energy materials such as thermoelectrics, as well as their recycling, manufacturing, and device applications. He has a h-index of 27 and has published a total of >80 papers, with >30 corresponding/first authored papers in prestigious journals such as Nature Electronics, Advanced Materials, ACS Energy Letters, and Journal of Materials Chemistry A. He features in the Nanoscale and Journal of Materials Chemistry A Emerging Investigator series 2022. He currently serves in the early career editorial board in Materials Today Energy and youth editorial board in Soft Science. He has also served as a referee for more than 160 articles in 30 different peer-reviewed journals including prestigious journals such as Science, Angewandte Chemie, and Journal of Materials Chemistry A. He is also the recipient of an outstanding reviewer award from Journal of Materials Chemistry A in 2020. Beyond academics, he is a recipient of a Singapore National Award from the Prime Minister Office for his technical contributions during the COVID-19 crisis.

What encouraged you to become a reviewer for Journal of Materials Chemistry A?

When I first published in Journal of Materials Chemistry A back in 2020, I was very impressed by the rapid processing time and the quality of reviewers’ comments. Many people believe that quality takes a long time, but I have seen that in this journal, it is possible to have both quality and speed in the editorial and review process. Long story short, the smooth experience in publishing with the journal motivated me to sign up as the reviewer. My main motivation at the time was to give back to the energy community (especially in thermoelectrics and piezoelectrics) by helping to review some of the manuscripts. I am also heartened by the various gestures by the journal, such as sharing the final decision of the manuscript, as well as getting to see comments from other reviewers. This simple gesture has largely create the feeling of inclusivity for reviewer like myself. In addition to this, it is also a personal excitement for me to have the first-hand knowledge on the latest development within my research field. This has certainly helped me to better plan my own research and formulate the right scientific question.

What has been your biggest learning point from reviewing?

Having the opportunity to sit “on the other side” of the publishing process, I have had wonderful opportunities to see things from the eyes of reviewers. For instance, I have personally learnt to improve the quality of my own review by looking at the comments from other reviewers which was kindly shared by the journal. Importantly, looking at manuscript from reviewers’ perspective have also tremendously improved my own manuscript quality. When writing my own paper, I take conscious effort to think and see from the readers’ perspective. For example, innocuous habit like grouping all figures together at the end of the manuscript creates unnecessary trouble for some reviewers, having to scroll back and forth throughout the manuscript. On the other hands, I have personally learned some good habits in responding to reviewers’ comments from some of the manuscripts which I helped to review. For instance, by attaching the important changes in the manuscript directly in the response letter can greatly save the reviewer’s time and efforts to locate the specific changes made in response to a specific comment. Overall, as an early-career PI, I feel that I have gained more than what I give through my active involvement in peer review.

Prof. Jiao Jiao Li

Dr Jiao Jiao Li is a biomedical engineer and medical scientist. Her research in tissue engineering and regenerative medicine aims to develop new therapies for chronic diseases, particularly those affecting musculoskeletal tissues using a combination of approaches including stem cells, biomaterials, nanotechnology, and more. She is a Senior Lecturer and Research Group Leader at University of Technology Sydney (UTS). She was a recent National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) Early Career Fellow, and Co-Deputy Director of the Australian Research Council (ARC) Training Centre for Innovative BioEngineering. She was selected by Science & Technology Australia as a 2021-22 Superstar of STEM – one of 60 Australian women to serve as national role models for the community. Jiao Jiao’s work has been recognised by >30 inter/national awards, including in 2022 the NSW Young Tall Poppy Scientist of the Year and Premier’s Prize for NSW Early Career Researcher of the Year (Physical Sciences) for her nationally significant contributions to research excellence and social impact, and being named as Australia’s Top 20 Under 40 Researchers. She was also the Australian winner of the international Falling Walls Lab competition in 2021. Jiao Jiao has a passion for disseminating science in the community, and for raising up the next generation of secondary and tertiary students for their future careers and leadership in STEM.

What encouraged you to become a reviewer for Journal of Materials Chemistry B?

Journal of Materials Chemistry B gets a lot of high quality submissions from the biomaterials field. As someone who was initially trained as a biomaterials scientist, I love seeing the latest cutting-edge work in the field. I have reviewed many papers for the journal in my interest area of tissue engineering, many of which were from groups conducting the most innovative work in this area, and have learnt a lot from these latest developments. I very much appreciate the journal’s efficient and transparent peer review process. By looking at my comments compared to those of other reviewers and the editor’s decision on manuscripts, I have learnt a lot about the peer review process and how to optimise the quality of my own manuscripts. Reviewing for the journal has also taught me to appreciate differing opinions, particularly when I was invited to provide an adjudicating review for manuscripts with conflicting reviewer reports. I am proud to say that reviewing for the journal has almost grown up together with my academic career, and that I have helped contribute to the growth of Journal of Materials Chemistry B as a major outlet for high quality papers in the biomaterials field.

Do you have any advice for first-time authors seeking publication in the journal?

I find that the best original research papers all share some common characteristics: 1) the work conducted was innovative or gave new insights into what was previously not known in the field, 2) the characterisations or analyses were directly relevant to proving a central point, and were performed with scientific rigour to good breadth and depth, and 3) the manuscript was written in a way that captures the latest advances relating to the subject matter, and clearly explains the significance of the work to a possibly generalist scientific audience. The editors of the journal always find reviewers who have specific expertise in the topic area of the manuscript, so the manuscript needs to well explain the specific novelty/significance of the study compared to the latest advances or what is already known/has been done. To some extent, the same applies for review papers as these also need to offer new insights or perspectives, or feature a unique collection of literature compared to existing reviews on the specific topic area.

Dr Eva Hemmer

Dr. Eva Hemmer is an Associate Professor of Materials Chemistry at the University of Ottawa. She received her PhD (2008) in materials science from Saarland University (Germany) under the mentorship of Prof. Sanjay Mathur. During her PhD she focused on the synthesis of lanthanide alkoxides and their decomposition to lanthanide-containing inorganic nanomaterials. This experience was further deepened during her postdoctoral studies when she worked on lanthanide-doped nanoparticles for near-infrared bioimaging with Prof. Kohei Soga (Tokyo University of Science, Japan, 2009-2012). In 2013 she was awarded a Feodor Lynen Research Postdoctoral Fellowship from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation to work in the groups of Profs. Fiorenzo Vetrone and Francois Légaré at INRS-EMT (Université du Québec, Canada, 2012-2015) to develop nanothermometers based on upconverting nanoparticles. In winter 2016 she came to Ottawa in order to design and study novel multifunctional lanthanide-based nanocarriers for biomedical and energy conversion applications at the Department of Chemistry and Biomolecular Sciences.

What encouraged you to become a reviewer for Journal of Materials Chemistry C?

I started reviewing for Journal of Materials Chemistry C when I was a postdoctoral fellow. One of my mentors, who was an editor, encouraged me to become a reviewer. I remember that I was quite nervous about it at the beginning. But I quickly started to enjoy reviewing as it is a great opportunity to get to see brand new research in materials chemistry that is also relevant to my own work on optical nanomaterials. The fact that JMCC shared the comments made by other reviewers as well as the final decision was very helpful and took away my initial uncertainty; it helped me to get better (I hope so 😊) in writing reviews and also to improve my own manuscript writing (I often ask myself what questions the reviewer might ask).

What would you recommend to new reviewers to ensure their report is helpful?

In my opinion, a helpful report provides constructive criticism. I have been lucky as an author to have received reviewer comments that helped to make the paper stronger. On the other hand, nothing is more frustrating than a one-liner rejection. My advice for new reviewers would be to accept review invitations for manuscripts about a topic that aligns very well with their own expertise, before getting into more complementary research fields.  Also, only accept an invitation if you have the time to carefully read the manuscript and to write a detailed report in time.

Prof. Seung Uk Son

Prof. Seung Uk Son is currently working for the Department of Chemistry in Sungkyunkwan University, South Korea. He majored in organometallics and received his Ph. D in 2001 from Seoul National University, South Korea. He collaborated with Prof. Young Keun Chung, Prof. Taeghwan Hyeon, and Prof. Dwight A. Sweigart on organometallics and nanomaterials. He joined Sungkyunkwan University in 2005. His present research focuses on morphology-engineered microporous organic polymers (ME-MOPs) for environment, energy, and bio-applications. He is serving as an Advisory Board member of Journal of Materials Chemistry A and Materials Advances.

What do you like most about being a reviewer for Journal of Materials Chemistry A?

Compared with my reviewer experience for the journals of other publishers, the prompt efforts of the editorial office were the most impressive point for me. The fast decision including adjudicative cases and the handy communications from the editorial office have made my reviewing process comfortable. From the statement of authors, I could figure out easily the key intention of authors, which was another good point in the reviewing process of Journal of Materials Chemistry A.

Do you have any advice for first-time authors seeking publication in the journal?

I think that Journal of Materials Chemistry A is a representative materials chemistry journal of the Royal Society of Chemistry. The meaning of materials chemistry papers can be analysed from the aspects of synthesis or functional performance. If authors explain the meaning of works from these aspects (usually one of them), it will be very helpful for reviewers to figure out the meaning of works. In the case of synthesis, the novel synthetic point can be appealed, especially, compared with the previous work of authors or literature. For application performance, simple record competition without corresponding scientific logic and principles was not persuasive for me to understand the meaning of work. Thus, I think that the new principle is important rather than the technical record comparison. Moreover, without beating performance records, the trial and suggestion of new scientific principles can be sufficiently welcomed.

Prof. Shinn-Jyh Ding

Prof. Shinn-Jyh Ding is a faculty member at the Institute of Oral Science at Chung Shan Medical University, Taiwan. He received his Ph.D. in Materials Science from National Cheng Kung University, Taiwan (1999) on the topic of hydroxyapatite-based gradient composite coatings by plasma spraying and magnetron sputtering. Since 2015, he has been honored as a guest professor at University of Debrecen, Hungary. Research interests include surface modification of metallic implants, biomimetic bone cements, and biocomposites for load-bearing applications.

Do you have any advice for first-time authors seeking publication in Journal of Materials Chemistry B?

While the novelty and impact of a manuscript are the first things to be noted, the presentation of figures and tables is also extremely important to a good manuscript. In general, unclear Figure editing includes poor X- and Y-axes, symbols (or labels), and low image quality making the results difficult to read and understand. Furthermore, it is suggested that figures and tables can be embedded in the text, which leads to a clear presentation of the results. A commonly poor practice is to over-repeat the results without engaging in an in-depth discussion with previous studies.

What has been your biggest learning point from reviewing?

The biggest gain is to learn a state-of-the-art article from a researcher, which is related to my research interests. From that article, some insights and perspectives can be inspired in future work. Reviewing a well-organized article facilitates the manuscript writing of our research.

Prof. Martin Bryce

Martin Bryce graduated from Wolverhampton Polytechnic. He obtained a D.Phil. from York University in 1978 for work on synthetic methodology for sulfur and selenium heterocycles under the guidance of John Vernon and Peter Hanson. Following postdoctoral positions at the University of British Columbia,Vancouver (in Larry Weiler’s group) and the University of Bristol (in Roger Alder’s group) he joined Durham University. He was promoted to Professor of Chemistry at Durham in 1995. He is the recipient of a Ciba-Geigy Award for academic collaboration in Europe (1990), the Royal Society of Chemistry Bader Award (1992), the Royal Society of Chemistry Interdisciplinary Award (1992), the Nuffield Foundation Science Research Fellowship (1993), the University of Durham Sir Derman Christopherson Fellowship (1995) and the Royal Society of Chemistry Heterocyclic Chemistry Award (2002). Martin has held Visiting Scientist positions at the University of California at Santa Barbara, and the University of Copenhagen. He was a Troisième Cycle Lecturer in Switzerland in 2008 and a Tarrant Visiting Professor at the University of Florida, Gainesville in 2013. He was the co-director of the Durham University Centre for Molecular and Nanoscale Electronics (1990-2018). He was the Scientific Editor of the Journal of Materials Chemistry (1995-2000). Martin coordinated the EC FP7 Marie Curie ITNs “Fundamentals of Molecular Electronic Assemblies” (FUNMOLS) (2008-2012) and “Molecular-Scale Electronics” (MOLESCO) (2014-2017) comprising 10 European partner laboratories.

What do you like most about being a reviewer for Journal of Materials Chemistry C?

The opportunity to help authors to improve their work by making constructive comments, and also to ensure that lower quality work is not accepted, by rejecting manuscripts that contain major errors, or are incomplete, or lack innovation

Do you have any advice for first-time authors seeking publication in the journal?

Pay as much attention to accuracy and detail in the Supporting Information as you do for the main manuscript. The rigour of the work (or lack of rigour) is often revealed by the content of the SI.

Thank you to all of our outstanding and dedicated reviewers for their support of the Journal of Materials Chemistry family of journals over the years.

We hope you enjoyed finding out more about some of our reviewers. Keep an eye out for our next ‘Community Spotlight’!

If you missed any of our previous ‘Community Spotlight’ blog posts, check them all out here.

This year we are pleased to celebrate 10 years since Journal of Materials Chemistry was split into three respective journals: Journal of Materials Chemistry A, B and C, each focusing on a different aspect of materials chemistry. We are grateful to our fantastic community of authors, reviewers, Board members and readers and wanted to showcase just some of them in a series of ‘Community Spotlight’ blog articles.

In the second of our ‘Community Spotlight’ series, we feature some more of the Advisory Board members who have supported Journal of Materials Chemistry A, B or C over the years and have asked them what they like most about being on the journal’s Advisory Boards and about their recent Journal of Materials Chemistry publications. Check out their interview responses below.

Prof. Magda Titirici

Prof. Magda Titirici is a Chair of Sustainable Energy Materials in the Department of Chemical Engineering at Imperial College London. Her research interests are related to the development of sustainable materials for energy storage and conversion in particular batteries beyond Li ion as well as sustainable electrocatalytic processes for oxygen reduction free of critical metal or biomass oxidation with H2 production. She has served as an Associate Editor for Journal of Materials Chemistry A between 2013-2022. She has published over 300 papers in this area among which > 15 are in J Mater Chem A. She remains currently in the J Mater Chem A advisory board and continues to engage with the materials chemistry community in her role of the President of the RSC Materials Chemistry Community.

What do you like most about being on the Advisory Board for Journal of Materials Chemistry A?

I like being at the forefront of materials chemistry research by being involved in reviewing topical papers, setting new strategies for the journal, suggesting special issues, and indirectly interacting with different scientific topics, especially following on from my previous role as an Associate Editor for J Mater Chem A. I believe that the J Mater Chem family works with the materials chemistry community for the materials chemistry community, and you always feel included as scientist no matter where you work in the world.

What do you think of Journal of Materials Chemistry A as a place to publish impactful materials chemistry research?

J Mater Chem A is indeed the ideal place to publish research in materials chemistry related to green materials, energy and other environmental applications in order to maximise impact and visibility of research. This is due to the journal’s great scientific reputation and the professionalism of to its editorial team. J Mater Chem was one of the first journal I have published in at the very start of my academic career. It has been instrumental for my academic career especially during my early days.

Where do you see the materials chemistry field in the next 10 years?

I believe that theory driven materials discovery using high throughput automatic robots optimised by AI to balance cost performance and sustainability will increase significantly. This is where I see the future of materials chemistry.

Prof. Markus Niederberger

Markus Niederberger is an Advisory Board member for Journal of Materials Chemistry A. He is a Professor of Multifunctional Materials in the Department of Materials at ETH Zurich, Switzerland. He received his diploma in Chemistry and his doctoral degree from ETH Zurich. After a postdoctoral stay at the University of California Santa Barbara he was a group leader at the Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces. His group is active in diverse research areas ranging from nanoparticle synthesis to aerogels for gas-phase photocatalysis, flexible, transparent and degradable batteries, polymers for corrosion protection and luminescent materials.

What do you like most about being on the Advisory Board for Journal of Materials Chemistry A?
As an Advisory Board member I often act as adjudicative referee for manuscripts with conflicting reports. I like doing this because it is very instructive for me. I learn about the different views and opinions of experts on certain topics and I have to weigh them carefully so that I can make a sound and fair recommendation.

Where do you see the materials chemistry field in the next 10 years?
It is clear that sustainability will become a focus. However, I also believe that the aspect of rapid implementation of research results in industry and technology will continue to gain in importance, which will strongly influence research and publication activities.

Prof. Ross Forgan

What do you like most about being on the Advisory Board for Journal of Materials Chemistry B?

Having an overview of the wide range of exciting materials research that is being published, building links with others in the field through things like special issues (I am co-editing a special issue for JMC B in 2023), and supporting the younger members of the community through initiatives such as the JMC lectureship.

Could you provide a brief summary of your most recent Journal of Materials Chemistry B publication?

Our most recent publication was a review article on the application of metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) as nanoscale imaging agents led by Dr Fatma Demir Duman. The review covers a wide range of potential imaging applications to which MOFs can be applied, focussing on structure-activity relationships and highlighted the great potential for MOFs to act as multifunctional vectors in nanomedicine.

Prof. Marta Mas-Torrent

Prof. Marta Mas-Torrent is an Advisory Board member for Journal of Materials Chemistry C. She received her PhD in 2002 working at the Institut de Ciència de Materials (ICMAB-CSIC) in Barcelona (Spain) and at The Royal Institution of Great Britain in London (UK). Afterwards, she carried out postdoctoral research at Kavli Institute of Nanoscience, Delft (The Netherlands). Since June 2007 she obtained a research position at ICMAB-CSIC. In 2012 she was awarded with an ERC Starting Grant project and one year later an ERC-PoC project. She has also participated in many other European and national projects as well as in two industrial related projects. She is co-author of around 190 publications and co-inventor of 7 patents. Prof. Mas-Torrent received the 2013 Oliver Kahn International Award for her contributions in the field of materials science and the Prize of Young Researcher 2006 of the Spanish Royal Society of Chemistry (RSEQ). Currently she is leading an interdisciplinary research group focused on the design and preparation of new functional molecular materials for their application in organic electronic devices.

Her interests range from fundamental studies in order to better understand materials properties to a more applied perspective aiming at developing proof-of-principle devices. Particularly, she is interested in structure-property correlation studies, surface self-assembly, processing of organic semiconductors, organic field-effect transistors (OFETs), electrolyte-gated organic field effect transistors (EGOFETs), charge transport and sensors.

What do you think of Journal of Materials Chemistry C as a place to publish impactful materials chemistry research?

The J. Mater. Chem. C is a widely read journal among the materials science community and holds a strong and long history. The journal is suitable to publish novel materials, fundamental studies of appealing materials as well as advanced applications. In particular, related to my research field of molecular electronics, I always found here very inspiring works.

Could you provide a brief summary of your most recent Journal of Materials Chemistry C publication?

In my last publication, we report the fabrication of organic field-effect transistors (OFETs) that respond to UV radiation. The OFETs have been prepared using as active layer a blend of an organic semiconductor with different insulating polymers. We show that the nature of the binding polymer has a significant impact on the device performance and photoresponse due to the tuning of the charge traps. Therefore, this work demonstrates that the use of a binding polymer is a useful tool to optimise the OFET electrical characteristics as well as its photoresponsivity.

Prof. Yanlin Song

Yanlin Song is on the Advisory Board for Journal of Materials Chemistry C and is a professor and director of Key Laboratory of Green Pringting at Institute of Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences (ICCAS). He received his Ph.D. degree from the Department of Chemistry at Peking University in 1996. Then he conducted research as a postdoctoral follow at Tsinghua University from 1996 to 1998. He has been working at ICCAS since 1998. His research interests include nano-materials and green-printing technology, printed electrics and photonics, fabrication and applications of nanostructured devices. He has published more than 400 papers and 15 books and chapters, with a H-index of 95, and has been granted more than 130 patents from China, USA, European Union , Japan and Korea, etc.

Where do you see the materials chemistry field in the next 10 years?

In the next 10 years, the design and preparation of new molecules and materials will be influenced greatly by Artificial Intelligence, such as DNA Synthesis and Materials Genome, and the disciplinary crossing and integration of Chemistry, Materials and Bioscience will be more and more important and popular.

 Could you provide a brief summary of your most recent Journal of Materials Chemistry C publication?

Recently, we have published a review article with the title “Interface engineering of perovskite nanocrystals: challenges and opportunities for biological imaging and detection”. Perovskite nanocrystals (PNCs) have attracted much attention due to their unique optical properties, including high photoluminescence quantum yield, narrow emission and tunable wavelength. This perspective focuses on the recent progress of these promising materials as fluorescent probes for biological diagnosis. Efforts on the interface engineering are presented on how to construct water-resistant and biocompatible PNC probes. Their applications in biological diagnosis are discussed with a focus on cell and tumor imaging, biomolecular detection, and fluorescence immunoassay. With the high tolerance of defect, precisely tunable emission, and strong light absorption coefficient, the physical and optical properties of PNCs are superior to traditional fluorescent dyes. Finally, this perspective discusses the challenges and opportunities for the application of PNCs as fluorescent labeling probes in biological fields.

We hope you enjoyed finding out more about some more of our Advisory Board members. Keep an eye out for our next ‘Community Spotlight’!

If you missed the first of our ‘Community Spotlight’ blog posts, check it out here.

This year we are pleased to celebrate 10 years since Journal of Materials Chemistry was split into three respective journals: Journal of Materials Chemistry A, B and C, each focusing on a different aspect of materials chemistry. We are grateful to our fantastic community of authors, reviewers, Board members and readers and wanted to showcase just some of them in a series of ‘Community Spotlight’ blog articles.

In this blog post, we feature some of the Advisory Board members who have supported Journal of Materials Chemistry A, B or C over the years and have asked them what they like most about being on the journal’s Advisory Boards. Check out their interview responses below.

Prof. Hiroshi Imahori

Hiroshi Imahori is an Advisory Board member for Journal of Materials Chemistry A. He received his Doctor of Science from Kyoto University in 1990. After post-doctoral training at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies, he was Assistant and Associate Professors at Osaka University. Since 2002, he has been a Professor at Kyoto University. His current interests involve solar energy conversion and organic functional materials. For his work, he has been awarded the Japanese Photochemistry Association Prize (2004), Japan Society for the Promotion of Science Prize (2006), the Chemical Society of Japan Award for Creative Work (2006), the Osaka Science Prize (2007), Fellow of the Electrochemical Society (2016), and the Chemical Society of Japan Award (2022).

What do you like most about being on the Advisory Board for Journal of Materials Chemistry A?

I have the privilege to access the academic network of JMCA and enjoy working together with people involved closely in JMCA.

What do you think of Journal of Materials Chemistry A as a place to publish impactful materials chemistry research?

I believe JMCA is one of the prestigious platforms for promoting recent results in energy-related science and technology.

Prof. Sahika Inal

Sahika Inal is an Advisory Board member for Journal of Materials Chemistry B and is the recipient of the 2022 Journal of Materials Chemistry Lectureship. She is an Associate Professor of Bioengineering with co-affiliations in Electrical Engineering and Materials Science and Engineering programs at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST). Her expertise is in polymer science and bioelectronic devices, particularly in the photophysics of conjugated polymers, characterization of polymer films, and the design of biosensors and actuators. Since 2016, the Inal lab at KAUST exploits the functionalities of organic electronic materials, investigates ionic/electronic charge transport, and designs electronic devices that record/stimulate biological signals.

What do you like most about being on the Advisory Board for Journal of Materials Chemistry B?

RSC, in general, is a publisher that works for and alongside scientists. JMC B editorial team has been very open to the advisory board’s suggestions, and they want the journal to be a home for good science and a community with members that support each other. So, I feel that my voice is valued and all decisions taken are for the good of the community.

What do you think of Journal of Materials Chemistry B as a place to publish impactful materials chemistry research?

I have been reading papers in JMC B since I was in graduate school and some have affected the direction of research we took in my group. I have been writing and reviewing for JMC B and I can certainly say that the peer review process is thoughtful and done in a way to make the science in that paper more complete. The editors in JMC B work to help authors make their work better. Even when I got a paper rejected, the reviewer’s comments were helpful in resubmitting it.

Could you provide a brief summary of your most recent Journal of Materials Chemistry B publication?

I wrote an editorial piece on the recent work about conducting gels developed for wearable electronics. Mechanically compliant and electronic materials are at the core of devices that can electronically interface soft biological tissues. I summarized some of the work that was published in this area in the past year in JMC B and aimed to highlight the novelties and opportunities presented by each research idea. It is very interesting to read all these papers, see a common thread, and witness how each, even maybe small, development shown in each paper is now contributing to our common knowledge about this special class of materials. In a decade from now on, this collective knowledge in this class of materials will either generate a new materials type or will directly form the basis of wearable sensors, sensor-integrated prosthetics, and robotics technologies.

Prof. Christian Müller

Christian Müller is an Advisory Board member for Journal of Materials Chemistry C and is a professor in Polymer Science at Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden. He is a Wallenberg Scholar and received an ERC Consolidator Grant in 2022. Prior to Chalmers he completed postdoctoral stays at ICMAB-CSIC in Barcelona and Linköping University. He holds a Dr.Sc. in Materials Science from ETH Zürich (2008) and a M.Sci. in Natural Sciences from Cambridge University (2004). His research interests include the use of organic semiconductors and polymer blends in the fields of wearable electronics and energy technology.

What do you like most about being on the Advisory Board for Journal of Materials Chemistry C?

I have the opportunity to aid the community work of the RSC, especially the support of young faculty.

Where do you see the materials chemistry field in the next 10 years?

I anticipate that sustainability will be the central theme.

In your opinion, how could members of the community be more involved with the journal?

Involvement could be through the proposal of focus issues and perspective style manuscripts that highlight important trends in materials chemistry.

Dr Jun Fu

Dr. Jun Fu received his B.Sc. at Wuhan University and Ph.D. at the Changchun Institute of Applied Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Science (CAS). After working in Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research and Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard Medical School, Jun took a full professor position in Ningbo Institute of Materials Technology and Engineering, CAS. In 2019, he moved to Sun Yat-sen University in 2019. His research focuses on the synthesis and engineering of biomimetic and bio-functional polymers for applications as medical implants, wearable flexible electronics, and soft actuators. Jun joined the Advisory Board of Journal of Materials Chemistry B since 2017.

What do you like most about being on the Advisory Board for Journal of Materials Chemistry B?

It has been an amazing experience. I am excited to discuss with peer Board Members on the development of this esteemed journal. I have learned a lot from my peers and the Editors. I also enjoy recommending young scientists to this journal for its awards and special issue collections. It greatly helps promote the young scientists and spread the outreach of this journal.

Where do you see the materials chemistry field in the next 10 years?

Materials chemistry provides very powerful toolkits to confront these challenges in the fields of healthcare, resources, energy, environment, and sustainability, among others. People are endowing great efforts in the development of smart biomedical devices, flexible electronics, soft robotics, tissue engineering scaffolds, and 3D/4D bioprinting, for example, to promote breakthrough and practical applications in the next 10 years. I believe innovations in these fields will highly benefit our welfare.

Could you provide a brief summary of your most recent Journal of Materials Chemistry B publication?

Journal of Materials Chemistry B is always one of our first choices to publish our articles. To date, I have published 20 papers in Journal of Materials Chemistry B. In 2021, we published a review article “Tissue adhesive hydrogel bioelectronics” in Journal of Materials Chemistry B. In this publication, we reviewed recent progress on strategies to prepare tissue adhesive hydrogels and representative adhesion mechanisms for conductive hydrogels to adhere on biotissues. We are delighted that this review article is well recognized by readers and receives good citations.

We hope you enjoyed finding out more about some of our Advisory Board members. Keep an eye out for our next Community Spotlight blog post!