Journal Guide

Sustainable Materials and Technologies (SM&T) is an international, cross-disciplinary and fully open access journal, published by Elsevier. SM&T publishes original full-length research articles and reviews in applied or fundamental science of nano-, micro-, meso-, and macro-scale aspects of materials and technologies for sustainable development with special attention to contributions that reduce the knowledge gap between materials and system designs.

Aims and Scope
SM&T acknowledges the interdisciplinary nature of scientific research on sustainable development and covers a broad and wide scope. It provides a scientific platform for physicists, mathematicians, chemists material scientists, engineers and other technical experts to contribute innovative works and combine the different disciplines in Sustainability Science and Technology related to:
• Resource-efficiency optimization (e.g., minimize amount of precious metals in product design)
• Waste minimization and management (e.g., CO2 capture and water purification)
• Material recycling and materials recovery from complex products
• Material substitution to enable lower-impact production and/or use (e.g., composites)
• Life cycle analyses of sustainable technologies
• Energy sources for the long term
• Materials performance targets in the context of a system design
• Advanced manufacturing processes with reduced energy, water, and materials footprint

Submissions focusing only on policy/decision making or economic aspects are unsuitable to SM&T.

Paper type
There are several options for authors to publish their recent works in SM&T:
• Fast track communication: Outstanding short articles reporting novel, recent and interesting works with high impact can benefit from accelerate publication procedure.
• Paper: Original scientific articles that are in line with the aims and scope of the journal.
• Notes: Brief descriptions of a technique, a small but important experiment or theoretical point, or a novel solution to a commonly encountered problem in sustainable science and technology fall in this category.
• Comments and replies: Critiques about a published article which should not be more than 500words (1 to 2 journal pages). The original authors will be invited to submit a reply.
• Invited topical reviews: Intended to summarize an accepted report on a recent development. Invited by the Editorial board and written by experts in related fields.

Papers from engineers, natural and social scientists as well as philosophers are invited and those at the interface between these disciplines are particularly encouraged. Types of article published by the journal include original research, perspectives, short communications, policy and review papers. All papers should include some elements of life cycle thinking and should clearly demonstrate that they are addressing topics related to sustainable production and consumption. Note that papers on end-of-pipe treatment technologies are outside the scope.

The areas and topics covered by the journal include but are not limited to:

Concepts and approaches
• Circular economy
• Clean technology/cleaner production
• Climate change mitigation
• Consumer engagement and communication
• Corporate social responsibility
• Eco-efficiency
• Ecosystem services
• Ethical investment and consumption
• Green/sustainable chemistry
• Industrial ecology
• Intra/Intergenerational equity
• Life cycle management
• Life cycle thinking
• Life cycle sustainability assessment
• Producer responsibility
• Rebound effect
• Supply chain management
• Sustainable design
• Sustainable lifestyles
• Sustainable policies
• Sustainable procurement
• Sustainable products and services

Tools
• Carbon and water footprinting
• Analysis of consumer preferences and attitudes
• Economic instruments
• Integrated product policies
• Internalisation of environmental and social costs
• Life cycle assessment
• Life cycle costing
• Material flow analysis
• Multi-criteria decision analysis
• Scenario analysis
• Social life cycle assessment
• Stakeholder analysis
• Sustainability indicators
• System optimisation

Sectors
• Chemicals
• Construction and buildings
• Energy
• Financial
• Food
• Health
• Manufacturing
• Resources and feedstocks
• Retail
• Tourism
• Transport and mobility
• Waste
• Water

Sustainable Water Resources Management publishes articles that deal with the interface of water resources science and the needs of human populations, highlighting work that addresses practical methods and basic research on water resources management.

• Covers a broad range of topics in water resources management.
• Addresses geopolitical and socio-economic effects and constraints.
• Includes topics such as natural and man-induced contamination of water resources.
• Highlights surface and ground water interaction, managed aquifer recharge, and storage.
• Aims to raise the quality and scope of research in both developed and developing countries.

Sustainable and Resilient Infrastructure is an interdisciplinary journal that focuses on the sustainable development of resilient communities.

Sustainability is defined in relation to the ability of infrastructure to address the needs of the present without sacrificing the ability of future generations to meet their needs.  Resilience is considered in relation to both natural hazards (like earthquakes, tsunami, hurricanes, cyclones, tornado, flooding and drought) and anthropogenic hazards (like human errors and malevolent attacks.)  Resilience is taken to depend both on the performance of the built and modified natural environment and on the contextual characteristics of social, economic and political institutions.

Contributions address pressing societal issues while exploring needed solutions.  Investigating sustainability and resilience from an interdisciplinary perspective, the journal includes original articles, reviews, short communications and case studies in all areas relevant to sustainability and resilience.

All submitted manuscripts are subject to initial appraisal by the Editor and, if found suitable for further consideration, to peer review by independent, anonymous expert referees. Peer review is single blind and submission is currently via email to the Editor-in-Chief Paolo Gardoni gardoni@illinois.edu.