Prospectives | Research Letters | Editorials | Commentaries | Correspondence | Submit MRS Communications papers here

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Prospectives

Forward-looking short reviews. Authoritative and balanced but can deal with controversies or new and speculative areas of research for future consideration.

Technical Description:

• Generally invited, although unsolicited short proposals will be reviewed by editorial team
• 7,000-10,000 words, 8-10 printed pages
• Minimum of 5 and maximum of 10 figures and tables combined
• Supplemental and multimedia data encouraged
• Max. 100 references

Prospectives are a unique feature of this journal, offering succinct and forward-looking reviews of topics of interest to a broad materials research readership. Most Prospectives articles are invited by the editorial board. However, interested authors can complete a proposal form and submit to mrc@mrs.org.

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Research Letters

A concise presentation of a study with broad interest, showing novel results.

Technical Description:

• 6,000 word maximum, 6-8 printed pages
• Each figure or figure part is counted as 250 words
• Maximum of 4 figures and tables combined. Additional figures can be formatted as a multi-panel figure (A-B-C-D) or submitted as Supplementary Material 
• Short 100 word abstract
• Max. 30 references
• Supplemental data encouraged

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Editorials

Opinion piece, policy statement or general commentary, typically written by board of the publication or a guest of notable stature.

Technical Description:

• Generally written or invited by editorial team
• 500-1500 words, 1-3 printed pages
• Max. 15 references
• No supplemental data

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Commentaries

An item whose subject or focus is another article or articles; this article comments on the other article(s).

Technical Description:

• Generally invited by editorial team, although unsolicited commentaries may be reviewed
• Accessible and non-technical style
• 500-1500 words, 1-3 printed pages
• Max. 15 references
• No supplemental data

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Letter to the editor/ publication, typically commenting upon a published item.

Technical Description:

• Flexible format of general interest to readership – policy debates, announcements or matters arising from published material
• 500-1000 words, 1-2 printed pages
• Max. 10 references
• Supplemental data at editor discretion
• If critical of a previously published paper, original author will be given option to publish a reply (no automatic right to reply)