Peer Reviewing the Latest Trends in Materials Science: An Editorial Letter

Dominikus Brian

Editor for Materials Science, ResearchHub Foundation.

Email : domi.editor@researchhub.foundation

LAST UPDATED : 01/10/2024 [This post is being updated regularly to reflect the latest open peer-review opportunities in Materials Science available on ResearchHub]

As the newly appointed Editor for Materials Science on our beloved ResearchHub platform, I am eager to engage in conversations with community members who are not only excited to explore and read about the latest trends in materials science but also interested in contributing to the discussion through peer review. In the interest of making the editorial perspective transparent, accountable, and more aligned with community interests, I am sharing the scope and direction of the latest trends in materials science that we aim to encourage, capture, and disseminate throughout the ResearchHub scientific community.

The Significance of Materials Science

Materials science plays a pivotal role in the advancement of numerous technologies that impact our daily lives. From personalized medicine and renewable energy to transportation systems and space exploration, the development of new materials with unique properties has been a key enabler in all of these advancements. These developments not only improve existing technologies but also open up entirely new possibilities, driving innovation across multiple sectors.

In light of this, we have listened to feedback from the community and made it a priority to address the call for increased peer-review opportunities within the materials science space. This feedback has been invaluable, and we are committed to fostering a more inclusive and rigorous review process for preprints that qualify for peer-review bounties. Illustrated in Fig. 1 is the journey from theoretical discovery and fundamental understanding to developing methods for controlling materials, as depicted by the so-called material tetrahedron, and the eventual development of various applied use cases beneficial for larger societal impact. We believe that by supporting a diverse range of papers at each of these stages, we can better contribute to ResearchHub's mission of accelerating the pace of scientific research.

Figure 1. Journey of Material Science from Discovery to Societal Impact (Cranford 2019)

To cover the diverse and rapidly evolving field of materials science, I, as the Editor of the Materials Science Hub, will be sourcing papers across several key areas. We will not limit our sourcing to any single preprint platform but will focus on publications that have been made publicly available within the last six months. The areas of focus include:

Biomaterials: Exploring innovations in materials designed for biological applications such as tissue engineering (Wu et al. 2024), implants (Liu et al. 2024), and drug delivery (Song et al. 2024).
Nanotechnology & Advanced Materials: Examining the latest developments in nanoscale materials useful for sustainable manufacturing (Fuentes et al. 2024), food production (Pudake, Mohanta, and Mahato 2024), and photocatalysts (Zhang et al. 2024).
Energy & Sustainable Materials: Covering materials critical to renewable energy generation and storage, including solar, wind, and hydrogen (Bell, Olukemi, and Gracias 2024; Castaldo et al. 2024; Zhang et al. 2024), specific energy generation applications like triboelectric (Lin et al. 2024), as well as other environmentally related materials (Lazăr et al. 2023).
Smart Materials: Focusing on materials that respond to environmental changes such as temperature and pressure to deliver specific functions, including self-healing materials (Pisano et al. 2024), optoelectronic sensors (Pecunia et al. 2024), and adaptive wearables (Li et al. 2024).
AI for Materials Science: Investigating the intersection of artificial intelligence and materials science, including computational methods for materials discovery (Ghafarollahi and Buehler 2024) and material design (Lee et al., n.d.).
Materials Informatics: Highlighting the latest advancements in material data analysis and processing (Hira et al. 2024).
Methodology and Instrumentation: Covering innovative techniques and methods that advance the field of materials science, such as laser deposition (Sobola et al. 2024) and molecular super-resolution microscopy (Daly et al. 2024).
General Materials Science: Encompassing a broad range of topics relevant to the field that are not specifically covered by the other seven special topics in materials science described above.

Beyond the eight focus areas, we are also open to suggestions regarding topics that require more attention, though we aim to avoid consolidating suggestions that focus on individual papers. Therefore, feel free to treat the conversation tab alongside this post as a "Suggestion Box" specifically for materials science-related topics.

I also want to take this opportunity to share with the community a recently popular method for measuring materials research through the so-called Material Advancement Progression (MAP) Scale (Cranford 2019). Within this scale, the impact of materials science on the world is categorized into six levels that span from discovery, benchmark, and understanding to demonstration, improvement, and development. Similar to the TRL (Technology Readiness Level) introduced by NASA, this MAP scale helps lay out the roadmap or steps that need to be achieved for each new burgeoning class or type of material. Including relevant discussions regarding how you perceive the technology or concept being positioned on this MAP or TRL scale would be helpful for understanding its immediate relevance to society.

Last but not least, as part of our commitment to efficiency and quality, the peer-review bounty now has a 12-day expiration time, and submissions will be processed in an orderly fashion right afterward. I am excited to collaborate with all of you in this endeavor and to foster growth across the ResearchHub platform, particularly within the Materials Science Hub. Thank you for your support and dedication; I look forward to serving the community and welcoming much more feedback throughout this process.

Appendix

List of Active Materials Science Peer-Review Bounties.

Upcoming: In the upcoming peer review, assignment of bounties will be paced more sparsely so reviewers could have more time flexibility in working on suitable paper.

Recently Open:

Expiring Soon:

References

Bell, Chris, Ayoolu Olukemi, and Abram Gracias. 2024. “Advanced Perovskite-Silicon Tandem Solar Cells: Enhancing Efficiency and Stability.” https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202408.0002.v1.

Castaldo, Anna, Emilia Gambale, Giuseppe Vitiello, and Giuseppe Cara. 2024. “Self-Cleaning Solar Mirrors Coatings: From the Laboratory Scale to Prototype Field Tests.” https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202407.0152.v1.

Cranford, Steven W. 2019. “Measuring Materials Research: The Material Advancement Progression, or MAP Scale.” Matter 1 (1): 4–7. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matt.2019.05.023.

Daly, Sam, João Ferreira Fernandes, Ezra Bruggeman, Anoushka Handa, Ruby Peters, Sarah Benaissa, Boya Zhang, et al. 2024. “High-Density Volumetric Super-Resolution Microscopy.” Nature Communications 15 (1): 1940. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-45828-5.

Fuentes, Olga P., Diana M. Trujillo, Mauricio E. Sánchez, Adriana L. Abrego-Perez, Johann F. Osma, and Juan C. Cruz. 2024. “Embracing Sustainability in the Industry: A Study of Environmental, Economic, and Exergetic Performances in Large-Scale Production of Magnetite Nanoparticles.” ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering 12 (2): 760–72. https://doi.org/10.1021/acssuschemeng.3c05000.

Ghafarollahi, Alireza, and Markus J. Buehler. 2024. “AtomAgents: Alloy Design and Discovery through Physics-Aware Multi-Modal Multi-Agent Artificial Intelligence.” arXiv. http://arxiv.org/abs/2407.10022.

Hira, Kausik, Mohd Zaki, Dhruvil Sheth, Mausam, and N. M. Anoop Krishnan. 2024. “Reconstructing Materials Tetrahedron: Challenges in Materials Information Extraction.” Digital Discovery 3 (5): 1021–37. https://doi.org/10.1039/D4DD00032C.

Lazăr, Sergiu, Dan Dobrotă, Radu-Eugen Breaz, and Sever-Gabriel Racz. 2023. “Eco-Design of Polymer Matrix Composite Parts: A Review.”Polymers 15 (17): 3634. https://doi.org/10.3390/polym15173634.

Lee, Daeun, Jaewoong Choi, Hiroshi Mizuseki, and Byungju Lee. n.d. “Text-to-Battery Recipe: A Language Modeling-Based Protocol for Automatic Battery Recipe Extraction and Retrieval.”

Li, Pan, Yuwei Wang, Xiaoxian He, Yuyang Cui, Jingyu Ouyang, Ju Ouyang, Zicheng He, et al. 2024. “Wearable and Interactive Multicolored Photochromic Fiber Display.” Light: Science & Applications 13 (1): 48. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41377-024-01383-8.

Lin, Shaomei, Weifeng Yang, Xubin Zhu, Yubin Lan, Kerui Li, Qinghong Zhang, Yaogang Li, Chengyi Hou, and Hongzhi Wang. 2024. “Triboelectric Micro-Flexure-Sensitive Fiber Electronics.” Nature Communications 15 (1): 2374. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-46516-0.

Liu, Bo, Hui Li, Fengzhen Meng, Ziyang Xu, Liuzhi Hao, Yuan Yao, Hao Zhu, et al. 2024. “4D Printed Hydrogel Scaffold with Swelling-Stiffening Properties and Programmable Deformation for Minimally Invasive Implantation.” Nature Communications 15 (1): 1587. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-45938-0.

Pecunia, Vincenzo, Luisa Petti, Joseph B Andrews, Riccardo Ollearo, Gerwin H Gelinck, Bahareh Nasrollahi, Javith Mohammed Jailani, et al. 2024. “Roadmap on Printable Electronic Materials for Next-Generation Sensors.” Nano Futures 8 (3): 032001. https://doi.org/10.1088/2399-1984/ad36ff.

Pisano, Milena, Łukasz Zadrożny, Anna Di Marzio, Ignazio Kurti, Silvio Mario Meloni, Aurea Immacolata Lumbau, Francesco Mollica, et al. 2024. “Mechanical Behaviors of a New Polymer-Based Restorative Material for Immediate Loading: An In-Vitro, Comparative, Research.” https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202408.1132.v1.

Pudake, Ramesh Namdeo, Tapan Kumar Mohanta, and Neelima Mahato. 2024. “Editorial: Opportunities and Challenges for Nanotechnology in Sustainable Agri-Food Production.” Frontiers in Nanotechnology 6 (May):1420192. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnano.2024.1420192.

Sobola, Dinara, Saleh H. Fawaeer, Pavla Kočková, Richard Schubert, Rashid Dallaev, and Tomáš Trčka. 2024. “Optical Properties of Yttrium Orthoferrite Films Prepared by Plasma Laser Deposition.” https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202408.0580.v1.

Song, Wencong, Saz Muhammad, Shanxing Dang, Xingyan Ou, Xingzi Fang, Yinghe Zhang, Lihe Huang, Bing Guo, and XueLian Du. 2024. “The State-of-Art Polyurethane Nanoparticles for Drug Delivery Applications.” Frontiers in Chemistry 12 (February):1378324. https://doi.org/10.3389/fchem.2024.1378324.

Wu, Sarah J., Jingjing Wu, Samuel J. Kaser, Heejung Roh, Ruth D. Shiferaw, Hyunwoo Yuk, and Xuanhe Zhao. 2024. “A 3D Printable Tissue Adhesive.” Nature Communications 15 (1): 1215. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-45147-9.

Zhang, Weiwei, Miaojie Yu, Tao Liu, Muyu Cong, Xueyan Liu, Haofan Yang, Yang Bai, et al. 2024. “Accelerated Discovery of Molecular Nanojunction Photocatalysts for Hydrogen Evolution by Using Automated Screening and Flow Synthesis.” Nature Synthesis 3 (5): 595–605. https://doi.org/10.1038/s44160-024-00494-9.

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Peer Reviewing the Latest Trends in Materials Science: An Editorial Letter

Peer Reviewing the Latest Trends in Materials Science: An Editorial Letter