Guide for Authors

Aim and Scopes

The Journal of Membrane Science and Research (JMSR) is an Open Access journal with completely Free of Charge publication policy, which provides a focal point for membranologists (academic and industrial chemical and polymer engineers, chemists, materials scientists) working on both Membranes and Membrane Processes, particularly for four major sectors, including Energy, Water, Environment and Food.

The journal publishes original research and review papers on membranes (organic, inorganic, metallic, liquid, etc.) and membrane processes (MF, UF, NF, RO, ED, Dialysis, MD, PV, CDI, FO, GP, VP, etc.), module/process design, membrane formation/structure/performance, fouling, and processes/applications in the above-mentioned sectors.

Primary emphasis is on structure, function, performance, and application of essentially non-biological membranes.

The Journal of Membrane Science and Research publishes Full Text Papers, State-of-the-Art Reviews (which should not only summarize the research contributions in a subject, they should also provide comprehensive/critical evaluation of the scientific literature), Letters to the Editor, and Perspectives (which should provide a focused discussion of an important area of membranes, either related to the science or technology of membranes, emphasizing recent developments, future challenges, and/or new opportunities) and Short Communications, in Open-Access form and completely Free-of-Charge. Perspective articles will be by invitation only, and they will be reviewed by Editor-in-Chief of the journal and members of our Editorial board. 

Journal of Membrane Science and Research also welcomes submissions describing use of hybrid membrane-based separation technologies such as coupling membrane processes with thermal, sorption and other hybrid unit operations. In addition, the journal considers exceptional research on new membrane materials, processes and technologies; nano- engineered/enhanced membranes; energy consumption in membrane processes, coupling renewable energy with membranes and energy recovery; pre-treatment, post-treatment and integrated systems for membranes; causes, consequences, and countermeasures of the membrane fouling and scaling; and technical, economic, and regulatory analyses of full-scale membrane plants for industrial applications.

 

Guide for Authors

Types of article

This journal publishes Full Text Papers, State-of-the-Art Reviews, Short Communications, and Letters to Editors. Prospective Review authors are requested to contact the journal Editorial office prior to submission (editorial.JMSR@gmail.com).
A Short Communications is a concise but complete description of a limited investigation, which will not be included in a later paper. Short Communications should be as completely documented, both by reference to the literature and description of the experimental procedures employed, as a regular paper. They should not exceed 4-6 printed pages but must include complete descriptions of any investigation of the research which must be cutting-edge and novel with knowledge that warrants speedy communication to the readership.

 

Cover Letter

To dowload the Cover Letter template, Click here.

 

 Copyright / Open Access

Articles published in Journal of Membrane Science and Research will be Open-Access articles distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/).

Submission of a manuscript implies that:

1) The work described has not been published before (except in the form of an abstract or as part of a published lecture, review, or thesis).

2) It is not under consideration for publication elsewhere, in any kind of circumstances.

3) Its publication has been approved by all co-authors, as well as by the responsible authorities at the institute where the work has been carried out.

4) Authors agree to automatic transfer of the copyright to the publishers (FIMTEC & MPRL), if and when their manuscript is accepted for publication.

5) The manuscript will not be published elsewhere, in any kind of circumstances.

 

Conflict of interest

All authors are requested to disclose any actual or potential conflict of interest including any financial, personal or other relationships with other people or organizations within three years of beginning the submitted work that could inappropriately influence, or be perceived to influence, their work.

Click here to download the template.

 

Authorship Form

To dowload the Authorship Form template, Click here.

 

Submission declaration and verification

Submission of an article implies that the work described has not been published previously (except in the form of an abstract or as part of a published lecture or academic thesis or as an electronic preprint; that it is not under consideration for publication elsewhere, in any kind of circumstances; that its publication is approved by all authors and tacitly or explicitly by the responsible authorities where the work was carried out; and that, if accepted, it will not be published elsewhere in the same form, in English or in any other language, including electronically without the written consent of the copyright-holder, in any kind of circumstances.

 

Changes to authorship

Please be advised that, as per journal policy, we are unable to make changes to the author list once a paper has been accepted for publication. Please ensure that the authorship of your paper is correct when submitting your manuscript to JMSR, as NO amendments can be made after acceptance.

Copyright 
The Journal of Membrane Science and Research is an Open Access journal (i.e. all articles published will be immediately and permanently free for everyone to read and download), which publishes Free-of-Charge.

Subscribers may reproduce tables of contents or prepare lists of articles including abstracts for internal circulation within their institutions. Permission of the Publishers (FIMTEC & MPRL) is required for resale or distribution outside the institution and for all other derivative works, including compilations and translations. If excerpts from other copyrighted works are included, the author(s) must obtain written permission from the copyright owners and credit the source(s) in the article.

 

Role of the funding source

You are requested to identify (in Acknowledgement) who provided financial support for the conduct of the research and/or preparation of the article and to briefly describe the role of the sponsor(s), if any, in study design; in the collection, analysis and interpretation of data; in the writing of the report; and in the decision to submit the article for publication. If the funding source(s) had no such involvement then this should be stated.

 

Language

Please write your text in good English (American or British usage is accepted, but not a mixture of these). Authors who feel their English language manuscript may require editing to eliminate possible grammatical or spelling errors and to conform to correct scientific English may wish to use the English Language Editing service available from FIMTEC. For more information, please contact to the journal Editorial office (editorial.JMSR@gmail.com).

 

Submission 
Submission to this journal proceeds totally online and you will be guided stepwise through the creation and uploading of your files. The system automatically converts source files to a single PDF file of the article. All correspondence, including notification of the Editor's decision and requests for revision, takes place by e-mail removing the need for a paper trail.

 

Referees 
Please submit, with the manuscript, the names, addresses, and e-mail addresses of at least three potential referees. Note that the editor retains the sole right to decide whether or not the suggested reviewers are used.

 

Formatting requirements

There are no strict formatting requirements but all manuscripts must contain the essential elements needed to convey your manuscript, for example Abstract, Keywords, Introduction, Materials and methods (Experimental), Results, Conclusions, Artwork and Tables with Captions.

Divide the article into clearly defined sections. Please ensure the figures and the tables included in the single file are placed next to the relevant text in the manuscript, rather than at the bottom or the top of the file.

 

Article structure

Divide your article into clearly defined and numbered sections. Subsections should be numbered 1.1 (then 1.1.1, 1.1.2, ...), 1.2, etc. (the abstract is not included in section numbering). Use this numbering also for internal cross-referencing: do not just refer to 'the text'. Any subsection may be given a brief heading. Each heading should appear on its own separate line.

 

Introduction 
State the objectives of the work and provide an adequate background, avoiding a detailed literature survey or a summary of the results.

 

Material and methods

Provide sufficient detail to allow the work to be reproduced. Methods already published should be indicated by a reference: only relevant modifications should be described.

 

Results
Results should be clear and concise, and should be discussed comprehensively.

 

Discussion 
This should explore the significance of the results of the work, not repeat them. A combined Results and Discussion section is often appropriate. Avoid extensive citations and discussion of published literature. Further to comprehensive discussion on the obtained results, they should be compared with the literature.

 

Conclusions 
The main conclusions of the study may be presented in a short Conclusions section.

 

Appendices 
If there is more than one appendix, they should be identified as A, B, etc. Formulae and equations in appendices should be given separate numbering: Eq. (A.1), Eq. (A.2), etc.; in a subsequent appendix, Eq. (B.1) and so on. Similarly for tables and figures: Table A.1; Fig. A.1, etc.

 

Essential title page information

• Title. Concise and informative. Titles (max. 25 words) are often used in information-retrieval systems. Avoid abbreviations and formulae where possible.

• Author names and affiliations. Where the family name may be ambiguous (e.g., a double name), please indicate this clearly. Present the authors' affiliation addresses (where the actual work was done) below the names. Indicate all affiliations with a lower-case superscript letter immediately after the author's name and in front of the appropriate address. Provide the full postal address of each affiliation, including the country name and the e-mail address of each author.

• Corresponding author. Clearly indicate who will handle correspondence at all stages of refereeing and publication, also post-publication. Ensure that phone numbers (with country and area code) are provided in addition to the e-mail address and the complete postal address. Contact details must be kept up to date by the corresponding author(s).

• Present/permanent address. If an author has moved since the work described in the article was done, or was visiting at the time, a 'Present address' (or 'Permanent address') may be indicated as a footnote to that author's name. The address at which the author actually did the work must be retained as the main, affiliation address. Superscript Arabic numerals are used for such footnotes.

 

Abstract 
A concise and factual abstract (100 to 250 words) is necessary. The abstract should state briefly the purpose of the research, the principal results and major conclusions. An abstract is often presented separately from the article, so it must be able to stand alone. For this reason, References should be avoided, but if essential, then cite the author(s) and year(s). Also, non-standard or uncommon abbreviations should be avoided, but if essential they must be defined at their first mention in the abstract itself.

 

Graphical abstract

A Graphical abstract is mandatory for Journal of Membrane Science and Research, and should summarize the contents of the article in a concise, pictorial form designed to capture the attention of a wide readership online. Authors must provide very high-quality images that clearly represent the work described in the article. Graphical abstracts should be submitted as a separate file in the online submission system. Image size: Please provide an image with a minimum of 531 × 1328 pixels (h × w) or proportionally more. The image should be readable at a size of 5 × 13 cm using a regular screen resolution of 96 dpi. Preferred file types: JPEG, PDF or MS Office files.

 

Highlights 
Highlights are a short collection of bullet points that convey the core findings of the article. Research highlights are mandatory and should be submitted in a separate file in the online submission system. Please use 'Highlights' in the file name and include 3 to 5 bullet points (maximum 85 characters, including spaces, per bullet point).

 

Keywords 
Immediately after the abstract, provide a maximum of 6 keywords, and avoiding general and plural terms and multiple concepts (avoid, for example, 'and', 'of'). Be sparing with abbreviations: only abbreviations firmly established in the field may be eligible. These keywords will be used for indexing purposes.

 

Abbreviations 
Define abbreviations that are not standard in this field on the first page of the article. Such abbreviations that are unavoidable in the abstract must be defined at their first mention there. Ensure consistency of abbreviations throughout the article.

 

Acknowledgements 
Collate acknowledgements in a separate section at the end of the article before the references and do not, therefore, include them on the title page, as a footnote to the title or otherwise. List here those individuals who provided help during the research (e.g., providing language help, writing assistance or proof reading the article, etc.).

Please list the funding sources in this standard way to facilitate compliance to funder's needs:

Funding format: This work was supported by the National Institutes of Health [grant numbers xxxx, yyyy]; the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Seattle, WA [grant number zzzz]; and the United States Institutes of Peace [grant number aaaa].

Note: It is not necessary to include detailed descriptions on the program or type of grants and awards. When funding is from a block grant or other resources available to a university, college, or other research institution, submit the name of the institute or organization that provided the funding.

Note: If no funding has been provided for the research, please include the following sentence:  This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.

 

Nomenclature and units

Follow internationally accepted rules and conventions: use the international system of units (SI). If other quantities are mentioned, give their equivalent in SI. You are urged to consult IUPAC: Nomenclature of Organic Chemistry: http://www.iupac.org/ for further information.

 

Math formulae

Present simple formulae in the line of normal text where possible and use the solidus (/) instead of a horizontal line for small fractional terms, e.g., X/Y. In principle, variables are to be presented in italics. Powers of e are often more conveniently denoted by exp. Number consecutively any equations that have to be displayed separately from the text (if referred to explicitly in the text).

 

Tables 
Number tables consecutively in accordance with their appearance in the text. Place footnotes to tables below the table body and indicate them with superscript lowercase letters. Avoid vertical rules. Be sparing in the use of tables and ensure that the data presented in tables do not duplicate results described elsewhere in the article.

 

References

Citation in text

Please ensure that every reference cited in the text is also present in the reference list (and vice versa). Any references cited in the abstract must be given in full. Unpublished results and personal communications are not recommended in the reference list, but may be mentioned in the text. If these references are included in the reference list they should follow the standard reference style of the journal and should include a substitution of the publication date with either 'Unpublished results' or 'Personal communication'. Citation of a reference as 'in-press' implies that the item has been accepted for publication. Please use the DOI for in-press references.

 

Reference links

Increased discoverability of research and high quality peer review are ensured by online links to the sources cited. In order to allow us to create links to abstracting and indexing services, such as Scopus and CrossRef, please ensure that data provided in the references are correct. Please note that incorrect surnames, journal/book titles, publication year and pagination may prevent link creation. When copying references, please be careful as they may already contain errors. Use of the DOI is mandatory.

 

Web references

As a minimum, the full URL should be given and the date when the reference was last accessed. Any further information, if known (DOI, author names, dates, reference to a source publication, etc.), should also be given. Web references can be listed separately (e.g., after the reference list) under a different heading if desired, or can be included in the reference list.

 

Reference formatting

There are strict requirements on reference formatting at submission. References should be in standard format, where applicable, author(s) name(s), journal title/book title, chapter title/article title, year of publication, volume number/book chapter and the pagination must be present. Use of DOI is mandatory. Note that missing data will be highlighted at proof stage for the author to correct. The respected authors must format the references themselves according to the following procedure:

Text: Indicate references by number(s) in square brackets in line with the text. The actual authors can be referred to, but the reference number(s) must always be given.

Example: '..... as comprehensively discussed [10,11]. Shirazi and Kargari [12] obtained a different result ....'

List: Number the references (numbers in square brackets) in the list in the order in which they appear in the text. 
Examples: 
Reference to a journal publication:

[1] J. van der Geer, J.A.J. Hanraads, R.A. Lupton, The art of writing a scientific article, J. Sci. Commun. 163 (2010) 51–59.

Reference to a book:

[2] W. Strunk Jr., E.B. White, The Elements of Style, 4th Ed., Longman, New York, 2000.

Reference to a chapter in an edited book:

[3] G.R. Mettam, L.B. Adams, How to prepare an electronic version of your article, in: B.S. Jones, R.Z. Smith (Eds.), Introduction to the Electronic Age, E-Publishing Inc., New York, 2009, pp. 281–304.

Journal abbreviations source

Journal names should be abbreviated according to the List of Title Word Abbreviations: http://www.issn.org/2-22661-LTWA-online.php.

 

Submission checklist

The following list will be useful during the final checking of an article prior to sending it to the journal for review. Please consult this Guide for Authors for further details of any item.

Ensure that the following items are presented:

One author has been designated as the corresponding author with contact details:

• E-mail address; full postal address; telephone and fax numbers

All necessary files have been uploaded, and contain:

• Keywords; all figure captions; all tables (including title, description, footnotes)

Further considerations

• Manuscript has been 'spell-checked' and 'grammar-checked'

• All references mentioned in the Reference list are cited in the text, and vice versa

• Permission has been obtained for use of copyrighted material from other sources (including the Web)

 

Proof correction

Corresponding authors will receive an e-mail contains the copyright form when the first submission is finalized. When the manuscript is accepted, authors will receive the proof. All instructions for proofing will be given in the e-mail we send to authors.

We will do everything possible to get your article published quickly and accurately - please upload the signed copyright letter and all of your corrections within 48 hours. It is important to ensure that all corrections are sent back to us in one communication. Please check carefully before replying, as inclusion of any subsequent corrections cannot be guaranteed. Proofreading is solely your responsibility. Note that FIMTEC may proceed with the publication of your article if no response is received.