Advanced Materials Submission Process
Advanced Materials's submission process, first-decision timing, and the editorial checks that matter before peer review begins.
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Readiness scan
Before you submit to Advanced Materials, pressure-test the manuscript.
Run the Free Readiness Scan to catch the issues most likely to stop the paper before peer review.
How to approach Advanced Materials
Use the submission guide like a working checklist. The goal is to make fit, package completeness, and cover-letter framing obvious before you open the portal.
Stage | What to check |
|---|---|
1. Scope | Comprehensive material synthesis and characterization |
2. Package | Application demonstration or modeling |
3. Cover letter | Submit via Wiley's online system |
4. Final check | Stringent editorial screening |
Decision cue: Advanced Materials is one of the most selective materials science journals. The editorial screen is fast and filters heavily for novelty and broad impact. If the work is incremental, purely application-specific, or only relevant to one materials subfield, the process will stop it early. Papers that pass triage move quickly through review.
Quick answer
Advanced Materials uses Wiley's online submission system. Manuscripts can be any length, but a typical Research Article runs 3,000 to 8,000 words with 3 to 8 figures. The journal uses single-anonymous peer review. First decisions typically arrive in 4 to 8 weeks.
Advanced Materials publishes across all areas of materials science but prioritizes work with broad impact: new materials with fundamentally different properties, novel fabrication approaches with wide applicability, or cross-disciplinary advances that matter beyond one specialty.
Stage | What happens | Typical timing |
|---|---|---|
Upload via Wiley portal | Manuscript enters the system | Same day |
Editorial office check | Staff verify completeness and format | 1 to 3 days |
Editor triage | In-house editors assess novelty and impact | 1 to 2 weeks |
Peer review | 2 to 3 expert reviewers evaluate | 3 to 6 weeks |
Decision | Accept, revise, reject, or transfer | 4 to 8 weeks total |
Revision | Authors revise and resubmit | Varies |
Publication | Online within days of acceptance | Early View |
Before you open the portal
The submission portal is on Wiley's online submission system for Advanced Materials. Register if you don't have an account. ORCID is recommended for all authors.
Confirm these are ready:
- manuscript as Word document or single PDF (for LaTeX)
- all figures at publication quality
- cover letter explaining novelty and broad impact
- supporting information as a separate document
- CRediT author contributions
- data availability statement
- competing interest declarations
A typical Research Article
Advanced Materials does not impose strict word or figure limits, but content should justify the length. A typical Research Article includes:
- 3,000 to 8,000 words
- 3 to 8 display items (figures, schemes, or tables)
- supporting information with additional data and methods
Communications (shorter, more focused) are also accepted and follow similar submission procedures.
Step-by-step submission flow
1. Log in and select article type
Access the Wiley submission portal for Advanced Materials. Select the article type: Research Article, Communication, Review, Progress Report, or Essay.
2. Enter metadata and author information
Provide the title, abstract, keywords, and complete author list with affiliations. Co-author email addresses are required so they receive notification of the submission and peer review outcomes.
3. Write the cover letter
The cover letter matters at Advanced Materials. In-house editors use it alongside the abstract to make the triage decision. The letter should:
- state the main finding in one or two sentences
- explain why the result represents a genuine advance in materials science
- identify the broad audience that will benefit
- distinguish the work from recent publications in the field
Avoid generic statements about novelty. Explain specifically what makes the materials science advance meaningful beyond your immediate subfield.
4. Upload manuscript and figures
Upload the manuscript file and all figures. Figures should be high resolution and publication-ready. The journal has specific figure formatting guidelines for accepted manuscripts, but initial submissions can use standard quality.
5. Upload supporting information
Supporting information goes as a separate document. This includes detailed experimental methods, additional characterization data, computational details, and extended figures or tables not in the main manuscript.
6. Complete declarations
Author contributions (CRediT), competing interests, data availability, and funding declarations. Generative AI use must also be declared per Wiley's current policies.
7. Submit
Preview the submission and submit. The confirmation email confirms receipt.
What happens during editorial triage
Advanced Materials uses professional in-house editors who specialize in materials science. The editorial screen is fast and selective.
Editors evaluate:
- is the advance genuinely novel, or is it an incremental improvement?
- does the result matter across materials science, or only within one narrow specialty?
- is the quality of the materials characterization sufficient?
- are the claims supported by the data?
- is this a complete story, or a preliminary result that needs more work?
The desk rejection rate is high. Advanced Materials is among the most selective materials science journals. Papers that do not clearly demonstrate broad impact are returned quickly, often with a suggestion to submit to a sister journal (Advanced Functional Materials, Advanced Energy Materials, etc.).
What happens during peer review
Papers that pass triage go to 2 to 3 expert reviewers. Advanced Materials uses single-anonymous review.
Reviewers evaluate:
- novelty and originality of the materials science
- quality and thoroughness of characterization
- whether the results represent a real advance over existing materials or approaches
- reproducibility and methodological rigor
- clarity of presentation and data quality
First decisions after review typically arrive in 3 to 6 weeks. Total time from submission to first decision is 4 to 8 weeks.
Understanding the decision
- Accept: rare on first round. Usually after revision.
- Minor revision: small changes. Respond promptly.
- Major revision: substantive concerns. The revised paper returns to reviewers.
- Reject: the paper does not meet the journal's novelty or impact threshold.
- Transfer: editors may suggest a Wiley sister journal. This is common and not a negative judgment on the science. Transfers preserve reviewer context.
The Wiley transfer system
Advanced Materials editors frequently suggest transfers to:
- Advanced Functional Materials: strong functional materials work that is excellent but below the novelty threshold for Advanced Materials
- Advanced Energy Materials: energy-focused work
- Advanced Science: broader science scope
- Small: nanoscale-focused studies
Accepting a transfer is often faster than starting a new submission elsewhere because reviewer reports travel with the manuscript.
Common process mistakes
A cover letter that claims novelty without explaining it
"This work presents a novel approach to..." is not a novelty argument. "This is the first demonstration of [specific property] in [material class], which enables [specific application] that was previously impossible because [reason]" is.
Submitting incremental work
Advanced Materials looks for step changes, not incremental improvements. Showing a 5% improvement in a known material's property is unlikely to pass triage. Showing a new material with fundamentally different behavior, or a new fabrication approach with broad applicability, is what editors want.
Under-characterizing the material
Reviewers expect thorough characterization: structural, compositional, morphological, and functional. A paper that reports an interesting property but does not fully characterize the material leaves too many questions for a journal at this level.
Ignoring the suggested transfer
When editors suggest a Wiley sister journal, the transfer process preserves your reviewer reports and editorial context. Ignoring the suggestion and submitting cold to a new journal means starting from scratch.
How Advanced Materials compares to nearby alternatives
Feature | Advanced Materials | Nature Materials | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
Scope | All materials science, broad impact | Functional materials | Energy materials | All materials, highest impact |
Selectivity | Very high | High | High | Highest |
Impact factor | 26.8 | 18.5 | 24.4 | 41.2 |
Review speed | 4 to 8 weeks | 4 to 8 weeks | 4 to 8 weeks | 6 to 12 weeks |
Transfer from Adv. Mater.? | N/A | Yes (common) | Yes (common) | No |
Best for | Broad-impact materials breakthroughs | Strong functional materials studies | Energy-focused materials | Highest-impact materials science |
Choose when | The advance matters across materials science | The work is excellent but field-specific | The primary application is energy | The result redefines materials understanding |
Submit if
- the materials science advance is genuinely novel, not incremental
- the cover letter makes a specific case for broad impact
- the characterization is thorough and supports the claims
- the work matters beyond one narrow subfield
- the manuscript is a complete story, not a preliminary result
Think twice if
- the advance is a modest improvement over existing materials
- the work is primarily relevant to one application area (consider a specialty journal)
- the characterization has obvious gaps
- the paper would benefit from the Wiley transfer to a sister journal first
- the result needs additional experiments to be convincing
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