Applied Energy Formatting Requirements: Complete Author Guide

The formatting risk is not cosmetic. Applied Energy submissions usually fail fastest when the paper looks like a generic Elsevier manuscript instead of an energy-systems package: missing highlights, weak graphical abstract logic, no data availability statement, or figures that cannot be evaluated at revision quality. The safest approach is to treat formatting as part of the editorial argument before upload.

Applied Energy publishes several article types, each with different length expectations. The journal focuses on energy systems, energy conversion, energy policy, and related areas.

The 8,000-word limit for research articles covers body text and excludes references, figure captions, and table content. This is relatively generous for the energy field. You've got room for a proper introduction, detailed methodology, and thorough results discussion. That said, Applied Energy editors will push back on manuscripts that feel padded. If you can say it in 6,000 words, don't stretch to 8,000.

Applied Energy is one of the highest-impact journals in energy research, with an impact factor consistently above 10. Competition for space is fierce. The journal receives over 15,000 submissions per year and accepts roughly 15-20%. Formatting errors won't get your paper rejected, but they will slow the process and signal to reviewers that you haven't done your homework.

Short Communications are a good option for incremental advances or confirmatory studies. They follow the same formatting rules but with a tighter length constraint. The 4,000-word limit is strict for this format.

Applied Energy uses a structured approach to abstracts, though the structure is flexible.

• Word limit: 200 words for research articles, 100 for short communications
• Structure: Elsevier doesn't mandate specific subheadings, but the abstract should cover purpose, methodology, main results, and conclusions
• Citations: Not recommended in the abstract
• Keywords: 4 to 6 keywords required, listed immediately after the abstract
• Abbreviations: Define at first use in the abstract; redefine in the body text

The 200-word abstract should be self-contained. Applied Energy papers are indexed on ScienceDirect and Scopus, and many readers will only see the abstract. Include specific quantitative results when possible. Instead of "efficiency was improved," write "efficiency increased from 32.1% to 38.7%."

Keywords matter more than you'd think for Applied Energy because the journal covers such a broad scope. Choosing the right keywords helps the editorial office assign appropriate reviewers. Use specific technical terms rather than general ones. "Solid oxide fuel cell degradation" is better than "fuel cells" or "energy conversion."

Applied Energy follows Elsevier's standard figure requirements, which are consistent across most Elsevier journals.

Figure specifications:

There's no formal limit on the number of figures or tables in Applied Energy. The practical constraint is the word limit and page count. Most published papers include 6 to 12 figures and 2 to 4 tables. The journal is generous with display items compared to letters journals.

Graphical abstract: Optional but encouraged. Applied Energy displays graphical abstracts on ScienceDirect article pages and uses them for social media promotion. The specification is a single image at 531 x 1328 pixels minimum (height x width ratio approximately 1:2.5). Don't cram text into the graphical abstract. A clean schematic or key result figure works best.

Color figures are free in the online version. Print color incurs a charge, but since most readers access Applied Energy digitally, this is rarely relevant. Always ensure figures are legible in grayscale as a backup.

Applied Energy uses Elsevier's standard numbered citation style.

In-text citations: Bracketed numbers (e.g., "as reported [1,2]"). Numbers are assigned in the order references first appear. For ranges, use [1-3] rather than [1,2,3]. Multiple non-consecutive references are separated by commas: [1,4,7].

Reference list format:

[1] A.B. Author, C.D. Author, Title of article, Journal Name Abbreviation Volume (Year) Pages.

Key formatting details for Elsevier style:

• Author names: Initials followed by surname (e.g., "J.K. Smith"). No periods between initials.
• Article titles are included in the reference.
• Journal titles abbreviated per standard conventions.
• Volume number in bold, followed by year in parentheses.
• Page ranges with an en dash.
• DOIs are required when available. Format: https://doi.org/10.xxxx/xxxxx
• For books: Author, Title, Publisher, City, Year.

There's no formal cap on reference count, but most research articles in Applied Energy cite 40 to 60 references. Reviews may cite 100 or more. The key is that every reference serves a purpose. Editors at this level notice citation padding.

Applied Energy requires that all references be accessible. Conference papers, internal reports, and unpublished data should be minimized. If you cite a conference paper, make sure it's available through a DOI or permanent URL.

Applied Energy supports supplementary material through Elsevier's standard system.

What goes in supplementary material:

• Extended datasets and tables
• Additional figures (e.g., sensitivity analyses, parametric sweeps)
• Derivations and mathematical details
• Code, models, and simulation details
• Multimedia files (videos of experiments, animated results)

Supplementary material is submitted as separate files through the Elsevier Editorial Manager system. Each file should be clearly labeled (e.g., "Supplementary Figure S1") and referenced in the main text.

Elsevier hosts supplementary files alongside the article on ScienceDirect. They're freely accessible to readers and go through peer review. There's a 50 MB limit per individual file. For larger datasets, use a public repository (Mendeley Data, Zenodo, Dryad) and include the DOI in the paper.

One important distinction: Applied Energy considers the supplementary material part of the peer-reviewed record. You can't add supplementary files after acceptance. Plan your supplementary content from the start.

Data in Brief: Elsevier offers a companion option called Data in Brief, where you can publish your dataset as a standalone data article linked to your Applied Energy paper. This gives the data its own DOI, citation record, and visibility. It's worth considering if your dataset has reuse value beyond your specific study.

These details are specific to Applied Energy and trip up first-time submitters:

Highlights are mandatory and strictly formatted. Each highlight must be 85 characters or fewer, including spaces. That's about 12-15 words per highlight. You need 3 to 5 of them. Highlights should convey the novelty and main findings, not restate the methodology. The 85-character limit is enforced by the submission system and it will reject highlights that exceed it.

Nomenclature section. Applied Energy requires a nomenclature/notation list for papers that use many symbols. This appears after the abstract and keywords, before the introduction. Use a two-column format with symbols on the left and descriptions on the right. Greek letters and subscripts/superscripts should be grouped separately.

Elsevier's "Your Paper Your Way" policy. For initial submission, Applied Energy follows Elsevier's relaxed formatting policy. You can submit in any reasonable format for the first round. Strict formatting compliance is only required at the revision stage. This means your reference format, figure placement, and layout don't need to be perfect for the initial submission.

CRediT author statement. Required for all submissions. Each author's contribution must be described using the CRediT (Contributor Roles Taxonomy) system. This is submitted as a separate statement, not embedded in the manuscript.

Declaration of competing interests. Mandatory. All authors must declare any financial or personal relationships that could influence the work. Even if there are no conflicts, a statement saying so is required.

Funding information. Must be provided in a standardized format through the submission system. Elsevier links funding data to the Crossref Funder Registry for indexing.

These come up repeatedly in Applied Energy technical checks:

1. Highlights character count. Authors consistently exceed the 85-character limit. Count carefully. Spaces count. Punctuation counts. The system will reject your submission if any highlight exceeds the limit.

1. Keyword overlap with title. Elsevier recommends that keywords don't simply repeat words from the title. Use synonyms or more specific terms that complement the title.

1. Figure quality at revision. Initial submission can use embedded lower-resolution figures. At revision, separate high-resolution files are mandatory. Authors who embed all figures and don't keep originals have to recreate them, which delays the process.

1. Nomenclature completeness. Every symbol used in equations must appear in the nomenclature list. Reviewers will flag missing entries.

1. Data availability statement. Now required for all Elsevier journals, including Applied Energy. State where data can be accessed or that it's available on request.

In our pre-submission review work with manuscripts targeting Applied Energy, four patterns generate the most consistent desk-rejection outcomes.

Highlights missing or exceeding the 85-character limit. Applied Energy requires 3-5 highlights, each no longer than 85 characters including spaces, submitted as a separate text box in Editorial Manager. This is an Elsevier administrative requirement; papers submitted without highlights or with bullets that exceed the character limit are returned before peer review begins, regardless of content quality.

Novelty claim is marginal optimization rather than a new framework. Applied Energy editors evaluate whether a submission changes practice, introduces a new method, or advances understanding of an energy system, not whether it improves a known metric. Papers that demonstrate a 5-15% performance gain on an established configuration without a new concept, mechanism, or generalizable insight are consistently desk-rejected as incremental. The guide for authors states the journal seeks "innovative and novel solutions."

Graphical abstract absent or wrong dimensions. A graphical abstract is strongly expected and treated as mandatory in practice. It must be a single-panel image at 531 x 1328 pixels minimum (height x width). Submitting no graphical abstract, or adapting an ACS-format square TOC, causes administrative return through Editorial Manager.

Energy system scope limited to device-level characterization. Applied Energy covers the full lifecycle of energy systems from resource to end use, with emphasis on integration, economics, and environmental context. Papers confined to component characterization (cell-level battery tests, lab-scale reactor yield) without system integration analysis, economic assessment, or policy context are rejected for scope.

A Applied Energy submission readiness check evaluates manuscript structure, highlights formatting, and novelty framing against these desk-rejection patterns before you submit.