Chemical Engineering Journal Formatting Requirements: Complete Author Guide

CEJ's abstract is straightforward compared to journals that require structured abstracts with labeled sections.

• Word limit: 250 words maximum
• Structure: Unstructured (single paragraph)
• Citations: Not permitted in the abstract
• Graphical abstract: Optional but strongly recommended (see below)

The 200-word abstract should cover the purpose of the study, the experimental or computational approach, the primary results with quantitative data, and the broader significance. Don't waste the first sentence on generic background. Start with what you did or why it matters.

CEJ's graphical abstract is separate from the text abstract. It's optional, but papers with graphical abstracts receive higher visibility in ScienceDirect and tend to get more downloads. The graphical abstract should be a single image (no multi-panel composites) at 531 x 1328 pixels, saved as TIFF, EPS, or high-resolution JPEG. Keep text within the image minimal and use a font size of at least 14 pt.

One detail authors miss: the text abstract and the graphical abstract should not simply repeat each other. The graphical abstract is meant to convey the key concept visually, not serve as a figure version of your written summary.

CEJ allows up to 10 figures per research article. Tables don't have a formal count limit, but the editorial office will push back if you're submitting more tables than the content justifies.

Figure specifications:

Table formatting: Tables should be editable (Word table or LaTeX tabular environment), not images. Each table needs a title above it and explanatory footnotes below. Use horizontal rules only at the top, below the header row, and at the bottom. No vertical rules. Every column must have a header.

Color figures: CEJ publishes in full color online at no charge. It's worth knowing because some authors still convert figures to grayscale unnecessarily under the mistaken assumption that color incurs a fee.

Multi-panel figures should label panels as (a), (b), (c) in the top-left corner of each panel. Use consistent axis labels and font sizes across all panels within a figure.

CEJ uses the standard Elsevier numbered reference style, which is one of the most common formats in engineering journals.

In-text citations: Square brackets with numbers, e.g., [1], [2,3], [4-7]. Numbers are assigned sequentially based on order of first appearance.

Reference list format:

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

Key formatting details:

• Author names: Initials first, then last name (e.g., A.B. Smith).
• Journal titles are abbreviated per ISO 4. "Chemical Engineering Journal" becomes "Chem. Eng. J."
• Volume numbers are in bold.
• Include DOI at the end of each reference when available.
• For books: A.B. Author, Title of Book, Publisher, City, Year.
• Web references need the URL and access date.

There's no formal reference cap for research articles, but most published CEJ papers cite between 40 and 70 references. Review articles often exceed 150. If your reference list is significantly longer than comparable papers in CEJ, consider whether every citation is pulling its weight.

CEJ supports reference management tools well. The Elsevier style files for EndNote, Zotero, and Mendeley are readily available and produce correctly formatted output.

CEJ uses Elsevier's standard supplementary material system. Supplementary content is hosted on ScienceDirect alongside the main article and is accessible to all readers.

What belongs in supplementary material:

• Additional experimental details (extended methods, calibration curves, raw spectra)
• Extra figures and tables that support but don't drive the main narrative
• Video files showing experimental processes or simulations
• Datasets in Excel or CSV format
• Code or computational input files

File requirements:

• Each supplementary file should be self-explanatory with its own captions and legends
• Maximum file size: 50 MB per file (contact the editorial office for larger files)
• Acceptable formats: PDF, Word, Excel, TIFF, JPEG, MP4, AVI
• Label files as "Supplementary Material" followed by a descriptor (e.g., "Supplementary Material: Additional characterization data")

The supplementary material goes through peer review at CEJ. Reviewers have access to all supplementary files, so don't treat this section as a dumping ground for low-quality data. Everything in the supplement should be at the same standard as the main manuscript.

One common mistake: placing content in the supplement that reviewers or readers need to understand your main arguments. If a figure is referenced more than twice in the main text, it probably belongs in the main manuscript, not the supplement.

CEJ is a hybrid open access journal. Authors can publish under the subscription route at no charge, or pay an article processing charge (APC) for gold open access.

• APC: $5,070 USD (excluding taxes) for gold open access under a Creative Commons license
• Subscription route: No author fee; article available to subscribers only
• Color figures: Free for all published articles regardless of access route

The APC is invoiced after acceptance; there is no submission or review fee. Authors at institutions with Elsevier Read and Publish agreements may have the APC covered or discounted through their library.

CEJ requires a cover letter with every submission. The cover letter should be uploaded as a separate file in the Editorial Manager system.

Cover letter content:

• State the article type you're submitting (Research Article, Short Communication, etc.)
• Briefly describe the novelty and significance of the work (3-4 sentences)
• Confirm that the work is original and not under consideration elsewhere
• Suggest 3-5 potential reviewers with their email addresses and affiliations
• Disclose any conflicts of interest

Highlights: CEJ requires highlights for research articles. These are 3-5 bullet points, each no longer than 85 characters including spaces, that summarize the key findings. Highlights appear on ScienceDirect alongside the abstract and significantly affect whether readers click through to the full paper.

The 85-character limit per highlight is strictly enforced by the system. This is tighter than it sounds. "We developed a novel photocatalyst with 99% degradation efficiency under visible light" is already 85 characters. Plan your highlights carefully.

Keywords: 1-7 keywords, avoiding compound keywords with "and" or "of." Keywords should be specific to your work, not generic terms like "chemical engineering" or "catalysis."

These are the details that regular CEJ authors know but that aren't obvious from a quick read of the guidelines:

Highlights are required, not optional. Many Elsevier journals list highlights as optional. CEJ treats them as mandatory for research articles. If you don't include them, the submission system will let you proceed, but the editorial assistant will send them back.

Nomenclature section. If your paper uses more than a few specialized symbols or abbreviations, CEJ expects a Nomenclature section immediately after the abstract. This is a formatted list of all symbols, Greek letters, subscripts, and abbreviations with their definitions. Use the Elsevier nomenclature format with categories (Roman symbols, Greek symbols, Abbreviations).

Section numbering. CEJ uses numbered sections (1. Introduction, 2. Experimental, 3. Results and Discussion, etc.). Don't use unnumbered sections or non-standard section titles. The standard structure is: Introduction, Experimental/Materials and Methods, Results and Discussion (or separate Results and Discussion sections), Conclusions.

CRediT author statement. CEJ requires a CRediT (Contributor Roles Taxonomy) author statement. This is a structured list of each author's contributions using the 14 CRediT roles (Conceptualization, Methodology, Software, Validation, etc.). It's submitted as a separate item during the submission process.

Data availability statement. Mandatory for all primary research submissions. CEJ's policy (Option C in Elsevier's classification) requires authors to deposit research data in a relevant public data repository AND cite and link to that dataset in the manuscript. If data cannot be shared, you must still provide a statement explaining why.

Declaration of competing interests. Mandatory. Even if there are no conflicts, you must include the statement "The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper."

These trip up even experienced CEJ authors:

1. Line numbers are required. Submit with continuous line numbers for the review version. Without them, reviewers can't reference specific text, and the editorial office may return the manuscript.

1. Double spacing. The review manuscript must be double-spaced. Single-spaced submissions will be sent back.

1. Figure placement. For initial submission, embed figures at the end of the manuscript or within the text. Don't submit figures as separate files unless the system specifically asks for them at the revision stage.

1. SI units. CEJ requires SI units throughout. If you use non-SI units (e.g., psi, Fahrenheit), provide SI equivalents in parentheses.

1. Chemical nomenclature. Follow IUPAC naming conventions. For common chemicals, the standard name is acceptable (e.g., "acetic acid" rather than "ethanoic acid"), but be consistent throughout.

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

Experimental optimization without mechanistic interpretation. The guide explicitly states the journal rejects "manuscripts of routine studies, however presenting experimental data but without any significant new interpretation or novelty." In CEJ's scope (reaction engineering, catalysis, separation processes), this catches parameter-sweep studies (varying temperature, pressure, catalyst loading) that report improved yield or conversion without explaining the underlying mechanism. A paper showing 12% higher conversion at 300°C versus 280°C without a kinetic model or mechanistic rationale is the canonical desk-reject case. CEJ expects engineering-relevant insight, not optimization tables.

Materials synthesis lacking engineering application. CEJ's scope requires an engineering dimension. Papers primarily reporting synthesis and characterization of a new material (XRD, BET, SEM, TEM) without demonstrating performance under realistic engineering conditions (actual reactor conditions, real wastewater concentrations, industrial-relevant flow rates) are rejected at the scope boundary. The guide's out-of-scope language covers "traditional fabrication and modification of polymers, including membranes and porous materials," and this captures any materials characterization study that stops before engineering performance is demonstrated.

Narrow applied scope without generic significance. The rejection criterion explicitly covers work that is "very specific and applied in their scope." CEJ requires submissions showing "original and rigorous research results that have generic significance." Highly site-specific studies (optimizing a wastewater treatment process for one industrial effluent, a reactor design study tuned to one proprietary feedstock) are rejected before review if the findings cannot generalize to a broader class of engineering problems. CEJ is not a trade journal for process optimization case studies.

Chemistry submissions lacking the engineering bridge. The out-of-scope statement covers "papers pertaining to chemistry with lack of innovative engineering aspects." This is a commonly triggered rejection path: computational or synthetic chemistry submissions involving a molecule relevant to catalysis or environmental applications, where the paper itself (reaction mechanism DFT, synthesis route, spectroscopic characterization) has no reactor design, process model, scale-up analysis, or engineering performance metric. The science may be sound, but CEJ's mandate is the engineering interface, not chemistry alone.

A Chemical Engineering Journal pre-submission readiness check evaluates whether your manuscript demonstrates the engineering insight and generic significance CEJ requires before peer review.