Is Advanced Materials a Good Journal? Impact, Scope, and Fit

The editorial filter is not "is this good materials science?" It is "does this change how multiple materials communities think about a problem?"

Papers that do well here typically share three traits:

1. The materials advance has a functional or conceptual consequence visible in the first two figures - not buried in supplementary data
2. The relevance crosses at least two traditional boundaries (e.g., chemistry + device physics, or biomaterials + energy)
3. The story holds up even if you remove the best benchmark number from the abstract

Papers that struggle are usually excellent within one subfield but do not genuinely cross community lines. Synthesis-plus-characterization with modest functional payoff is the most common rejection profile.

Is Advanced Materials hard to get into?

Yes. The 10-15% acceptance rate understates the difficulty because many submissions are desk-rejected before review. The editorial screen for cross-field significance is the first and highest barrier.

How long does Advanced Materials review take?

Expect 4-8 weeks for peer review after the editorial screen. Desk decisions (accept for review or reject) typically come within 1-2 weeks.

Does Advanced Materials publish full articles?

Yes, but Communications dominate the journal's identity and citation profile. Full Research Articles are published but are a smaller fraction of the output.

What is the difference between Advanced Materials and Matter?

Matter (Cell Press, IF ~18) also targets cross-disciplinary materials, but with a stronger emphasis on sustainability and societal impact framing. Advanced Materials has a larger publication volume and broader traditional materials scope.

Should I submit to Advanced Materials or ACS Nano?

If the nanoscale itself is what makes the result work, ACS Nano is the more natural home. If the advance is about materials design with interdisciplinary consequence that happens to involve nanomaterials, Advanced Materials is the stronger fit.

In our pre-submission review work with manuscripts targeting Advanced Materials, three patterns generate the most consistent desk rejections among the papers we analyze.

Single-community framing without cross-field payoff. Advanced Materials requires that the advance reshapes thinking across at least two materials communities. Wiley's author instructions explicitly state that Communications should have "relevance to a broad scientific readership" and a cross-disciplinary consequence visible from the abstract. We see manuscripts that are excellent within one subfield (say, polymer synthesis) but frame every result in discipline-internal terms. The cross-field relevance is there, but buried in the supplementary discussion. Editors screen for it in the first figure, not in the concluding paragraph.

Synthesis-plus-characterization with a thin functional payoff. The journal's guidelines specify that a Communication must present "a significant and substantial advance." SciRev author reports consistently flag desk rejections citing "limited functional demonstration" as the reason. We observe that manuscripts reporting new compositions with extensive HRTEM and XPS characterization, but only a single proof-of-concept functional test, fail this bar. The advance must be visible in a functional or conceptual consequence, not only in the synthesis itself.

Communication-format papers that depend on supplementary data to close the argument. Advanced Materials Communications run roughly 2,500 words, and the Wiley guidelines are explicit that the main text must stand independently. We find that manuscripts with 8-12 supplementary figures carrying the mechanistic weight are routinely declined at the editorial screen. If the causal chain only becomes clear after reading the SI, the paper is not ready for the Communication format.

SciRev author-reported data confirms Advanced Materials' 4-8 week median to first decision. An Advanced Materials cross-field framing and Communication-format check can flag framing gaps and Communication-format readiness before editors do.

Advanced Materials (Wiley, IF 26.8) is the highest-impact materials science journal that accepts work across ALL materials types. The editorial bar is the broadest cross-field impact, the material itself must be novel enough that materials scientists across subfields care.

Advanced Materials does not accept application-only papers without materials novelty (those belong at Advanced Functional Materials or ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces). It also does not accept incremental improvements to known compositions without new understanding.

The Wiley transfer system allows desk-rejected papers to move to AFM, Small, or Advanced Science within 3-5 business days.

An Advanced Materials scope and novelty check can score desk-reject risk before you submit.