Journal of Hazardous Materials Formatting Requirements: Complete Author Guide

The Journal of Hazardous Materials requires a structured abstract, but not in the traditional sense. There are no labeled sections (Background, Methods, Results, Conclusions), but the journal expects the abstract to cover those elements in flowing text.

• Word limit: 200 words maximum for Research Articles
• Structure: Unstructured single paragraph
• Citations: Not allowed in the abstract
• Keywords: 4 to 6 keywords required, listed immediately below the abstract
• Abbreviations: Must be defined at first use in the abstract, then again at first use in the main text

The 200-word cap is tight for environmental chemistry and toxicology papers that typically involve multiple experimental phases. Focus on the hazard or material you studied, the method you used, and the primary quantitative finding. Skip general statements about pollution being a global problem.

Keywords matter more than usual here because the Journal of Hazardous Materials covers such a broad scope, from nanomaterial toxicity to wastewater treatment to industrial chemical safety. Your keywords determine which handling editor receives your manuscript, and the wrong editor match is one of the most common reasons for slow or inappropriate reviews.

The journal follows standard Elsevier figure guidelines, but there are a few specifications that trip up authors working in the environmental and chemical hazard space.

Figure specifications:

Table formatting:

• Tables should be editable (not images), created in Word's table tool or LaTeX table environments
• Number tables sequentially (Table 1, Table 2, etc.)
• Each table needs a title above it and any footnotes below
• Use horizontal rules only (top, bottom of table, and below the header row), no vertical rules
• Abbreviations used in tables must be defined in a footnote below the table

For electron microscopy, SEM, and TEM images (common in nanomaterial hazard studies), make sure scale bars are embedded in the image at the correct magnification. The production team won't add or verify scale bars for you.

Multi-panel figures should use lowercase letters (a, b, c) in the top-left corner of each panel. Keep the lettering consistent in font and size across all panels. The journal's production team will reformat panels that use inconsistent labeling, and their choices don't always match what you intended.

This is the formatting element that causes the most desk rejections at the Journal of Hazardous Materials. Highlights are mandatory for all Research Articles, Short Communications, and Reviews.

• Count: 3 to 5 bullet points
• Character limit: 85 characters per highlight, including spaces
• Submission method: Uploaded as a separate file during submission
• Content: Each highlight should state a single concrete finding or contribution

The 85-character limit is enforced by the submission system. It will not let you proceed if any highlight exceeds the count. This forces you to write extremely concise statements, which is harder than it sounds.

Bad highlight (102 characters): "We investigated the removal efficiency of microplastics from wastewater using novel biochar adsorbents"

Good highlight (82 characters): "Biochar removed 97% of microplastics from secondary wastewater effluent at pH 7"

Highlights appear prominently on the ScienceDirect article page and in search results. They're functionally your paper's marketing copy. Treat them that way.

The Journal of Hazardous Materials uses the Elsevier numbered reference system.

In-text citations: Numbers in square brackets, e.g., [1], [2,3], or [4-7]. References are numbered in the order of first appearance.

Reference list format:

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

Key formatting details:

• Author names: Initials first, then surname (e.g., "J.K. Smith")
• Use commas between authors, no "and" or "&" before the last author
• Journal names are abbreviated following ISO 4 standards
• Volume numbers are in bold
• Issue numbers are generally omitted
• Page ranges use an en dash in the final publication but hyphens are acceptable in the manuscript
• DOIs are strongly recommended and will be added by the production team if missing

For web references, include the URL, the author or organization, the title, and the date of access. Environmental regulation and chemical safety data references often point to EPA, ECHA, or WHO databases, and these tend to change URLs frequently. Using DOIs or permanent identifiers instead of bare URLs prevents broken links.

The journal doesn't impose a strict cap on references, but Research Articles typically have 40 to 60 references. Going above 80 for a non-review paper will raise editorial eyebrows.

The Journal of Hazardous Materials supports supplementary material hosted on ScienceDirect alongside the main article.

What goes in supplementary material:

• Additional experimental details that don't fit within the word limit
• Supporting figures and tables
• Raw spectral data (XRD, FTIR, XPS)
• Extended datasets
• Video content

Formatting requirements:

• Supplementary material must be submitted as a single file when possible
• Accepted formats: Word, Excel, PDF, TIFF, JPEG, MP4
• Maximum file size: 50 MB per file
• Label supplementary figures as Fig. S1, Fig. S2, etc.
• Label supplementary tables as Table S1, Table S2, etc.
• Include a brief descriptive caption for each supplementary item

One common mistake: authors place essential methods in the supplementary material to stay under the word limit. Reviewers should be able to evaluate and reproduce your work from the main text alone. If a method is needed to judge the validity of your conclusions, it belongs in the body of the paper.

The journal now requires that datasets supporting published articles be deposited in a recognized repository (like Mendeley Data, Zenodo, or a domain-specific repository) with a data availability statement in the manuscript. Simply uploading a CSV as supplementary material is no longer sufficient for large datasets.

These are details specific to the Journal of Hazardous Materials that won't apply to other Elsevier journals:

The Highlights file is separate. Unlike some Elsevier journals where Highlights are entered into text fields during submission, J. Hazardous Materials requires you to upload Highlights as a separate Word file. The submission system has a specific upload slot for it. If you paste your Highlights into the wrong field, they won't appear correctly.

Graphical abstract dimensions are specific. If you include a graphical abstract (optional but encouraged), it must be 531 pixels tall by 1328 pixels wide. That's not a standard aspect ratio, and resizing a standard slide or figure to these dimensions almost always causes distortion. Create it at the correct dimensions from the start.

Chemical structures need standardized formatting. For chemical structure drawings, the journal expects bond lengths, angles, and font sizes consistent with ACS drawing standards (even though this is an Elsevier journal). Use ChemDraw with the ACS Document 1996 settings or equivalent.

CRediT author statement is mandatory. Since 2019, the journal requires a CRediT (Contributor Roles Taxonomy) author statement. This lists each author's contribution using standardized categories: Conceptualization, Methodology, Software, Validation, Formal analysis, Investigation, Resources, Data curation, Writing (original draft), Writing (review and editing), Visualization, Supervision, Project administration, Funding acquisition.

Environmental significance statement. The journal doesn't require a formal "significance statement" section, but the Introduction is expected to clearly articulate the environmental or health hazard being addressed. Manuscripts that bury the real-world relevance deep in the Discussion are more likely to receive negative editorial decisions.

These are the items that delay manuscripts at the Journal of Hazardous Materials most often:

1. Highlights exceed 85 characters. The submission system rejects them silently. Authors then scramble to shorten their highlights under time pressure, which leads to vague, unhelpful statements.

1. Missing CRediT statement. The system won't let you submit without it, but authors sometimes fill it in hastily and assign incorrect roles. Reviewers occasionally comment on mismatched contribution claims.

1. Figures not cited in order. All figures must be cited in the text in numerical order. If you reference Fig. 3 before Fig. 2, the production team will flag it and may renumber your figures.

1. Supplementary material references. Each supplementary item must be referenced at least once in the main text. Orphan supplementary figures that nobody points to get dropped during production.

1. Incomplete data availability statement. A generic "Data available on request" statement is no longer accepted for most submission types. You need to specify the repository or explain any access restrictions.