Journal of Membrane Science Submission Guide

Source: Journal of Membrane Science on Elsevier, Clarivate JCR 2024, accessed April 2026.

Three operational signals govern editorial assessment:

1. Membrane-science substance. The journal requires substantive membrane-science contribution.

2. Methodological rigor. Synthesis, characterization, transport modeling, or process work must be top-tier.

3. Application centrality. The membrane application (water, gas, electrochemical, biomedical) must be central.

Recent issues span:

• Reverse osmosis and nanofiltration for water treatment

• Membrane bioreactors (MBR) for wastewater

• Gas separation membranes (CO2 capture, hydrogen)

• Polymer electrolyte membranes for fuel cells / electrolyzers

• Ion-exchange membranes for desalination / electrodialysis

• Mixed-matrix membranes (MMM) and 2D-material membranes

• Membrane fouling and antifouling strategies

• AI/ML for membrane design

For specific recent papers and DOIs, see Journal of Membrane Science on Elsevier. Representative recent papers:

• 10.1016/j.memsci.2023.122456

• 10.1016/j.memsci.2024.122789

• 10.1016/j.memsci.2024.122923

• Initial decision: typically 4-8 weeks

• First decision after review: typically 8-14 weeks

• Revision rounds: typically 1-2 major revisions to acceptance

• Time to publication after acceptance: weeks to a few months (online first available)

Use the guide for portal, routing, and policy details; use the manuscript check for the editor-facing fit call. The review tells you whether your paper clears the Journal of Membrane Science fit check before upload, especially around membrane as afterthought pattern, day 1 performance without durability pattern, and review or perspective without prior scope alignment pattern. Paid Manusights reviews include a 60-day money-back guarantee, and we do not train models on submitted manuscripts.

The membrane as afterthought pattern

Across membrane manuscripts targeting Journal of Membrane Science, the most common rejection risk is a paper where the membrane is present but not central. Elsevier describes the journal as a focal point for academic and industrial chemists, chemical engineers, materials scientists, and membranologists, with primary emphasis on the structure, function, and performance of non-biological membranes.

A manuscript can include a membrane material, permeability number, rejection coefficient, or separation test and still fail the Journal of Membrane Science fit test if the title, abstract, figures, methods, and cover letter read like general polymer chemistry, nanomaterials synthesis, water treatment, catalysis, or chemical engineering.

The repair is to make the membrane problem the protagonist. The abstract should identify the membrane class, transport or fouling problem, performance metric, and application context. The first figure should not only show morphology or synthesis. It should make clear how membrane formation, structure, transport, fouling, module design, or process application advances. The methods should provide membrane casting, post-treatment, thickness, porosity, pressure, feed composition, temperature, long-term testing, and normalization details.

If the work is mostly desalination, Desalination may fit better. If it is broader separations without a membrane-specific mechanism, Separation and Purification Technology, Chemical Engineering Journal, Industrial and Engineering Chemistry Research, AIChE Journal, or Journal of Membrane Science Letters may be more natural.

Check the membrane as afterthought pattern before submitting to Journal of Membrane Science →

The Day 1 performance without durability pattern

Across Journal of Membrane Science manuscripts, we repeatedly see strong Day 1 performance claims that are not supported by the manuscript components reviewers need. The abstract reports high flux, selectivity, ion conductivity, rejection, permeability, or antifouling performance. The figures show clean early curves. The methods and supplementary information, however, lack long-term fouling behavior, regeneration cycles, compaction data, chemical stability, mechanical integrity, mixed-feed testing, scale-up constraints, or comparison against realistic operating conditions.

Because Elsevier's public page highlights membrane transport, membrane formation and structure, fouling, module or process design, and applications, durability is not a minor add-on. It is often part of the editorial substance.

A stronger submission connects performance to endurance. For reverse osmosis, nanofiltration, ultrafiltration, electrodialysis, gas separation, fuel-cell membranes, electrolyzer membranes, membrane bioreactors, and mixed-matrix membranes, the main figures and supplement should show the actual operating conditions under which the claim survives.

The cover letter should name the failure mode the manuscript addresses: chlorine tolerance, organic fouling, plasticization, swelling, pressure cycling, pore collapse, selectivity-flux tradeoff, proton conductivity loss, membrane wetting, or scale formation.

Competing venues such as Desalination, Journal of Membrane Science Letters, Separation and Purification Technology, Advanced Membranes, Chemical Engineering Journal, and ACS Applied Polymer Materials become better choices when the evidence package is shorter, narrower, or less durability-centered.

Check the day 1 performance without durability pattern before submitting to Journal of Membrane Science →

The review or perspective without prior scope alignment pattern

For manuscripts targeting Journal of Membrane Science, review and perspective submissions fail differently from research articles. Elsevier's public page states that authors interested in submitting a Review Article or Perspective should contact the Co-Editors-in-Chief before submission to discuss scope and appropriateness. We still see teams prepare a review manuscript, figures, references, and cover letter as if the only question is topical relevance. For Journal of Membrane Science, the stronger question is whether the review gives archival guidance to the membrane community rather than summarizing a fashionable subtopic.

The package should prove synthesis value. The abstract should state the organizing thesis, not just the topic. The figures should map mechanisms, transport regimes, fouling pathways, material classes, or process constraints. The references should be selective enough to show judgment and broad enough to avoid school-of-thought bias. The cover letter should describe the gap in the review literature and mention prior Co-Editor-in-Chief contact for Reviews or Perspectives.

If the manuscript is a short conceptual contribution, Journal of Membrane Science Letters may fit better. If it is a water-only review, Desalination may be stronger. If it is primarily process-engineering, Separation and Purification Technology, Chemical Engineering Journal, or AIChE Journal may be better aligned.

Check whether your Journal of Membrane Science manuscript is submission-ready →

Journal of Membrane Science requires these at first submission:

• editable manuscript source file (.docx or .tex, not PDF) with numbered section structure per Elsevier convention

• cover letter establishing the membrane-science contribution and the practical-membrane-application or fundamental-transport-mechanism hook

• for Review or Perspective submissions, prior contact with a Co-Editor-in-Chief and reference to that contact in the cover letter

• highlights file (3-5 bullet points, 85 characters each)

• graphical abstract showing the membrane material or transport process

• CRediT author contribution statement

• data availability statement covering membrane synthesis recipes, transport-measurement raw data (permeability, selectivity, rejection coefficient, fouling kinetics), characterization data (SEM, TEM, FTIR, XPS, contact angle), and any process-simulation source files

• declaration of competing interests

• ethics statement (where applicable, including biosafety for any membrane-bioreactor or hemodialysis-membrane work)

• suggested reviewers with institutional affiliations and email addresses

• $3,690 USD APC for the Elsevier gold open-access option (2026; subscription publication has no APC; many institutional Elsevier transformative agreements cover the fee)

• declaration of generative AI use in the writing process per Elsevier policy

• for revised submissions, point-by-point reviewer response and marked-up manuscript

For Journal of Membrane Science submissions, the most common artifact-related issue is membrane-synthesis submissions reporting selectivity or permeability without long-term fouling or stability data. The journal's editorial culture treats long-term performance data (fouling resistance over 100+ hours, regeneration cycles, mechanical stability under operating conditions) as a substantive editorial filter; submissions reporting Day 1 performance numbers without fouling or stability evidence face routine major-revision requests on long-term relevance before scientific critique begins.

Run a Journal of Membrane Science pre-submission readiness check before clicking submit to verify the package meets the journal's membrane-with-long-term-performance bar.

Journal of Membrane Science manuscripts move through a four-stage editorial timeline. The editorial triage pattern at Elsevier membrane-science journals favors submissions where the cover letter names a failure pattern in current membrane practice that the manuscript addresses. Editors routinely reject membrane-synthesis-without-application submissions and consistently screen for cover letters that demonstrate awareness of the journal's recent editorial culture around fundamental-transport-with-application-relevance.

Day 0 to 5: Editorial Manager intake and technical check

The platform performs automated checks (source-file format, numbered-section structure, highlights, graphical abstract, declarations). PDF source files are returned. For Review or Perspective submissions, editorial staff verify the Co-Editor-in-Chief contact reference.

Day 5 to 21: Co Editor in Chief or Subject Editor desk screen

A Subject Editor (matched to gas separations, liquid separations and desalination, membrane bioreactors, membrane synthesis and modification, fuel-cell and electrolyzer membranes, or membrane fundamentals and transport theory) reviews scope fit, the membrane substance, and long-term performance evidence. Out-of-scope but sound membrane work is offered transfer to Journal of Membrane Science Letters at this stage.

Week 4 to 8: External peer review

Manuscripts that pass desk-screen go to 2-3 reviewers selected for both the membrane subfield and the application context.

Week 8 to 14: Decision and revision rounds

First decisions arrive at the 4-8 week median, typically as major or minor revision. Full review including revisions takes 8-14 weeks. Revision cycles add 4-10 weeks. Authors may file a formal appeal per Elsevier's Appeal Policy (one appeal per submission, decision final).

• Is Journal of Membrane Science a good journal?

• Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research Submission Guide

Before the reviewer-invitation stage, read the Journal of Membrane Science package against the same risks this guide flags in the Manusights section. The practical question is whether the abstract, cover letter, figures or tables, methods, reporting statements, supplementary files, and references all make the journal choice obvious.

• If the abstract still points toward membrane as afterthought pattern, revise the central claim before upload.

• If the evidence package leaves day 1 performance without durability pattern, strengthen the methods, controls, figures, or supplementary material rather than expecting reviewers to infer it.

• If the cover letter cannot resolve review or perspective without prior scope alignment pattern, compare the target journal against the adjacent venues named above before submitting.

Last verified: May 27, 2026 against Journal of Membrane Science editorial pages.