Rejected from International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer? Where to Submit Next

Use these as routing checks, not as automatic resubmission reasons.

This page was researched from the current ScienceDirect IJHMT journal page, IJHMT guide for authors, ScienceDirect insights page, Elsevier Article Transfer Service note for IJHMT, existing Manusights IJHMT and adjacent thermal/energy pages, and current source checks for International Communications in Heat and Mass Transfer, International Journal of Heat and Fluid Flow, Applied Thermal Engineering, Applied Energy, Energy, Energy Conversion and Management, Journal of Energy Storage, Renewable Energy, and Fuel.

The non-obvious layer is center-of-gravity diagnosis. A rejected IJHMT manuscript may still be an IJHMT paper with repairable verification, uncertainty, mechanism, or article-type problems. It may be an ICHMT paper because the result is compact and communication-shaped. It may be an IJHFF paper because fluid-dynamic mechanism owns the contribution. It may be Applied Thermal Engineering because device or system engineering is the real claim. It may be Applied Energy, Energy, or ECM because energy-system decision value, economics, conversion, or management owns the paper. It may be a storage, renewable, fuel, HVAC, refrigeration, electronics-cooling, porous-media, combustion, or CFD-methods paper.

Through our diagnostic review work, we see the same editorial triage pattern repeatedly: authors treat IJHMT rejection as a "thermal journal too selective" problem when the cleaner diagnosis is usually evidence center. In practice, the decision turns on whether the manuscript proves a transfer-process advance, a fluid-dynamic mechanism, an applied thermal-engineering decision, or a broader energy-system consequence.

Do not treat every rejection as a reason to downgrade. Sometimes the manuscript is strong but dressed as a transfer-process paper when it is really an applied thermal, fluid-flow, storage, or energy-systems paper.

Use these labels to convert the rejection into a repair plan.

Transfer-process gap: the title, abstract, highlights, first figure, methods, and discussion do not show what heat or mass transfer process the manuscript helps the field understand better.

Verification gap: the numerical or simulation evidence lacks grid-independence, time-step sensitivity, benchmark comparison, method verification, or uncertainty about model assumptions.

Experimental-uncertainty gap: the paper reports heat-transfer coefficients, Nusselt numbers, mass-transfer rates, temperature fields, concentration fields, evaporation rates, or flow visualization without a credible uncertainty and repeatability package.

Correlation-without-mechanism gap: the paper offers a new fit or correlation but does not explain the physical reason behind the trend, regime change, scaling behavior, or transfer mechanism.

Audience-center gap: the manuscript is technically sound but belongs to ICHMT, IJHFF, Applied Thermal Engineering, Applied Energy, Energy, ECM, Journal of Energy Storage, Renewable Energy, Fuel, HVAC, electronics cooling, combustion, porous media, or a CFD-methods venue rather than IJHMT.

These labels prevent cosmetic retargeting. A transfer-process gap is not fixed by adding heat-transfer terms to the title. A verification gap is not fixed by a longer discussion. An uncertainty gap is not fixed by cleaner plots. A correlation gap is not fixed by more regression statistics.

The right next venue is the one where the evidence becomes easier to explain, not the one with the closest metric.

International Communications in Heat and Mass Transfer is cleaner when the rejected manuscript is still heat/mass-transfer centered but the result is compact, urgent, or communication-shaped. ScienceDirect describes ICHMT as a worldwide forum for rapid dissemination of transformative, high-impact research in heat and mass transfer and related processes, technologies, and systems.

Route toward ICHMT if:

• the manuscript has one sharp heat/mass-transfer result rather than a full-length evidence arc
• the figures can support a short communication without hiding methods
• the contribution is high-impact but does not need IJHMT's full-length discussion space
• the rejection reason was length, article type, or communication fit rather than weak evidence

Do not use ICHMT to disguise missing verification, uncertainty, or mechanism. A shorter venue does not lower the evidence bar.

International Journal of Heat and Fluid Flow is cleaner when the rejected manuscript's strongest contribution is fluid-dynamic mechanism, turbulence, multiphase flow, microscale flow, flow instability, thermo-fluidics, or coupled flow/heat-transfer physics. Its current ScienceDirect scope emphasizes underlying physics or fundamental mechanisms governing fluid dynamic processes or heat-transfer processes.

Route toward IJHFF if:

• the main novelty is a flow structure, instability, turbulence model, or fluid-dynamic mechanism
• heat transfer is important but follows from the flow contribution
• the benchmark table is built around fluid-flow literature rather than transfer-process literature
• the IJHMT rejection exposed that the paper is more flow-centered than heat/mass-transfer-centered

Do not move there if the manuscript's real contribution is thermal device performance, energy-system decision value, storage operation, fuel conversion, or a pure correlation.

Applied Thermal Engineering is stronger when the manuscript answers an applied thermal-engineering question: device design, component performance, equipment behavior, thermal-management architecture, heat-recovery system, HVAC system, refrigeration process, electronics cooling implementation, or operating-condition consequence.

Applied Energy is stronger when the manuscript answers an applied energy-system decision: operation, optimization, economics, lifecycle analysis, deployment, net-zero planning, building energy, storage dispatch, or multi-energy-system design.

Energy is stronger when the manuscript is broad energy engineering, assessment, review, or evaluation where heat transfer is one component in a larger energy-system question.

Energy Conversion and Management is stronger when conversion, management, exergy, cost, optimization, or energy-system consequence is central and the heat/mass transfer process is one mechanism inside a broader system.

Do not use these routes to hide weak transfer evidence. Applied and energy journals will still ask whether the mechanism, validation, benchmark, uncertainty, cost, and operating assumptions support the claim.

Journal of Energy Storage is cleaner when the manuscript's real contribution is thermal energy storage, battery thermal management, phase-change storage, degradation, safety, sizing, or storage operation.

Renewable Energy is cleaner when the manuscript is solar thermal, geothermal, renewable heat integration, renewable-powered thermal systems, or multi-renewable thermal technologies.

Fuel is cleaner when the manuscript is combustion, emissions, fuel conversion, burner design, engine performance, fuel-cell thermal behavior, or fuel-system evidence.

Specialist venues may be better when the rejected paper is mainly HVAC, refrigeration, electronics cooling, ORC cycles, heat exchangers, building energy, data-center cooling, porous media, nuclear thermal systems, CFD methods, or thermal-management materials.

The narrower venue is not always a downgrade. It can be the journal where the right reviewers understand the component, operating condition, validation standard, and benchmark.

In our review of heat-and-mass-transfer manuscripts, the worst retargeting mistakes happen when authors change the journal name but leave the evidence hierarchy unchanged. IJHMT rejection is not one event. It is usually one of four editorial signals.

IJHMT transfer-process mismatch: the manuscript is a valid thermal paper but not a transfer-process paper. The data show a heat exchanger, cooling plate, PCM capsule, electronic package, or thermal-management system working better, but the abstract, first figure, benchmark table, and discussion do not prove what the result changes about transfer-process understanding. That route usually points to Applied Thermal Engineering or a specialist venue unless the mechanism can be rebuilt.

IJHMT evidence-hole pattern: the manuscript is a transfer-process paper with an evidence hole. Computational work lacks grid independence or method verification; experimental work lacks uncertainty propagation; AI/ML work lacks benchmark and extrapolation discipline. That rejection reason travels. Moving from IJHMT to ICHMT, IJHFF, or ATE will not fix the methods section, results table, or supplementary validation package.

IJHMT correlation-without-mechanism pattern: the manuscript is a correlation paper without mechanism. We see this often in Nusselt-number, Sherwood-number, boiling, condensation, nanofluid, porous-media, and heat-exchanger studies. The equation, regression table, and plotted fit are not the contribution unless the paper explains why the transfer process behaves differently. Repair the physical interpretation before retargeting.

IJHMT wrong-audience pattern: the manuscript's center of gravity belongs elsewhere. Flow physics points to IJHFF. Compact high-impact transfer findings point to ICHMT. Engineering implementation points to Applied Thermal Engineering. System economics and operation point to Applied Energy, Energy, or ECM. Storage, renewable thermal, combustion, HVAC, refrigeration, electronics cooling, and porous-media papers often need narrower reviewers who can evaluate the right figures, benchmarks, and operating conditions.

This is why a useful post-rejection decision starts with the rejection reason, not with a journal list. The next venue should make the strongest evidence in the paper more central.

If you want a second read before spending another submission cycle, run a journal-fit and evidence-strength check. The useful question is not "which journal is easiest?" It is "which journal will evaluate the actual contribution?"

Elsevier's IJHMT Article Transfer Service note says papers submitted to IJHMT may be transferred to Heliyon or Thermal Science and Engineering Progress. That can be useful, but transfer is not acceptance and it is not always the best strategic route.

Evaluate the offer with four questions:

Accept transfer if the destination is truly aligned and you can repair the manuscript before it is evaluated. Decline if a different journal family is cleaner.

Maybe, but treat resubmission as a high bar. Resubmit only if:

• the editor invited a revised submission or the rejection reason is narrow and repairable
• the manuscript now makes the transfer-process advance explicit
• numerical work now includes grid independence, verification, and sensitivity evidence
• experimental work now includes calibration, repeatability, uncertainty propagation, and readable error evidence
• the benchmark table compares against the right heat/mass-transfer literature
• the highlights name the mechanism or transfer-process advance
• the cover letter explains what changed since rejection

Do not resubmit if the editor clearly identified scope mismatch, if the paper's real contribution is applied device engineering or energy-system decision value, or if the missing evidence cannot be rebuilt.

• International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer submission guide
• Rejected from International Communications in Heat and Mass Transfer? Where to submit next
• Rejected from Physics of Fluids? Where to submit next
• Applied Thermal Engineering submission guide
• Rejected from Applied Thermal Engineering? Where to submit next
• Applied Energy submission guide
• Energy submission guide
• Energy Conversion and Management submission guide
• Journal of Energy Storage submission guide
• Renewable Energy submission guide
• Fuel submission guide

This page does not claim to predict an editorial decision. It uses current public journal guidance, journal-page facts, Elsevier transfer information, and Manusights review patterns to help authors diagnose the rejection reason, repair evidence that will travel across journals, and choose a cleaner next route.