Soft Matter (journal)
Encyclopedia
Soft Matter is a peer-reviewed
scientific journal
publishing original (primary) research and review articles
on the generic science underpinning the properties and applications of soft matter
. Soft Matter is published 24 times a year by the Royal Society of Chemistry
.
Liz Davies is the Editor
of Soft Matter.
Soft Matter was launched in 2005 and has a high impact factor of 4.869 which makes it top of its field. While the journal was initially published as 12 issues a year, as submissions increased, the journal switched in 2009 to 24 issues a year.
Peer review
Peer review is a process of self-regulation by a profession or a process of evaluation involving qualified individuals within the relevant field. Peer review methods are employed to maintain standards, improve performance and provide credibility...
scientific journal
Scientific journal
In academic publishing, a scientific journal is a periodical publication intended to further the progress of science, usually by reporting new research. There are thousands of scientific journals in publication, and many more have been published at various points in the past...
publishing original (primary) research and review articles
Literature review
A literature review is a body of text that aims to review the critical points of current knowledge including substantive findings as well as theoretical and methodological contributions to a particular topic...
on the generic science underpinning the properties and applications of soft matter
Soft matter
Soft matter is a subfield of condensed matter comprising a variety of physical states that are easily deformed by thermal stresses or thermal fluctuations. They include liquids, colloids, polymers, foams, gels, granular materials, and a number of biological materials...
. Soft Matter is published 24 times a year by the Royal Society of Chemistry
Royal Society of Chemistry
The Royal Society of Chemistry is a learned society in the United Kingdom with the goal of "advancing the chemical sciences." It was formed in 1980 from the merger of the Chemical Society, the Royal Institute of Chemistry, the Faraday Society and the Society for Analytical Chemistry with a new...
.
Liz Davies is the Editor
Editor in chief
An editor-in-chief is a publication's primary editor, having final responsibility for the operations and policies. Additionally, the editor-in-chief is held accountable for delegating tasks to staff members as well as keeping up with the time it takes them to complete their task...
of Soft Matter.
Soft Matter was launched in 2005 and has a high impact factor of 4.869 which makes it top of its field. While the journal was initially published as 12 issues a year, as submissions increased, the journal switched in 2009 to 24 issues a year.
Subject Coverage
Soft Matter publishes articles on the following topics:- Bulk soft matterSoft matterSoft matter is a subfield of condensed matter comprising a variety of physical states that are easily deformed by thermal stresses or thermal fluctuations. They include liquids, colloids, polymers, foams, gels, granular materials, and a number of biological materials...
assemblies including polymers, colloids, gels, vesiclesVesicle (biology)A vesicle is a bubble of liquid within another liquid, a supramolecular assembly made up of many different molecules. More technically, a vesicle is a small membrane-enclosed sack that can store or transport substances. Vesicles can form naturally because of the properties of lipid membranes , or...
, emulsions, films, surfactantSurfactantSurfactants are compounds that lower the surface tension of a liquid, the interfacial tension between two liquids, or that between a liquid and a solid...
s, micelles, suspensionsSuspension (chemistry)In chemistry, a suspension is a heterogeneous fluid containing solid particles that are sufficiently large for sedimentation. Usually they must be larger than 1 micrometer. The internal phase is dispersed throughout the external phase through mechanical agitation, with the use of certain...
and liquid crystalLiquid crystalLiquid crystals are a state of matter that have properties between those of a conventional liquid and those of a solid crystal. For instance, an LC may flow like a liquid, but its molecules may be oriented in a crystal-like way. There are many different types of LC phases, which can be...
s - Soft nanotechnology and self-assembly including nanostructured polymeric materials, nanocompositeNanocompositeA nanocomposite is as a multiphase solid material where one of the phases has one, two or three dimensions of less than 100 nanometers , or structures having nano-scale repeat distances between the different phases that make up the material...
s, molecular self organisation, supramolecular systems, molecular imprintingMolecular imprintingIn chemistry, molecular imprinting is a technique to create template-shaped cavities in polymer matrices with memory of the template molecules to be used in molecular recognition . This technique is based on the system used by enzymes for substrate recognition, which is called the "lock and key"...
, molecular recognitionMolecular recognitionThe term molecular recognition refers to the specific interaction between two or more molecules through noncovalent bonding such as hydrogen bonding, metal coordination, hydrophobic forces, van der Waals forces, π-π interactions, electrostatic and/or electromagnetic effects...
, encapsulationMolecular encapsulationMolecular encapsulation in supramolecular chemistry is the confinement of a guest molecule inside the cavity of a supramolecular host molecule...
and self-assembledMolecular self-assemblyMolecular self-assembly is the process by which molecules adopt a defined arrangement without guidance or management from an outside source. There are two types of self-assembly, intramolecular self-assembly and intermolecular self-assembly...
films and monolayersSelf-assembled monolayerA self assembled monolayer is an organized layer of amphiphilic molecules in which one end of the molecule, the “head group” shows a specific, reversible affinity for a substrate... - Biological aspects of soft matter including biomacromoleculesMacromoleculeA macromolecule is a very large molecule commonly created by some form of polymerization. In biochemistry, the term is applied to the four conventional biopolymers , as well as non-polymeric molecules with large molecular mass such as macrocycles...
and biopolymerBiopolymerBiopolymers are polymers produced by living organisms. Since they are polymers, Biopolymers contain monomeric units that are covalently bonded to form larger structures. There are three main classes of biopolymers based on the differing monomeric units used and the structure of the biopolymer formed...
s, membranesBiological membraneA biological membrane or biomembrane is an enclosing or separatingmembrane that acts as a selective barrier, within or around a cell. It consists of a lipid bilayer with embedded proteins that may constitute close to 50% of membrane content...
, biocomposites, and biomimetic materials - Surfaces, interfaces, and interactions including thin films, Langmuir monolayers and Langmuir BlodgettLangmuir-Blodgett filmA Langmuir–Blodgett film contains one or more monolayers of an organic material, deposited from the surface of a liquid onto a solid by immersing the solid substrate into the liquid. A monolayer is adsorbed homogeneously with each immersion or emersion step, thus films with very accurate...
techniques, wettingWettingWetting is the ability of a liquid to maintain contact with a solid surface, resulting from intermolecular interactions when the two are brought together. The degree of wetting is determined by a force balance between adhesive and cohesive forces.Wetting is important in the bonding or adherence of...
/dewettingDewettingIn fluid mechanics, dewetting is one of the processes that can occur at a solid–liquid or liquid–liquid interface. Generally, dewetting describes the rupture of a thin liquid film on the substrate and the formation of droplets. The opposite process—spreading of a liquid on a substrate—is called...
, soft interfacesInterface (chemistry)An interface is a surface forming a common boundary among two different phases, such as an insoluble solid and a liquid, two immiscible liquids or a liquid and an insoluble gas. The importance of the interface depends on which type of system is being treated: the bigger the quotient area/volume,...
and their interfacial properties, dynamics, rheologyRheologyRheology is the study of the flow of matter, primarily in the liquid state, but also as 'soft solids' or solids under conditions in which they respond with plastic flow rather than deforming elastically in response to an applied force....
and hydrodynamics, structure, pattern formation and replication - Building blocks/synthetic methodology including new molecular architectures and new synthetic methodologies, and synthesisChemical synthesisIn chemistry, chemical synthesis is purposeful execution of chemical reactions to get a product, or several products. This happens by physical and chemical manipulations usually involving one or more reactions...
of soft materials - Theory, modelling, and simulation including dynamicsDynamics (mechanics)In the field of physics, the study of the causes of motion and changes in motion is dynamics. In other words the study of forces and why objects are in motion. Dynamics includes the study of the effect of torques on motion...
and non-equilibrium dynamics, computational and thermodynamicThermodynamicsThermodynamics is a physical science that studies the effects on material bodies, and on radiation in regions of space, of transfer of heat and of work done on or by the bodies or radiation...
studies of soft materials
Article types
Soft Matter publishes the following types of articles: Research Papers (original scientific work); Communications (original scientific work that is of an urgent nature); Reviews (critical appraisals of topical areas of research); Highlights (short review articles that single out important new developments and explain the significance of the work) ; Emerging Areas (short accounts of a potentially important and growing new field of research); Tutorial Reviews (an essential introduction to a particular area of soft matter); and Opinions (a personal, often speculative, viewpoint or hypothesis on a topic of current interest). Reviews, Highlights, Emerging Areas, Tutorial Reviews and Opinions are written by special invitation of the Editor or Editorial Board only.Audience/readership
Soft Matter has a global circulation and interdisciplinary audience with a particular focus on the interface between physics, materials science, biology, chemical engineering and chemistry. Soft Matter appeals to a wide variety of researchers, but particularly to: materials scientists; surface scientists; physicists; biochemists; biological scientists; chemical engineers; physical, organic and theoretical chemists.See also
- List of scientific journals in chemistry
- List of scientific journals
- Journal of Materials ChemistryJournal of Materials ChemistryJournal of Materials Chemistry is a peer-reviewed scientific journal publishing original research and review articles on the applications, properties and synthesis of exciting new materials...