To the Editorial Board members

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Editorial Policy – What kind of journal are we aiming for?

Japan has a strong research capability in the field of materials science, from basic to applied sciences. In order to further enhance Japan’s presence in this field, STAM was launched in 2000 by the Japan Federation of Materials Science and Engineering as an original journal that publishes academic and technical research results related to materials science in general. The first issue was published in 2000. In 2004, the editorial management of STAM was transferred to the current National Institute for Materials Science (NIMS), and NIMS, as one of the few research institutes in the world specializing in materials science, has provided full support for STAM from editorial work to management since 2005, and converted it to an open access journal in 2008.

Editorial system – what kind of review system is in place?

The STAM Editorial Board is composed of experts in the field of materials science. The editorial board members review papers for acceptance or rejection based on the opinions of experts who are deemed suitable by the editorial board members in charge, and the final approval is given by the Editor-in-Chief. If necessary, the editorial office may request the authors to revise their manuscripts. Once the manuscript has been accepted for publication, it is immediately put into production and published in the following order: initial version, Web version, and paper version. The manuscript will also be automatically registered in the secondary information database and will be searchable on the internet.

Authors may nominate up to five experts who are suitable for judging the content of the submitted paper. The Editorial Board will use these as references, but is not limited to them.

1. Editing procedure

Web screening system

2. [Author(s)] Paper Submission

1) Authors are required to submit their papers via the web according to the submission rules.
2) Authors may nominate up to five reviewers at the time of submission.

3. [Editorial Office] Responsible for selection and review of editorial board members

1) The Editorial Office will select an Editorial Board member according to the submitted paper, and request the Editorial Board member to take charge of the paper.
2)If the Editorial Office does not receive a response from the Editorial Board member, it will request a response from the Editorial Board member on the 3rd or 7th day after the request is made. If no response is received after this period, the request will be changed to another editorial board member.

4. [Editorial Board Members and Reviewers] Reviewer Selection and Review

1) Although the editorial board members in charge can make their own decisions on acceptance or rejection according to the content of the paper they are assigned, in principle, they will make their decisions based on the review results of two reviewers. To request a review, please contact the reviewers using the Web system. Permission from the Editorial Office is not required to start the review process.

2)If the reviewer does not respond to the request for review, the Editorial Office will ask the reviewer to respond on the 4th or 8th day after the request for review. If there is no response from the reviewer after this period, the Editorial Office will ask the Editor in Charge to select another review candidate and change the reviewer. If there are multiple reviewers, the Editor-in-Chief may make the next decision when the result of one of the reviewers is available.

3)In principle, there are two reviewers on the editorial board, but if necessary, three reviewers can be requested to review the journal.

4)The review period is 2 weeks (3 weeks for Focus Issue Review). The Editorial Office will send a reminder to the reviewer if the designated period is exceeded, and will request the editor in charge to take action to replace the reviewer depending on the delay.

5)Reviewers are requested to log in to the designated URL provided in advance by e-mail and fill out the prescribed web form. When the reviewer completes the web form, a notification e-mail will be sent to the editorial board member in charge.

6)The editorial board member in charge will log in to the URL that will be provided in advance, and will perform the next process based on the following within 7 days after the review results are confirmed or author revisions are completed via the web.
・Decide whether to accept or reject the application. (Accept / Revise / Reject / Transfer / Withdraw / Cancel)
・Request for re-review.
・Appoint another reviewer.
・Requests re-revision if the author’s revision is insufficient.　

7)The Editor-in-Chief makes the final decision on behalf of the STAM Editorial Board.

5. [Author] Paper Revision and Revision Period

1) In principle, the author’s revision period varies depending on the type of revision as follows.
・7 days for minor revisio
・14 days for moderate Revision
・28 days for major Revision
from date of notification of peer review results.

2)Authors are required to submit a revised manuscript and a list of revisions to the Web site.