About Journal of Physics D: Applied Physics

Journal of Physics D: Applied Physics™, a leading international journal, reports cutting-edge multidisciplinary research across all areas of applied physics and the transition of those findings into new and innovative technologies. Alongside our current areas of strength in applied physics, we now include the physics of energy materials and devices and the biomedical and life sciences.

We welcome contributions reporting on experimental, computational and theoretical investigations of applied physics. We also welcome papers emphasizing technology with conclusions that explore the underlying physics-based mechanisms and their wider implications. In addition to being scientifically correct, articles in Journal of Physics D: Applied Physics should make a significant advance in terms of new applied physics and related technologies. Articles that report solely on optimizing current technologies are not appropriate for the journal.

Contributions should fall into one of the sections below.

Applied magnetism

• Nano-scale magnetism including non-collinear magnetic textures
• Preparation, properties and applications of bulk hard and soft magnetic materials
• Preparation, properties and applications of magnetic thin films, multilayers and patterned structures
• Spintronic materials, phenomena and devices
• Magnetic recording materials and devices
• Magnetocaloric effects, materials and devices
• Multiferroic and magnetoelectric materials and their applications
• Magnetization dynamics and ultrafast switching
• Magnetophotonics and magnetoplasmonics
• Magnetic sensors, actuators and transducers
• Computational micro-magnetism, simulations and modeling
• Applications of magnetism, magnetic materials and magnetic phenomena

Semiconductors and photonics

• Semiconductor optoelectronic and photonic materials and devices including nanophotonics
• Organic based optoelectronic and photonic devices including hybrid perovskite materials
• Photovoltaic materials and devices
• Photodetectors, modulators, receivers and optical sensors
• Integration of photonic and optomechanic devices
• Neuromorphic, memristive, phase change, resistive memory and other related devices
• 2D material-based devices (graphene, MXene) and applications including hybrid devices and van der Waals heterostructures
• Terahertz science and technology
• Quantum technology enabling devices
• Plasmonics
• Metamaterials
• Semiconductors in spintronics

Low-temperature plasmas

• Plasma processes and their underpinning mechanisms, including:
  • materials processing including functionalization, nanotechnology and atomic control
  • generation of coherent and incoherent radiation, photonic crystals and metamaterials
  • applied biological, medical, agriculture and food systems
  • environmental and energy systems
  • propulsion, flow control and combustion
• Fundamentals of technological plasmas, including:
  • low- and high-pressure non-equilibrium and thermal plasmas
  • breakdown, waves, instabilities, and electron, ion and particle beams
  • interaction of plasma with condensed materials, particles, living matter and liquids
  • diagnostics and modeling of low-temperature plasmas
  • plasma chemistry and basic data relevant for low-temperature plasmas

Condensed matter: advanced and quantum materials

• Materials exhibiting quantum properties including superconductors, topological insulators and Weyl semi-metals
• Complex oxides and devices for neuromorphic computing, oxide electronic materials and applications
• Atomic thin layered materials and van der Waals heterostructures, nanoscale quantum phenomema
• Carbon, diamond, fullerenes, NV centres in diamond, qubits
• Multifunctional, advanced engineering and structural materials (metals, alloys, ceramics, composites)
• Computation, modelling and materials theory
• Glasses, amorphous materials and quasi-crystals
• Self-assembly and hierarchical materials, heterostructures of oxides, 2D materials
• Organic and soft materials (glasses, colloids, liquid crystals, polymers)
• Bio-inspired, biomedical and biomolecular materials

Condensed matter: nanodevices and nanostructures

• Nanostructures: formation, patterning and properties
• Crystallographic, atomic and electronic characterization of nanostructures
• Quantum phenomena including superconductivity in 2D- and other low-dimensional materials
• Nanoscale mechanical properties of interfaces and residual stresses
• Dielectric, piezoelectric and pyroelectric phenomena at the nanoscale
• Perovskite nanostructures
• Devices using quantum wells, wires, dots and 2D materials
• Nano-electronic/optoelectronic devices
• Design and performance forecast of nanodevices
• Nanosensors and actuators

Condensed matter: surfaces and interfaces

• Growth, modification, control and properties of surfaces and interfaces
• Thin films, multilayers and heterostructures
• Oxide interfaces
• Magnetism at the surface and interface
• Catalysis at surfaces
• Graphene and other 2D materials
• Colloids and organic molecules on surfaces and interfaces
• Corrosion
• Functionalisation of surfaces
• Tribology

Applied biophysics

• Mechanical and structural properties of biological systems
• Biological spectroscopy and imaging techniques
• Equilibrium and non-equilibrium statistical physics in biology
• Biological and biomedical modelling and simulations
• Interfaces and adhesion in biological and biomedical systems
• Biosensors and biophotonics
• Nano–bio interface
• Biomagnetism
• Plasma medicine
• Physics applied to problems in the life sciences

Energy

• Photovoltaic materials and devices including hybrid organic–inorganic materials and enabling technology
• Solar fuel materials and technologies
• Artificial photosynthesis
• Biofuel and biomass power sources
• Energy harvesting technologies and materials
• Thermoelectric devices and materials
• Battery technologies and supercapacitors
• Flow batteries and related electrodes
• Fuel cells and related electrodes
• Electrolysers
• Catalytic materials and processes for energy generation and storage
• Novel energy conversion–storage technologies

All work published in Journal of Physics D: Applied Physics must discuss applications or potential applications of the research presented.

• High standards: uniquely bridging cutting-edge multidisciplinary research across all areas of applied physics and the transition of those findings into new and innovative technologies.
• Global readership: nearly 2 million full-text downloads in 2021.
• Fast publication: we are committed to providing you with a fast, professional service to ensure rapid first decision, acceptance and publication. Once accepted, your article will be accessible to readers within 24 hours and will include a citable DOI.
• Open access: open access options are available on this title.
• Transfer opportunities: as well as accepting direct submissions, the journal also offers you a quick and easy solution to transfer your manuscript from another IOP Publishing journal if it does not fit that journal’s scope or significance criteria. Articles are transferred along with peer review reports to save time and avoid duplication of work for reviewers.
• International Editorial Board: our dedicated team of Editorial Board members are made up of leading experts covering all areas of applied physics from around the world.
• Society owned: IOP Publishing is a leading society publisher of advanced physics research. Any profits generated by IOP Publishing are invested in the Institute of Physics, helping to support research, education and outreach around the world.

Journal of Physics D: Applied Physics welcomes submissions of the following article types:

Letters: outstanding concise articles, reporting important, new and timely developments on any aspect of applied physics. These articles should be deserving of priority review, and you are required to upload a justification statement along with your submission. Articles should not be more than 4500 words (five journal pages).

Papers: reports of high-quality original research with conclusions representing a significant advance in the field; not normally more than 8500 words (ten journal pages).

Special issue articles: invited articles, which will form a special collection of papers on a specific theme. When asked to select ‘Article Type’ on the submission system, please select ‘Special Issue Article’. Then select the special issue you’re submitting to in the drop down box that appears.

Topical reviews: timely review articles on an emerging field commissioned by the Editorial Board.

Roadmaps: broad, multi-author reviews with leaders in the field discussing the latest developments. Commissioned by the Editorial Board.

Authors of all articles are required upon submission to disclose any potential conflict of interest (e.g. employment, consulting fees, industrial research contracts, stock ownership, equity interests, patent-licensing arrangements, honoraria, etc) in their covering letter. If the article is subsequently accepted for publication, this information should be included in an acknowledgments section. Authors should also note that the journal fully endorses the principles embodied in the Declaration of Helsinki. All investigations involving humans must be conducted in accordance with these principles and in accordance with local statutory requirements. Articles relying on clinical trials should quote the trial registration number at the end of the abstract. We also encourage the registration of such studies in a public trials registry prior to publication of the results in the journal. All investigations involving animal experimentation must be conducted in accordance with the Guiding Principles for Research Involving Animals and Human Beings as adopted by The American Physiological Society, and with local statutory requirements.

Tweetable abstracts

For all articles, authors are asked to submit a one-line summary of your abstract containing a maximum of 93 characters (a ‘tweetable abstract’), succinctly describing the key results or significance of the work. This must be provided at the ‘Article Information’ step of the online submission of your article using the separate box below the regular abstract box. You also have the option of providing a suitable image to go alongside your summary; this can be added in the ‘File Upload’ step. The summary may be used for promotional purposes of accepted articles, such as dissemination via social media, and may be edited before publication.

Use of images/figures/photos in tweetable abstracts

Authors should only use original images/figures/photos which they created for the article in their tweetable abstracts. Third party images/figures/photos obtained from elsewhere must not be used, even if permission has been obtained for their inclusion in the article itself. Only one image is allowed. Maximum file size is 5 MB, and images must be GIF, JPEG or PNG files. BMP and TIFF files are not accepted.

We work with our authors to help make their work as easy to discover as possible. Journal of Physics D: Applied Physics is currently included in the following abstracting and discovery services:

• Baidu Scholar
• Chemical Abstracts Service
• CNKI
• EBSCO Academic Search Alumni Edition
• EBSCO Academic Search Complete
• EBSCO Academic Search Elite
• EBSCO Academic Search Premier
• EBSCO Academic Search Ultimate
• EBSCO Applied Science and Technology Abstracts
• EBSCO Applied Science and Technology Index
• EBSCO Applied Science and Technology Source
• EBSCO Applied Science and Technology Source Ultimate
• EBSCO Computers and Applied Sciences Complete
• EBSCO Engineering Source
• EBSCO STM Source
• Ei Compendex
• INIS (International Nuclear Information System)
• Inspec
• J-Gate
• JST
• Mass Spectrometry Bulletin
• MyScienceWork
• NASA Astrophysics Data System
• Naver Academic
• PASCAL
• Polymer Library
• R Discovery
• Scilit
• Scopus
• VINITI Abstracts Journal (Referativnyi Zhurnal)
• Wanfang Data
• Web of Science (Science Citation Index Expanded, Current Contents Electronics & Telecommunications Collection, Current Contents Physical, Chemical & Earth Sciences, Essential Science Indicators)
• WTI AG
• x-mol

Additionally, all articles funded by the NIH will be automatically indexed in PubMed (grant number must be included in acknowledgements). NIH- and COAF- funded papers are uploaded onto PubMed Central by the publisher in compliance with those funding body mandates.