Materials Today: Proceedings

Update 17/04/23: From 17th April 2023, MTP will temporarily pause new submission proposals in order to clear our backlog and transfer to a new editorial workflow.  We anticipate reopening in Q4 of 2023.

Guidance for Guest Editors

Materials Today: Proceedings provides the materials science community with a fast and flexible route to the publication of research presented at international scientific conferences in the field of materials science research and its applications. 

The following information provides guidance to prospective guest editors as well answering frequently asked questions.

Last updated March 2023 by Lauren Ashby, Executive Publisher.

Preparing a Proposal

Thank you for your interest in publishing with MT: Proceedings.  In order to publish conference proceedings with MT: Proceedings, prospective guest editors must fill in our application form, which can be found above.  This proposal should then be sent to mtproceedings@elsevier.com, with the subject line as follows:

MT Proceedings – Conference Proposal - Conference Short Name

Using this subject line enables us to direct proposals for review more efficiently.

Please note the following guidelines and regulations prior to submitting your proposal:

• Aims & Scope: Our full aims & scope text can be found on the journal homepage, here.  Please note that we have recently revised our aims & scope, and only accept conferences that focus primarily on materials science research and its applications.  If your event is broad in scope, please specify the topic areas for which you are applying.
• Conditions of publication: MT: Proceedings only publishes conference proceedings for conferences that have taken place, i.e. not in advance of the event.  You should make your proposal before your conference happens, and if approved, we will ask you to supply a list of accepted papers (oral presentations), and a copy of your timetable.  The timetable must make clear who was delivering the presentation.  Publication of your proceedings will be contingent on delivery and approval of these documents.  With this in mind, you will need to ensure you have planned for the review of abstract submissions, as Editorial Manager will only be made available after the conference.
• Timelines and Planning: When a conference is accepted, we will indicate a timeline for a. the submission of the programme and oral presentation list, b. when we will open the online portal for submissions, c. the dates by when all revised manuscripts should be submitted and d. the anticipated finalisation date of the completed proceedings.  
• Institutional Email Addresses: Submissions sent from a non-institutional email address will be reviewed, but an institutional email address will be required for contract signatures.  Please do not send your proposal anonymously or 'from the committee': submissions from conference email addresses without further identifying information may be rejected outright.  We recommend that the person making the application is the person who will be responsible for editing the proceedings.
• Conference Website: All applications should include a live conference website.  Conferences who do not yet have this should defer application until the website is finalised.
• Paper limit: As of March 2023, we will only accept conferences of up to 120 papers. Individual authors may each publish a maximum of two papers in the proceedings (in any authorship position).
• Time for Review: we aim to review all proposals in 4-6 weeks: please allow for this in your planning, as we are unable to accommodate requests for accelerated review owing to the volume of applications we receive.

In the event that your conference proposal is approved, guest editors must comply with our regulations, which are designed to ensure the ethical integrity and quality assurance of conference proceedings: these requirements are stipulated in our contract agreement. 

Managing Submissions for a Conference

In the preparation of conference proceedings, we anticipate that organisers with follow a workflow broadly along the following lines:

1. Submission of Abstracts
2. Review of submitted abstracts by committee
3. Decision notifications to authors (oral presentation, poster, reject etc.) We note that some conferences may choose to request a full paper for review at this stage also.
4. Conference takes place
5. Preparation and submission of conference paper to partner proceedings title
6. Peer review of prepared by paper by conference committee and/or external reviewers
7. Rounds of review/revision as required
8. Final decision

Authors and guest editors should note that presentation at a conference or acceptance of an abstract does not guarantee publication of a paper in proceedings if the work does not meet required standards or is found to have breached ethical guidelines.  While conference proceedings aim to create a record of the academic work and ideas shared at a conference, these papers must meet required standards.  Authors noting guarantees of publication from conferences – especially in Scopus indexed journals - in exchange for payment should tread carefully, and seek further information either from the journal directly or from the conference organisers.  You may also wish to consult a supervisor for guidance, or you are welcome to contact us using the details below.

Peer Review of Conference Proceedings

Submitted conference proceedings papers must be subject to peer review by at least two independent, qualified reviewers in addition to the guest editor.  These reviewers should be experienced in the field of study, and the reviews should offer meaningful feedback to authors.  For general information about peer review, please go here. For more information about managing peer review click here, and how to review, please click here.

Indexing

The journal is indexed in Scopus (Elsevier) and the CPCI (Conference Proceedings Citation Index, Clarivate).

Subscription vs. Open Access, and Pricing

Conference organisers can choose to publish proceedings either as open access or via a subscription route.  For open access, each paper accepted is charged at $150.  Please note that open access must be agreed at a conference level, and that we cannot offer open access on individual papers in MT: Proceedings.  For subscription, the first 50 papers are free, and each paper thereafter is charged at $30, up to the agreed maximum number of papers.  

Author Guidelines and Templates

Author guidelines can be found on the journal homepage, along with a copy of the template for MS Word. For Latex, please go here.

Print copies

All print copies must be ordered directly through the Elsevier Webshop. 

Contact

If you require assistance with any aspect of your proposal, or with production matters, please use the contact email addresses below.

MT Proceedings Editorial Office – mtproceedings@elsevier.com.

MT Proceedings Production Office – matpr@elsevier.com

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I publish Open Access?

Yes, but the option for open access or subscription must be decided at a proceedings level, not at individual paper level.  Please refer to the section on Subscription vs. Open Access above.

How much does publishing conference proceedings with MT: Proceedings cost?

Please refer to the section on Subscription vs. Open Access above.

Why isn’t my paper indexed in Scopus?

Papers are only indexed in Scopus once the entire conference proceedings issue has been completed, so if your article is ‘in press’, the issue is not yet complete.  Kindly contact the guest editor in the first instance for estimated timelines.

Do you have an impact factor?

We do not have an impact factor.  We are indexed in the Web of Science Conference Proceedings Citation Index (CPCI) which does not provide an impact factor.

What type of papers do you accept?

In general, we accept original research articles and review papers, though we also receive some commentaries.  Authors should be aware that all papers will be classified as 'proceedings papers' for the purposes of indexing.

Please note when making a proposal for publication with MTP that we only publish oral presentations from conferences.  Poster presentations are not eligible for publication.

I have a question for the editorial office, who should I contact?

If this is a question about your paper that relates to content or peer review, please contact the guest editor.  If your question relates to production issues (i.e. proof errors, corrections to text, the editorial system), please contact matpr@elsevier.com.  If you have questions about a proposal, contract, an ethical issue, require an extension for the proceedings or additional papers, please contact the Elsevier editorial office via mtproceedings@elsevier.com.  Please include the following to help us address your query quickly:

• if your question relates to a submission or production question, please include the reference number and your name.
• if your question relates to a published paper, please include the DOI, paper title and your name.

Can I advertise my partnership with MT Proceedings?

Once an agreement has been reached between us, and a contract signed, you may notify delegates that conference proceedings will be published in MT Proceedings, however, you should not post information about the journal prior to reaching an agreement, for example ‘agreement pending’ or other misleading statements.  We do not advertise partner events on our website.

Why did you reject my proposal?

There are many reasons why we may choose not to work with an event, but common reasons include an event being out of scope; the (relevant) experience of the proposed editorial team and the committee for the event may be considered insufficient; and the overall calibre of the event, including the quality of the supporting materials may not be adequate.  We also do not accept events from outside universities or academic societies.  We are unable to provide further feedback beyond what is given in the decision letter.

You rejected my proposal; can I reapply?

Only a small proportion of proposals to MTP are accepted.  While you may reapply, you should consider seriously the reasons that were provided for the rejection of your event, and whether you can make substantive changes that would give us sufficient cause to re-evaluate.

I sent my proposal in months ago, and haven't heard back, when can I expect a decision?

Conference organisers whose proposals have been received and sent for review will receive an email confirming this, and stating our expected timeline.  If you have not received this message, or any automatic reply from us (there is one on all our inboxes), then it is very likely your email has been blocked by our email security systems and that we have not received this.  We are in the process of moving our proposal system online to minimise this issue, but in the meantime, we advise using institutional email addresses, and organising your email in a conventional manner (same font size, one colour) and avoiding links, as this will make it less likely to be screened out.  Where possible, please reply directly to any previous message we have sent to you, as this helps us to reply quickly to emails.  We receive many messages with very limited or no identifying information, and no clear reference to an earlier discussion - these are difficult for us to respond to efficiently.

If you have received our confirmation email, noting our anticipated timeline, we ask that you do not chase this before the timeline has expired, as we are unable to accelerate decision times for individual requests.

I received a message from your editorial office stating that my paper was rejected as it was not part of the event.  What can I do?

Conference organisers are required to provide a complete list of titles anticipated for inclusion in their proceedings, together with full author details, which are reviewed by our editorial team, before they are granted access to editorial manager.  If your paper was not on this list, you will not be able to submit your paper to MTP.  We will not permit late amendments to this list, so guest editors should take care that the list is complete and correct.

If you were not part of the event that you submitted your paper to, then your paper is not eligible for inclusion in MTP.  We only publish the proceedings of partner events.

I presented a poster at the conference; can I submit a paper?

Only those who were accepted as oral presentations are eligible to submit their papers to MTP.

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