RSC Applied Interfaces

What would you like to know about RSC Applied Interfaces?

Announcing our Editor-in-Chief: Federico Rosei

Scope

RSC Applied Interfaces is a dedicated, interdisciplinary reference journal for cutting-edge research on the applications of surfaces and interfaces. In addition to the applied focus, work considered for publication in RSC Applied Interfaces is expected to be highly original and of top quality. 

Research papers should highlight the role of interfaces (morphology and composition) and interfacial processes in determining a material’s properties and functionalities. The journal seeks to report major scientific advances beyond the state of the art, at the cutting edge of this interdisciplinary field.

The areas of application are expected to be broad and diverse, with sample interface topics including but not limited to:

• Protective coatings: anticorrosion, antifouling, antibacterial, antimicrobial, hydrophobic, hydrophilic
• Biointerfaces including biomedical coatings, adhesives and devices
• Interfaces in electronic, photonic, and optoelectronic devices
• Electrochemical interfaces
• The role of interfaces in catalysis, electrocatalysis, photocatalysis
• The role of interfaces in energy conversion processes and devices
• The role of interfaces in energy storage
• 2D materials
• Interfaces for environmental remediation (e.g. innovative separation membranes etc.)
• Polymer interfaces and composites
• Applications of nanomaterials’ interfaces
• Surface engineering and functionalisation

Consistent with the vision and values of the RSC, the journal welcomes and celebrates research that supports the advancement of several UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), including but not limited to SDG 3: good health and well-being, SDG 6: clean water and sanitation, SDG 7: affordable and clean energy and SDG 12: including responsible production and consumption.

Our RSC Applied journal portfolio also includes RSC Applied Polymers, a leading cross-disciplinary journal for the application of polymers, including experimental and computational studies from both natural and synthetic fields. RSC Applied journals are dedicated to science research with a strong applied focus. As such, work focusing on fundamental surface science characterisation and properties will not be considered. Sitting alongside the Journal of Materials Chemistry family in terms of impact and novelty, the RSC Applied journals complement our portfolio of materials, nanoscience and multidisciplinary journals which also welcome but are not limited to more fundamental research subject to individual journal scopes.

See who's on the team

Meet RSC Applied Interfaces's Editor-in-Chief and board members.

Author guidelines

Submissions to RSC Applied Interfaces should be accompanied by a cover letter to the editor, outlining the importance and significance of the manuscript to the readership.

For general guidance on preparing an article please visit our Prepare your article page, the content of which is relevant to all our journals. Please note that RSC Applied Interfaces does not require authors to submit using a specific template, but there are templates available if you wish to use them.

To learn more about the Royal Society of Chemistry's policies and processes, including licensing, experimental data guidelines, peer review and formatting, please refer to our Resources for authors and Experimental data guidelines pages.

Peer review and editorial process

All articles published in RSC Applied Interfaces are subject to external peer review by experts in the field and all manuscripts submitted are handled by a team of internationally recognised Associate Editors, who are all practicing scientists in the field.

The peer review for all articles submitted to the journal consists of the following stages:

Phase 1: Your manuscript is initially assessed by an associate editor to determine its suitability for peer review.

Phase 2: If the manuscript passes the initial assessment process, the associate editor solicits recommendations from at least two reviewers who are experts in the field. They will provide a report along with their recommendation.

Phase 3: The associate editor handling your manuscript makes a decision based on the reviewer reports received. In the event that no clear decision can be made, another reviewer will be consulted.

RSC Applied Interfaces is committed to a rigorous peer review process and expert editorial oversight for all published content. Please refer to our processes and policies for full details including our appeals procedure.

Transparent peer review

To support increased transparency, we offer authors the option of transparent peer review, where the editor’s decision letter, reviewers’ comments and authors’ response for all versions of the manuscript will be published alongside the article under an Open Access Creative Commons licence (CC-BY). Reviewers are anonymous unless they choose to sign their report.

Find out more about our transparent peer review policy.

Ethical Requirements

RSC Applied Interfaces authors, editors, reviewers and published works are required to uphold the Royal Society of Chemistry’s ethical standards. The Royal Society of Chemistry is a member of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and our ethical standards follow COPE’s core practices and best practice guidelines. In cases where these guidelines are breached or appear to be so, the Royal Society of Chemistry will consult with COPE guidelines and act accordingly.

When a study involves the use of live animals or human subjects, authors must include in the 'methods/experimental' section of the manuscript a statement that all experiments were performed in compliance with the author’s institute’s policy on animal use and ethics; where possible, details of compliance with national or international laws or guidelines should be included. The statement must name the institutional/local ethics committee which has approved the study; where possible, the approval or case number should be provided. A statement that informed consent was obtained for any experimentation with human subjects is required. Reviewers may be asked to comment specifically on any cases in which concerns arise.

For further guidance on author responsibilities and code of conduct, which apply to RSC Applied Interfaces and to all manuscripts submitted to Royal Society of Chemistry journals, please visit our author hub.

Open access

As a gold open access journal, RSC Applied Interfaces can maximise the potential and visibility of your publications. Our articles are free to read, access and cite by anyone around the world. We are also covering all article processing charges until mid-2025, so you can publish with us for free.

We offer RSC Applied Interfaces authors a choice of two Creative Commons licences: CC BY or CC BY NC. Publication under these licences means that authors retain the copyright of their article, but users are allowed to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of articles, or use them for any other lawful purpose, without asking prior permission from the publisher or the author. Read our open access statement for further information.

All published articles are deposited with LOCKSS, CLOCKSS, Portico and the British Library for archiving.

Dive into the benefits of open access publishing:

Find out more about open access publishing routes

Explore Royal Society of Chemistry open access journals

Read our Researchers’ voice report in response to Plan S

Subscription information

RSC Applied Interfaces is fully gold open access – articles can be downloaded free from the website with no barriers to access.

Copyright

Copyright is retained by authors when an open access licence is accepted, as with our standard licence to publish agreement. Full and accurate attribution to the original author is required for any re-use of the work. Find out more about copyright, licences and re-use permission.

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