Science and Technology of Advanced Materials

Infobox Journal
title = Open-access journal


discipline = Materials science
website = http://www.iop.org/EJ/journal/stam
publisher = Institute of Physics, NIMS
country = flag|Japan
abbreviation = STAM
ISSN = 1468-6996
frequency = 4 issues/year (from 2008)
history = 2000 - present

Science and Technology of Advanced Materials (STAM) is an international, peer-reviewed, quarterly journal in materials science established in the year 2000. The unique feature of STAM is that from 2008 it has become an open access journal through the sponsorship by the National Institute for Materials Science. The journal remains by all means international, with its editors and referees located all over the world. However, the journal management is performed by the [http://www.nims.go.jp/eng/org/front07.html Scientific Information Office of NIMS] , which has launched an initiative to drastically improve the prestige of STAM. From 2008, the journal is published on-line and printed by the Institute of Physics which maintains [http://www.iop.org/EJ/journal/stam another STAM homepage] . The printed volumes are distributed free of charge by the NIMS and IOP editorial staff. Prior to 2008, the journal was published by Elsevier.

Scope

The journal is devoted to all aspects of materials science, including theoretical analysis, synthesis and processing, phase and structure analyses, characterization, properties, engineering and applications. STAM covers advances in research on solids, liquids and colloids, with emphasis on the interdisciplinary nature of materials science and issues at the forefront of the field, such as nano-, bio- and ecomaterials.

Open access

The open-access formula of STAM practically means that the authors can publish their papers free of charge, and the readers can view, download and print them, again, free of charge. Besides, the authors enjoy very relaxed copyright obligations allowing them to post published papers on web sites, share printed or electronic versions with colleagues, etc.

Currently (september 2008) STAM can be considered the only notable, truly open-access international journal in materials science. "Notable" here means impact factor above 1 and "truly open-access" that both the authors and readers bear no charges. It should be noted though that this situation might change rapidly and that both criteria are by no means discriminating.

Another interesting example of an open-access journal is the [http://www.azom.com/azojomo.asp Journal of Materials Online] . This journal invites commercial advertisement to its site and to every paper published, and the authors, referees and publishes share the revenues attracted by the published article. On the positive side, financial reward does stimulate referees, which usually have only minor interest in assessing the papers. However, many scientists fear that direct commercial interest can negatively affect the scientific content of the published research. Contrary to Journal of Materials, the referees, editors and authors of STAM do not have direct financial interest in the published articles.

STAM operation

Articles are submitted to STAM through its [http://www.editorialmanager.com/stam/ web server] . They are first evaluated by managing editors and then by the assigned associated editor. Those editors are experienced scientists (above PhD level) freely exercising their right to reject the manuscript editorially or request additional explanations. Appropriate papers are further evaluated by at least two referees. Accepted papers are corrected by the English correctors and published on-line in the pdf format by the Institute of Physics as soon as possible.

From 2008, the journal publishes 4 issues per year containing about hundred articles. Many of those are devoted to specific topics such as conference proceedings, invited reviews, etc. Special issues however do not delay publication of regular articles, for which a separate section is reserved either in the special issue or in the next regular issue.

The impact factor of STAM in the year 2007 is 1.27, which however reflects the 2005-2006 period, i.e., before the open-access stage of the journal. The impact factor is projected to rapidly increase after 2009.

Links

* [http://www.e-materials.net/stam/ STAM homepage at NIMS]
* [http://www.iop.org/EJ/journal/stam STAM homepage at Institute of Physics]

Other relevant open-access journals (published in English)

* [http://www.physics.sk/aps Acta Physica Slovaca] (Slovakia; 1951-)
* [http://www.icmp.lviv.ua/journal/Contents.html Condensed Matter Physics] (Ukraine; 1993-)
* [http://mrsej.ksu.ru Magnetic Resonance in Solids] (MRS; Russia; 1997-)
* [http://nsr.mij.mrs.org MRS Internet Journal of Nitride Semiconductor Research] (MIJ-NSR; 1996-)
*New Journal of Physics - (NJP; IOP; 1998-) the leading open-access journal in physics
* [http://www.ipme.ru/e-journals/RAMS/ Reviews on advanced materials science] (Russia; 2000-)
* [http://www.journal-spqeo.org.ua Semiconductor Physics, Quantum Electronics and Optoelectronics] - (SPQEO; Ukraine; 1998-)
* [http://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/browse/-char/en J-STAGE] - Japanese initiative providing open access to a large number of Japanese journals