The Innovation Materials, a sister journal to The Innovation, aims to be an international platform that can accelerate and disseminate more innovative scientific discoveries as well as creative technological applications from the field of materials science. To see the unseen, The Innovation Materials will publish world-class, cutting-edge scientific research that can provide innovative and fundamental insights into the phenomena, mechanisms, structures, properties, and applications of emerging materials. To change the unchanged, The Innovation Materials will highlight the technological innovation in fabricating emerging materials and the materials' innovation in developing leading-edge technologies.

The Innovation Materials welcomes all submissions from the broad field of materials science, including but not limited to:

1. Biomaterials
2. Catalytic materials
3. Computation, modeling, and materials theory
4. Electronic and magnetic materials
5. Energy materials
6. Innovative techniques for materials fabrication and characterization
7. Nanoscale and low-dimensional materials
8. Optical and optoelectronic materials
9. Phononic and thermal materials
10. Polymers, organic and soft materials
11. Quantummaterials
12. Structural materials
13. MaterialsX: multidisciplinary collaboration

The Innovation Materials: An international journal of materials science

Materials construct the sky ladder of human civilization. Throughout history, every innovation in materials brings about the emancipation of the productive forces and pushes the Homo sapiensraceover anevolutive threshold. The first burst of the brilliance of turning rocks picked up from the ground into coarse yet useful tools placed our ancient ancestors onto a different developmental path from other creatures of the earth. Successful utilization and remolding of naturally existing raw materials byextraction, smelting, forging,calcination,and so forth have mirrored important transformations of mankind's society. Paper made of plant fibers enabled accurate dissemination of knowledge. Compass made of magnetic materialspromoted great geographic discoveries. Steel made of iron allowed humans to fly and dive. With revolutionary developments in modern science and engineering technology, novel materialsmade by rational synthesis, precision manufacturing, and elaborate processing, from semiconducting silicon chips in smartphones to flexible bioelectronics implanted in living bodies, are inaugurating a new erain front of us.

Aside from the macro narrative contributions to human lifestyle, the pursuit of observing and describinghow atoms pile up into materials of diverse structures, dimensions, properties, and functions has also profoundly changed the human mind. Expanding from macro-scale to atomic scale, from unitary to multi-components, and from single-phase to multi-phases, materials science enforces the fundamental understanding of reactions, assemblies, catalysis, and interfaces. It is no exaggeration to say that our microscopic contact with materials has perfected our views on the laws of matter and the essence of life.

Materials science is the fine art of multidisciplinary research mergingefforts from physics, chemistry, energy, life sciences, and engineering. This well fits the motivation of The Innovation, launched in 2020 to encourage scientific and technological innovations that integrate significant cross-field research, promote interdisciplinary collaborations, and present inspiring discoveries for both academic and industrial communities. Now as witnessing a blasting increase of attention on advanced materials science, we are greatly encouraged and delighted to announce the launch of a new flagship journal, The Innovation Materials, with the nickname TIMS. We sincerely wishThe Innovation Materials will be a new platform for disseminating and accelerating innovative ideas, research findings, and practical applications of materials in manifold aspects.

To better serve the future demands of humankind and society, we believethat innovationin materials will be the main driving force as it was in history. To see the unseen, The Innovation Materialswill publish world-class, cutting-edge scientificdiscoveriesthat can provide innovative and fundamental insights into the phenomena, mechanisms,structures, properties, and applications of advanced materials. To change the unchanged, The Innovation Materials will highlight the technological innovations in fabricating emerging materials andthe materials’ innovation in developingleading-edge technologies.

We envision the success of The Innovation Materialsdepends on all your trust and support.We will keep working hard, as we always do for The Innovation, to makeThe Innovation Materialsbecome a preferred platform for you to share yourlatest scientific discoveries and technological innovations related to materials.

All submissions are initially evaluated in depth by the scientific editors. Papers that do not conform to the general criteria for publication will be returned to the authors without detailed review. Otherwise, manuscripts will be sent to at least two reviewers who have agreed in advance to assess the paper rapidly. The editors will make every effort to reach decisions on these papers within 3 weeks of the submission date. If revisions are a condition of publication, generally 4 weeks are allowed for revisions, and only one revised version of the paper is considered. Evaluations of conceptual advance and significance are made on the basis of the literature available on the day of final decision, not the day of submission. Accepted papers will be published online ahead of the issue as soon as possible and will appear in an issue within 2 months of acceptance. Any major changes after acceptance are subject to review and may delay publication.

Fast-Track Review
If circumstances so warrant, authors may request a fast-track review of a paper in the cover letter. At the editor’s discretion, a fast-track review will be undertaken to expedite manuscripts that deserve rapid review and publication. Such review would be completed in less than 1 week.

Editorial Policies
Manuscripts are considered with the understanding that no part of the work has been published previously in print or electronic format and that the paper is not under consideration by another publication or electronic medium. All in-press or submitted works pertinent to the manuscript under consideration(including those cited in the manuscript under consideration) must accompany the submission. Related manuscripts that have been submitted elsewhere during the period of revision must accompany revised manuscripts. Failure to provide copies of related manuscripts under consideration elsewhere may delay the review process and may be grounds for rejection.