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Aims and scope

Aims

EPJ E publishes papers describing advances in the understanding of physical aspects of Soft, Liquid and Living Systems.

Soft matter is a generic term for a large group of condensed, often heterogeneous systems -- often also called complex fluids -- that display a large response to weak external perturbations and that possess properties governed by slow internal dynamics.

Flowing matter refers to all systems that can actually flow, from simple to multiphase liquids, from foams to granular matter.

Living matter concerns the new physics that emerges from novel insights into the properties and behaviours of living systems. Furthermore, it aims at developing new concepts and quantitative approaches for the study of biological phenomena. Approaches from soft matter physics and statistical physics play a key role in this research.
 

The journal includes reports of experimental, computational and theoretical studies and appeals to the broad interdisciplinary communities including physics, chemistry, biology, mathematics and materials science.

 

 

Scope

I. Soft Matter

Polymers and Polyelectrolytes

Gels, rubbers, networks
Crystalline, glassy and molten polymers
Amphiphilic systems

Liquid Crystals
Thermotropic and lyotropic phases
Liquid crystalline polymers and elastomers

Self-organised and Supramolecular Assemblies
Purpose-designed organic molecules
Hierarchical structures
Foams, emulsions and dispersions
Surfactants

Colloids and Nanoparticles
Colloids and nanoparticles as model systems
Glasses, aggregates and fragility
Ferrofluids

Functional Materials and Nanodevices
Smart materials
DNA based nanotechnology
Tuneable, switchable, and addressable properties
Semiconducting polymers and molecular electronics: structure and morphology

Interfacial Phenomena and Nanostructured Surfaces
Adhesion and friction
Soft lithography, materials pattern

 

II. Flowing Matter

Liquids and Complex Fluids
Structure and dynamics of dense liquids
Viscoelasticity, rheology and rheophysics
Phase behaviour

Active Fluids

Granular Materials
Packing and elasticity
Dynamics, dissipation and flow behavior, slurries
Transport and jamming

Interfacial Phenomena
Capillarity, wetting and spreading
Microfluidics and interfacial flows, foam and emulsions rheology

Nonlinear Physics and Mesoscale Modeling
Multiscale hydrodynamics
Non-equilibrium dynamics, instabilities, pattern formation
Transport processes, multiphase flows
Turbulence
Computational fluid dynamics – Lattice Boltzmann methods

 

III. Living Systems

Biological Matter
DNA, RNA and chromatin
Membranes and vesicles
Proteins and protein assemblies
Cytoskeletal filaments and networks

Structure and Function
Single molecules
Nanoscale systems
Molecular machines: Channels, pumps and motors
Photobiophysics
Protein folding

Biomimetic Systems
Reconstituted systems
Artificial environments, microfluidics, microswimmers
Synthetic biology  

Cellular Processes
Cell mechanics and adhesion
Cell motility and force generation
Transport and trafficking
Fluctuations and noise, nonequilibrium processes  

Multicellular Systems
Tissues and organs
Developmental processes and patterning
Cell communication and cooperativity
Sensory systems and neural networks
Dynamics and self-organization in biological systems
Collective motions

Biological Networks
Genetic and protein networks
Cellular signaling systems
Population dynamics and evolution
Robustness and reliability
Biological information


Article Categories

Regular Articles
Tips and Tricks
Colloquia
Topical Reviews

Tips and Tricks (T&T) are short peer-reviewed papers that focus on a novel methodological approach that facilitates new science. These papers may describe experimental, computational, or theoretical tips and tricks. Although T&T papers maybe shorter (recommended length of 5 pages) than normal research papers, they should still provide enough detail such that the reader can readily implement the ideas presented. The standards of scientific quality and rigour will be the same as a for regular papers (control experiments, clear descriptions, comparison to previous methods, statistical analysis, quantitative evaluation if appropriate, etc.). T&T can be submitted regularly through the online system, but please mention in the cover letter if your submission is a T&T paper. 

Colloquia describe the development of new areas of research or the impact of new and promising experimental or theoretical methods in the fields that are within the spectrum of topics covered by the respective journals. While not as extensive and complete as reviews in the usual sense, they are intended to suitably introduce new research directions and techniques in their early stages of development, and to a wider audience. There is no explicit constraint regarding the length of such manuscripts, although 20 printed pages would be the most usual length. All invited/submitted manuscripts will undergo the same refereeing procedure as all other contributions submitted to the journal. For invited colloquium papers, authors will receive a honorarium of EUR 400,-- upon publication and colour figures will be free of charge. Colloquium pape rs are generally solicited by the journal editors. Authors wishing to submit a colloquium paper are advised to contact J.M. Di Meglio.

Topical Reviews provide a comprehensive and extensive summary of recent research results in a field that is within the spectrum of topics covered by EPJ E and are of current interest to a broader audience. A topical review should aim to summarize the pertinent experimental, theoretical, and computational results obtained by the key research groups working in the field in the past 10 years. Historical reviews of an entire sub-field of physics are discouraged. There is no explicit constraint regarding the length of such manuscripts, although 35 printed pages would be the most usual length. All invited/submitted manuscripts will undergo the same refereeing procedure as all other contributions submitted to the journal. For invited topical review papers, authors will receive a honorarium of EUR 400,-- upon publication and color figures will be free of charge. Topical review papers are generally solicited by the journal editors. Authors wishing to submit a topical review paper are advised to contact the Editorial Office or the Editors-in-Chief.

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