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MSDE is a Transformative Journal and Plan S compliant
Impact factor: 3.2*
Time to first decision (all decisions): 30.0 days**
Time to first decision (peer reviewed only): 38.0 days***
CiteScore: 6.4****
Editor-in-chief: Claire S Adjiman
Indexed in Web of Science and Scopus
Open access publishing options available
Molecular Systems Design & Engineering (MSDE) publishes work which establishes new understanding of molecular properties and behaviours, and uses this understanding to design and assemble better materials, systems, and processes to achieve specific functions.
Thoughts from our leadership
"The MSDE proposition, at the crossroads between pressing societal needs and emerging scientific innovation, is timely and compelling. The journal excels at bringing together researchers across often disparate fields of research to form a “molecular systems design community”.
"The combination, within MSDE, of articles focused on new methods with those focused on specific applications provides an ideal opportunity to identify cross-pollination between these two distinct, but mutually reinforcing, thrusts: progress in important molecular and materials applications is enabled by new theoretical, experimental, computational, and/or artificial intelligence tools, and pressing challenges can inspire new cross-disciplinary method development."
Find out more about MSDE in Claire and Andrew's reflections and vision Editorial
Journal scope
Molecular Systems Design & Engineering (MSDE) is an interdisciplinary journal reporting cutting-edge molecular engineering research.
Molecular engineering employs experimental, theoretical and computational approaches to establish new understanding of molecular properties and behaviours, and uses this understanding to design and assemble better materials, systems, and processes to achieve specific functions. MSDE provides a hub for research into new understanding of molecular systems and the use of this understanding in applications of technological significance that help address global challenges.
At the interface of the chemical sciences and engineering, this unique journal is a joint venture between the Royal Society of Chemistry and the Institution of Chemical Engineers (IChemE).
MSDE brings together physics, biology, chemistry, engineering, and materials science to address:
- New concepts, capabilities and tools based on the study of the behaviour of molecular systems
- Screening, design, engineering, and optimisation of molecules, materials, and systems
- The conception, design, or engineering of functional devices based on molecular principles
- Development or use of statistical or machine learning methodologies for molecular design
- Integrated artificial intelligence and automated robotics in experimental science
A molecular design or optimisation strategy
All papers should address the above. This can include the implementation of a molecular design or optimisation strategy targeting the functionality and performance of a system or process of interest. It can also include the development of a new molecular design or optimisation strategy based on fundamental insight into the parameters of a system or process of interest. Methodologies that have utility beyond the scope of the reported work, those covering multiple scales, and those discussing potential technological advances and applications, are particularly encouraged.
Examples of relevant systems and applications include, but are not limited to, the following:
- Energy - batteries, solar devices, fuel cells, thermoelectrics, electrocatalysis & photocatalysis
- Environmental - membranes, porous materials, detection & monitoring devices
- Bioengineering - imaging & diagnostics, tissue engineering & regeneration, therapeutics design & delivery, immune engineering.
- Quantum engineering - computing, cryptography, sensors, photonics
- Nano-manufacturing and control - directed self-assembly, nano-lithography, additive manufacturing
- Hard and soft materials - liquid crystals, ceramics, lubricants, polymers, glasses
- Electronics - molecular wires and switches, organic devices
- Processes - catalysis, solvents, chemical manufacturing, CO2 capture
Meet the team
Find out who is on the editorial and advisory boards for the MSDE journal.
Editor-in-Chief
Claire S Adjiman, Imperial College London, UK
Deputy Editor-in-chief
Andrew Ferguson, University of Chicago, USA
Associate editors
Luke Connal, Australian National University, Australia
Yongye Liang, Southern University of Science and Technology, China
Anna Slater, University of Liverpool, UK
Editorial board members
Linda Broadbelt, Northwestern University, USA
LaShanda Korley, University of Delaware, USA
Anja Palmans, TU Eindhoven, The Netherlands
Patrick Stayton, University of Washington, USA
Alfredo Alexander-Katz, MIT, USA
Helena Azevedo, Queen Mary University of London, UK
Andre Bardow, ETH Zurich, Switzerland
Jeremy Baumberg, University of Cambridge, UK
Eva Blasco, Heidelberg University, Germany
Joao Cabral, Imperial College London, UK
Neil Champness, University of Nottingham, UK
Paulette Clancy, John Hopkins University, USA
Marc-Olivier Coppens, UCL, UK
Graeme Day, University of Southampton, UK
Andrew deMello, ETH Zürich, Switzerland
Juan de Pablo, University of Chicago, USA
Cécile Dreiss, Kings College London, UK
Thomas Epps, III, University of Delaware, USA
Lei Fang, Texas A&M University, USA
C. Daniel Frisbie, University of Minnesota, USA
Xuefeng Guo, Peking University, China
Raju Kumar Gupta, Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur, India
Sarah Heilshorn, Stanford University, USA
Arthi Jayaraman, University of Delaware, USA
Takashi Kato, University of Tokyo, Japan
Kristi Kiick, University of Delaware, USA
Sang Ouk Kim, KAIST, Republic of Korea
Heather Kulik, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA
Jodie Lutkenhaus, Texas A&M University, USA
Heidi Mansour, FIU Center for Translational Science, USA
Bert Meijer, Eindhoven University of Technology, Netherlands
Takashi Nakanishi, NIMS, Japan
Ki Tae Nam, Seoul National University, Republic of Korea
Insup Noh, Seoul National University of Science & Technology, Republic of Korea
Mark A. Olson, Tianjin University, China
Ho Bum Park, Hanyang University, Republic of Korea
Jon Parquette, Ohio State University, USA
Boaz Pokroy, Israel Institute of Technology, Israel
Jeffrey Rimer, University of Houston, USA
Shu Seki, Kyoto University, Japan
Randy Snurr, Northwestern University, USA
Brigitte Stadler, Aarhus University, Denmark
Doros Theodorou, National Technical University of Athens, Greece
Matthew Tirrell, University of Chicago, USA
Bernhardt L. Trout, MIT, USA
Raymond W. Y. Wong, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong
Jing Zhang, Chinese Academic of Sciences, China
Jia Zhu, Nanjing University, China
Meifang Zhu, Donghua University, China
Maria Southall, Executive Editor, Journals, ORCID 0000-0002-7935-6231
Cara Sutton, Editorial Manager, Journals
Molly Colgate, Assistant Editor, Journals
Katie Morton, Assistant Editor, Journals
Charu Storr-Vijay, Assistant Editor, Journals
Alison Winder, Assistant Editor, Journals
Basita Javeed, Editorial Assistant, Journals
Allison Holloway, Publishing Assistant, Journals
Sam Keltie, Publisher, Journals, ORCID 0000-0002-9369-8414
Journal specific guidelines
There are no specific requirements regarding formatting of submissions; we recommend using the Royal Society of Chemistry template but this is not a requirement for submission. All articles accepted for publication in our journals are edited and typeset to our house style by professional editors; we will format the final publication for you.
All articles must include a separate Design, System, Application paragraph (no more than 200 words), that:
- explains the molecular design or optimisation strategy and its general utility
- emphasises the desired systems functionality and design constraints
- highlights the immediate or future application potential of the work.
This paragraph is intended to be accessible to the broad interdisciplinary readership of the journal, and therefore should be written in a general manner to complement more detailed discussions of these aspects within the main text. It should not reproduce the abstract.
See an example Design, System, Application statement hereOpen access publishing options
MSDE is a hybrid (transformative) journal and gives authors the choice of publishing their research either via the traditional subscription-based model or instead by choosing our gold open access option. Find out more about our Transformative Journals which are Plan S compliant.
Gold open access
For authors who want to publish their article gold open access, MSDE charges an article processing charge (APC) of £2,750 (+ any applicable tax). Our APC is all-inclusive and makes your article freely available online immediately, permanently, and includes your choice of Creative Commons licence (CC BY or CC BY-NC) at no extra cost. It is not a submission charge, so you only pay if your article is accepted for publication.
Learn more about publishing open access.
Read & Publish
If your institution has a Read & Publish agreement in place with the Royal Society of Chemistry, APCs for gold open access publishing in MSDE may already be covered.
Use our journal finder to check if your institution has an open access agreement with us.
Please use your official institutional email address to submit your manuscript and check you are assigned as the corresponding author; this helps us to identify if you are eligible for Read & Publish or other APC discounts.
Traditional subscription model
Authors can also publish in MSDE via the traditional subscription model without needing to pay an APC. Articles published via this route are available to institutions and individuals who subscribe to the journal. Our standard licence allows you to make the accepted manuscript of your article freely available after a 12-month embargo period. This is known as the green route to open access.
Subscription Information
Online only 2025: ISSN 2058-9689, £2,424 / $4,000
*2023 Journal Citation Reports (Clarivate Analytics, 2024)
**The median time from submission to first decision including manuscripts rejected without peer review from the previous calendar year
***The median time from submission to first decision for peer-reviewed manuscripts from the previous calendar year
****CiteScore™ 2023 available at www.scopus.com/sources
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