Submission and Editorial Process

Advanced Functional Polymers and Nanocomposites welcomes original, scientifically rigorous contributions that fall within the journal’s aims and scope. Manuscripts should present clearly defined research objectives, sound experimental or analytical methods, reliable results, and conclusions supported by the evidence provided. Authors are expected to prepare their manuscripts in accordance with these guidelines before submission to facilitate efficient editorial assessment and peer review.

Manuscripts should be submitted electronically through the journal’s Journal Management System (JMS) in an accepted file format. Authors should ensure that the submitted manuscript is complete, carefully proofread, and prepared according to the journal’s formatting and ethical requirements. Submission of a manuscript confirms that the work is being considered for publication by this journal and that the authors have complied with applicable requirements concerning authorship, originality, ethical conduct, conflicts of interest, and disclosure of funding.

Manuscript Preparation

Manuscripts should be prepared in MS Word (.doc or .docx) or LaTeX. The text should be written in clear, fluent English and presented in a logical sequence. Authors for whom English is not their first language are encouraged to have the manuscript professionally edited or carefully reviewed for language, grammar, terminology, and clarity before submission.

The manuscript should provide sufficient information for readers and reviewers to understand the purpose of the study, evaluate the methods used, interpret the findings, and assess the significance of the work. All figures, tables, and references should be appropriately cited in the main text and should appear in a logical order. Captions and legends should provide enough information for figures and tables to be understood without unnecessary reference to the main text.

Structure of Research Articles

Research articles should normally be organized in the following order

Title; Authors and Affiliations; Corresponding Author Information; Abstract; Keywords; Introduction; Materials and Methods; Results; Discussion; Conclusion; List of Abbreviations (where applicable); Funding Information; Conflict of Interest Statement; Authors’ Contribution Statement; Acknowledgements(if needed); References; Appendices (where applicable); Figures and Tables; and Supplementary Material (where applicable).

The journal may permit reasonable variations in structure for particular article types where this is scientifically appropriate.

Title, Authors, and Affiliations

The title should be concise, informative, and specific to the subject of the manuscript and should not normally exceed 130 characters. It should accurately reflect the principal research objective, or finding without using unnecessary abbreviations or promotional language.

All authors who have made substantial contributions to the conception, design, conduct, analysis, or interpretation of the work should be listed as authors. Author names should be accompanied by their institutional affiliations. The corresponding author should be clearly identified and should provide a valid institutional or professional email address and other required contact information. Changes to authorship after submission should be supported by an appropriate explanation and, where applicable, agreement from all affected authors.

Abstract and Keywords

The abstract should provide a concise and self-contained overview of the manuscript without any sub-headings. It should clearly communicate the objective or research problem, principal methods, major findings, and main conclusion or significance of the study. The abstract should contain sufficient information for readers to understand the contribution of the work without consulting the full manuscript.

Authors should provide 6–8 keywords that accurately represent the principal materials, technologies, methods, applications, and scientific concepts discussed in the manuscript. Keywords should be selected to improve the discoverability of the article in scholarly databases and search systems.

Introduction

The Introduction should establish the scientific context and significance of the research. Authors should briefly discuss relevant literature, identify the knowledge gap or unresolved problem addressed by the study, and clearly state the objectives, research questions, or hypotheses. The Introduction should remain focused on establishing the rationale for the work rather than providing an extensive review of the entire field.

Materials and Methods

The Materials and Methods section should provide sufficient detail to enable appropriate evaluation and, where reasonably possible, replication of the research. Authors should clearly identify materials, chemicals, polymers, nanocomposites, instruments, experimental conditions, processing procedures, characterization techniques, data sources, and analytical or statistical methods relevant to the study.

Where research involves human participants, animals, biological materials, or other activities requiring ethical oversight, authors must provide appropriate information concerning ethical approval, consent, institutional authorization, or other applicable requirements. Any established standards, protocols, software, or analytical procedures used in the research should be appropriately identified and referenced.

Results

The Results section should present the principal findings clearly and in a logical sequence. Results should be supported by appropriate quantitative or qualitative evidence, and relevant statistical analyses should be reported where applicable. Authors should avoid unnecessary repetition of the same information in the text, tables, and figures. Data presented visually should be accompanied by sufficient explanation in the manuscript to allow readers to understand the principal findings.

Discussion

The Discussion should explain the meaning and significance of the findings in relation to the research objectives and relevant published literature. Authors should consider how their results support, extend, challenge, or differ from previous studies and should provide scientifically justified interpretations rather than unsupported speculation. Important methodological limitations, uncertainties, practical implications, and potential applications should also be addressed where relevant.

The Results and Discussion sections may be combined when this structure provides a clearer presentation of the research.

Conclusion

The Conclusion should provide a concise synthesis of the principal findings and their scientific significance. It should directly reflect the evidence presented in the manuscript and should not introduce new results. Where appropriate, authors may identify potential applications, limitations, or directions for future research.

Technical and Presentation Requirements

Authors should use SI units throughout the manuscript. If non-standard or alternative units are necessary, the corresponding SI conversion should be provided. Mathematical symbols, variables, and specialized notation should be defined clearly when they are first introduced. Abbreviations should be written in full at first use, followed by the abbreviation in parentheses, and should subsequently be used consistently. A separate List of Abbreviations may be included when a manuscript contains numerous specialized terms.

Appendices should be used only for detailed material that is relevant to the study but would interrupt the flow of the main text if included in the principal sections.

Figures and Tables

Figures should be numbered consecutively according to their first citation in the manuscript and should be accompanied by clear, informative captions. Authors should submit figures in high-quality formats suitable for publication. TIFF or JPEG files should generally have a resolution of at least 300 dpi, while EPS files should generally have a resolution of at least 800 dpi, particularly for line art and other high-detail graphics.

Figures should remain legible when reproduced at the intended publication size. Authors should avoid unnecessarily large files and excessive compression that may reduce image quality. Where possible, image files should be optimized for publication while preserving their original resolution and clarity.

Tables should be numbered consecutively and provided with concise, descriptive titles. They should be constructed clearly and should contain sufficient information for readers to understand the data presented. Tables should be cited in the text in numerical order, and information should not be unnecessarily duplicated between tables and the main text.

References

References should follow the Vancouver referencing style. References should be numbered consecutively in the order in which they are first cited in the text, and the corresponding reference numbers should be used consistently throughout the manuscript. Journal titles should be abbreviated in accordance with recognized indexing and bibliographic standards, such as Index Medicus/MEDLINE, where applicable.

Authors should ensure that every reference cited in the manuscript appears in the reference list and that every entry in the reference list is cited in the text. Reference details should be checked carefully for accuracy, including author names, article titles, journal titles, publication year, volume, issue where applicable, and page numbers or article identifiers.

For references with three or fewer authors, all authors should be listed. For references with more than three authors, the first three authors should be listed followed by et al.

Funding and Conflict of Interest

Authors must disclose all sources of financial or material support for the research and publication of the article. Where applicable, funding statements should include the name of the funding organization and the relevant grant or award number.

Authors must also disclose any financial, professional, personal, or other relationships that could reasonably be perceived as influencing the research or its interpretation. Where no relevant conflict exists, authors should provide an appropriate declaration stating that there are no conflicts of interest to disclose.

Artificial intelligence (AI) use by Authors

Authors may use artificial intelligence (AI) and AI-assisted tools for limited purposes such as language editing, grammar correction, readability, and improving clarity. AI must not replace the authors’ intellectual contribution, scientific judgment, analysis, or responsibility for the manuscript. Authors remain fully accountable for the accuracy, originality, integrity, and authenticity of all submitted content. Any substantive use of AI beyond routine language assistance should be disclosed to the Journal, including the purpose and nature of its use. AI tools must not be listed as authors or co-authors, and confidential or unpublished manuscript information should not be entered into AI systems in a manner that compromises confidentiality.

Author Contributions

Authors should provide a clear statement describing the specific contributions made by each individual listed as an author. The contribution statement should reflect substantive involvement in the conception or design of the study, development of methodology, investigation, data collection, data analysis, interpretation of findings, or other significant scholarly aspects of the work. Contributions related to manuscript preparation, including drafting, critical revision, and approval of the final version, should also be identified where applicable. Authors should ensure that all individuals who qualify for authorship are appropriately included and that individuals who contributed to the work but do not meet authorship criteria are acknowledged separately. All authors should have reviewed and approved the final manuscript and should accept responsibility for their respective contributions and for addressing questions concerning the accuracy or integrity of the work.

Where appropriate, authors may use standardized contribution terms such as conceptualization, methodology, investigation, formal analysis, data curation, visualization, writing—original draft, writing—review and editing, supervision, project administration, and funding acquisition to describe individual contributions.

Acknowledgements

Individuals or organizations that contributed to the research but do not meet the criteria for authorship may be acknowledged with their permission. This may include contributions such as technical assistance, laboratory support, administrative assistance, language editing, or other forms of substantive support. Authors should ensure that acknowledgements accurately reflect the nature of each contribution and do not imply authorship where authorship criteria have not been met.

Research Ethics and Author Declarations

Authors are responsible for ensuring that their research complies with applicable ethical, regulatory, and institutional requirements. Where relevant, manuscripts should include information regarding ethics committee or institutional review approval and informed consent.

Authors must ensure that submitted work is original, has not been published previously in substantially the same form, and is not under consideration by another journal. Any use of previously published material, including figures, tables, or substantial text, must be appropriately cited and, where required, accompanied by permission for reuse.

The journal expects all authors to comply with recognized standards of research and publication ethics. Issues relating to plagiarism, duplicate or redundant publication, fabrication or falsification of data, inappropriate authorship, undisclosed conflicts of interest, or other forms of research or publication misconduct may be investigated in accordance with the journal’s publication ethics policies.

Supplementary Material

Supplementary files may be submitted when they provide additional information that supports the main article but is not essential to understanding the principal findings. Such material may include additional datasets, methodological details, tables, figures, analytical procedures, or other supporting information. Supplementary files should be clearly identified and cited in the manuscript.

Short Communications

The journal welcomes concise research reports presenting clear and sufficiently complete findings. Short Communications are generally expected to be around 1,500 words, including tables and figures, although the journal may consider reasonable variations depending on the nature of the work. Submissions should communicate a focused research contribution and should not be used to present incomplete, preliminary, or inadequately supported findings.

Special and Thematic Issues

The journal may periodically publish Special or Thematic Issues focusing on emerging, significant, or rapidly developing areas within functional polymers, nanocomposites, and related fields. Such issues may include original research articles, review articles, short communications, and other appropriate contributions. Special Issues may arise from invited collections, conferences, workshops, or proposals developed around a coherent scientific theme.

Researchers interested in proposing a Special or Thematic Issue may submit a proposal to the journal outlining the proposed topic, scientific rationale, relevance to the journal, potential contributors, and proposed Guest Editor(s). All manuscripts submitted to Special Issues remain subject to the journal’s standard editorial and peer-review requirements.

Proofs and Author Corrections

Following acceptance and production, a PDF proof will normally be provided to the corresponding author for final checking. Authors should carefully review the proof for typographical, formatting, author-affiliation, figure, table, and other production errors and return any required corrections within 72 hours of receipt.

Proof correction is intended primarily to identify and correct production errors. Substantive changes to the manuscript, including the addition or removal of major content, are generally not permitted at this stage and may require editorial approval. Authors should therefore ensure that the final accepted manuscript is complete and accurate before it enters production.

Editorial and Review Timelines

The journal aims to process submissions efficiently. Initial editorial screening is typically completed within approximately 7 days, although the actual timeframe may vary depending on submission volume, manuscript completeness, editorial availability, and other factors. Manuscripts that proceed to external peer review will normally require approximately 2–3 weeks for the initial review stage, but review times may vary according to reviewer availability and the complexity of the manuscript.

These timeframes are indicative rather than guaranteed. Authors should not regard them as fixed publication deadlines, as the duration of the editorial and peer-review process depends on the individual manuscript and the need for revisions or additional review.

Article Processing Charges

Advanced Functional Polymers and Nanocomposites is an Open Access journal, meaning that published articles are freely and immediately accessible to readers worldwide without a subscription barrier.

The journal does not charge a submission fee. An Article Processing Charge (APC) is applicable to manuscripts that are accepted for publication. The APC supports the costs associated with editorial administration, peer-review management, production, online hosting, metadata, and dissemination of published articles.

The applicable APC is USD 330, inclusive of applicable bank charges where stated. Payment may be made by debit/credit card or bank transfer following acceptance and in accordance with the publisher’s payment instructions. The editorial decision on a manuscript is independent of the author’s ability or method of payment.