2022 Annual Report of Energy Materials

The year 2022 has witnessed the rapid development of Energy Materials (EM). With the strong support of the Editorial Board members, authors, reviewers, webinar attendees, readers and the Editorial Office staff, EM has received widespread attention from experts and scholars in related fields, and has achieved remarkable results in the past year. Here, we would like to present the various achievements of the journal in 2022 from the following six aspects.

1. Publication

In 2022, EM received 93 submissions and successfully published 6 issues [Figure 1], including 43 articles (20 reviews, 17 articles, 2 mini reviews, 2 communications, 1 perspective and 1 research highlight) by 306 authors. The published articles cover a wide range of research fields, including sodium-ion batteries, supercapacitors, zinc-ion batteries, lithium-ion batteries, ceramic fuel cells, solid-state batteries, solar cells, Mg-air batteries, Li- and Na-ion batteries, cathode materials, etc., and obtain a record of 72,211 views and 18,311 downloads. The following statistic shows the top 10 countries and regions from which EM received views and downloads, including the USA, the UK, Russia, Germany and other countries. [Figure 2]

Figure 1. Covers of published issues in 2022

Figure 2. Distribution by countries/regions of total article views(left) and downloads(right) in 2022

EM Editorial Office is an efficiency-oriented team that has been working hard to reduce the turnaround time for manuscripts, which in 2022 (from submission to online release) averaged 50 days. However, the EM Editorial Team has always carefully selected papers, prioritizing the quality of manuscripts, and the rejection rate was 44% in 2022.

In 2022, a total of 159 reviewers from 23 countries or regions [Figure 3] generously contributed a lot to the appraisal of manuscripts. Their careful analysis and constructive recommendations have greatly enhanced the value of the manuscripts they have handled, which advances the development of EM. EM Editors acknowledge with particular gratitude these reviewers for their generous contributions of time and efforts.

Figure 3. Countries/regions distribution of reviewers

2. Editorial Board

In 2022, eight outstanding scholars joined the Editorial Board. As of December 31, 2022, EM has 69 Editorial Board members from 20 countries, including China, the USA, South Korea, Germany, Canada, Japan, Singapore, Switzerland, Australia, the UK, Spain, Italy, etc. [Figure 4] The journal held two Editorial Board Meetings on April 15, 2022 and October 26, 2022, respectively, [Figure 5] during which board members had in-depth exchanges on key decisions related to the journal’s development.

Figure 4. Countries/regions distribution of Editorial Board Members

Figure 5. 2022 Editorial Board Meetings

3. Featured Content

Webinars:
In order to facilitate the communication and exchange of scholars during the COVID-19 pandemic, EM successfully held four webinars, which were highly praised by the scholars. More than 70,000 participants witnessed the success of these events. We highly appreciate these scholars, including Prof. Bin Zhu, Prof. Bingqing Wei, Prof. Chuanfang Zhang, Dr. Sen Xin, Dr. Zhi Zhu, and Dr. Muhammad Imran Asghar, for their great support of the webinars. [Figure 6] 

Figure 6. Detailed information on EM webinars

Special Issues:
In 2022, with the joint efforts of nine outstanding researchers, EM launched five Special Issues [Figure 7], building a community of authors and readers to discuss the latest research and develop new ideas and research directions.
Topic 1: Advanced Materials for Future-Generation Rechargeable Batteries
Topic 2: Electrolytes and Interlayers for Next-Generation Batteries
Topic 3: Application of Ionic Liquid Electrolytes in Electrochemical Energy Storage 
Topic 4: Materials for Potassium Batteries 
Topic 5: Smart Materials for Sensing and Energy Applications 

Figure 7. Covers of Special Issues

Social Media:
EM Editors have always stayed active on WeChat and Twitter. In 2022, the WeChat official account (EnergyMaterials_2021) posted a total of 81 articles, attracting 1,644 followers, and Twitter (@OAE_EnergyMater) posted 445 tweets and attracted more than 600 followers.

4. Collaborations

In 2022, EM continued advancing the cooperation with Xi’an University of Architecture and Technology on International New Energy Materials webinars. Thanks to the full support of Prof. Sining Yun, a total of 15 Guest Speakers were invited to the 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th and 11th webinars. [Figure 8]

Figure 8. The 7th - 11th International Webinars on "New Energy Materials"

Additionally, in May 2022, EM reached cooperation with ResearchGate, a platform dedicated to helping scholars to connect, collaborate, and share their work. At the end of 2022, EM officially became a member of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) [Figure 9]. EM consistently adheres to the COPE Code of Conduct and follows the Best Practice Guidelines for Journal Editors to ensure a rigorous peer-review process under strict ethical policies.

Figure 9. ResearchGate logo and COPE logo

5. Citations and Indexing

It is encouraging to note that EM has been indexed in Dimensions and Lens. [Figure 10]

Figure 10. Logos of Dimensions and LENS

EM received a total of 295 citations from scholars from 33 countries and regions in 2022 (Data source: Web of Science). Figure 11 presents the distribution of article citations by country/region. Table 1 shows part of the journals that cited articles of EM, their impact factors (IF) and the number of citations. Figure 12 shows the IF distribution of the citing literature.

Figure 11. Distribution by countries/regions of citations

Table 1. Citing Journals of EM in 2022

Figure 12. Distribution by IF of the citing literatures in 2022

6. Awards

To recognize excellent work conducted by members of the EM community, we have set up two types of awards: Most Influential Paper Award and Outstanding Reviewer Award. The following tables show information about the winners and the awards. [Table 2] [Table 3]

Table 2: Winners of Most Influential Paper Award

Table 3: Winners of Outstanding Reviewer Awards

Note: Reviewers are listed in alphabetical order by the last name

Overall, 2022 has been an extraordinary year for EM. EM Editors once again thank all the Editors, authors, reviewers and cooperation partners who have contributed to the journal in the past year. In the future, EM will continue to hold the principle of high-quality publishing with higher standards, serve more scholars, publish more high-quality articles, and promote the development and progress of science.