Research in Materials Science and Materials Engineering moves very quickly, and it is also a truly interdisciplinary field with relevance across a wide range of academic studies and professional industries. As such, there is a high demand from researchers at all levels for up-to-date and high-quality reference material.

For publishers, it can be a huge challenge to meet that demand when the discipline is so fast-moving and when reliable, peer-reviewed reference publications can take years in the making.

The Reference Module in Materials Science and Materials Engineering is an innovative new solution to that challenge. Researchers from undergraduates to industry experts will be able to find the information they need and at the same time know that it is both current and of the highest standard.

As Acquisitions Editor on the project, it’s really exciting for me to work with an extremely knowledgeable and energetic Editorial Board of 14 Subject Editors, led by indomitable Editor-in-Chief Saleem Hashmi (School of Mechanical & Manufacturing Engineering, Dublin City University). The Editors’ powerful collective expertise and experience as researchers, teachers and industry professionals is making it possible for us to build a very dynamic and comprehensive resource.  It’s also wonderful to already have contributions from expert authors from all over the world.

As we gear up for launch of the Module in December 2015, the Editors are hard at work reviewing articles and building the subject hierarchy that will enable users of the Module to search thousands of articles and quickly get to the information they want. Users will be able to see when each article was last checked for currency as well as its update history. This will give researchers the confidence in the material that they require, and teachers can point their students to a quick source of reliable, citable, up-to-date information from entry-level to expert detail. A key point is that we are developing this Module so that it will be of maximum use to researchers both within and outside of materials science. Linking tools within ScienceDirect will enable researchers to find authors who they can perhaps collaborate with on interdisciplinary projects.

Article authors benefit by no longer having to wait until the end of a long multi-article book production cycle: their work will lose none of its currency as it will publish online in the Module just as soon as it has been reviewed by the appropriate Editor and is production-ready.  Authors later have the opportunity to review and update their own work as appropriate, so that their articles always remain relevant and utilized in the long term.

I’m confident that working on the Reference Module in Materials Science and Materials Engineering will help me to engage ever better with authors and researchers across the many subject areas it covers. I am always keen to discuss trends in materials science and to talk to prospective editors about developing new Encyclopedias and Comprehensive Major Reference Works.