A Journal Devoted to Scientific and Technological Aspects of Industrially Relevant Polysaccharides

Carbohydrate Polymers is a major journal within the field of glycoscience, and covers the study and exploitation of polysaccharides which have current or potential application in areas such as bioenergy, bioplastics, biomaterials, biorefining, chemistry, drug delivery, food, health, nanotechnology, packaging, paper, pharmaceuticals, medicine, oil recovery, textiles, tissue engineering and wood, and other aspects of glycoscience.

The role of the well-characterized carbohydrate polymer must be the major proportion of the work reported, not a peripheral topic. At least one named carbohydrate polymer must be cited and be the main focus of the paper and its title. Research must be innovative and advance scientific knowledge.

Characterization - For all polysaccharides, including those obtained from a supplier, essential structural information which will affect their behavior in the subsequent work should be given, along with a description of how that information was ascertained. Examples of such essential information include molecular weight, mannuronate/guluronate ratio for alginates, degree of esterification for pectin, degree of deacetylation for chitosan. Editors are unlikely to send papers for formal review with a statement such as "sodium alginate was purchased from XXX Inc." unless additional information is supplied. For papers involving synthesis, polysaccharide derivatives must also be well-characterized. For papers describing identity or application of newly-discovered polysaccharides, purity and monosaccharide composition are essential; some molecular size and linkage information is highly desirable.

Hypotheses - Nearly all scientific papers benefit from inclusion of a statement of hypothesis. Such statements should be concise, declarative, and should describe the one or more key hypotheses that the studies upon which the manuscript is based were intended to confirm or refute. Inclusion of a hypothesis statement makes it simple to contrast the hypothesis with the most relevant previous literature and point out what the authors feel is distinct about the current hypothesis (novelty). It also permits the authors to describe why they feel it would be important to prove the hypothesis correct (significance).

Topics of interest to the journal:
• structure-property relationships
• analytical methods
• chemical, enzymatic and physical modifications
• biosynthesis
• natural functions
• interactions with other materials

Topics not of interest to the journal:
• Bibliometric reviews
• biological, physiological and pharmacological aspects of non-carbohydrate molecules attached to, or mixed with, carbohydrate polymers, unless the polysaccharide has a relevant and specific role
• materials science of biocomposites where there is no mention of any specific carbohydrate polymer, or the role of the carbohydrate polymer is not the major proportion of the study
• polyalkanoates, polylactic acid, or lignin
• routine studies of extraction yields without characterisation of the extracted polysaccharide under the different conditions
• routine studies of complexation of a drug with a single cyclodextrin
• studies of newly discovered natural polysaccharides or new polysaccharide derivatives where the structure of the polysaccharide (derivative) is unknown
• production and isolation of enzymes which act on polysaccharides (studies on the mode of action of an enzyme on a polysaccharide are within the journal scope)
• carbohydrate oligomers where the degree of polymerization is less than four
• treatments of cotton fabrics and cellulose-based paper where the research is largely not about the component cellulose itself
• use of carbohydrate polymers as a support material (e.g. in enzyme immobilization, chromatography, etc.) where there is no specific involvement of the chemistry of the carbohydrate polymer
• production of chars from polysaccharides, regardless of the application to which the char will be used. Such manuscripts are out of scope since they do not focus on the science of well-characterized polysaccharides

Carbohydrate Polymers has an open access companion journal, Carbohydrate Polymer Technologies and Applications, which is devoted to scientific and technological aspects and applications of polymers and oligomers containing carbohydrate.

Original full-length research papers
Review papers 

Editors-in-Chief
John F. Kennedy
Chembiotech Laboratories Ltd, WR15 8SG, Tenbury Wells, United Kingdom Email John F. Kennedy
Manuel Coimbra
University of Aveiro Chemistry Department, 3810-193, Aveiro, Portugal Email Manuel Coimbra
Editors
Tatiana Budtova
Centre for Formation of Materials, Sophia Antipolis Cedex, France
Cristina de Castro
University of Naples - Parthenope, Napoli, Italy
Kevin Edgar
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, Virginia, United States
Robert Gilbert
University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China
Simon McCarthy
HemCon Medical Technologies Inc, Portland, Oregon, United States
Berit Smestad Paulsen
University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway
Carlos Stortz
University of Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina
Run-Cang Sun
Dalian Polytechnic Universit, Center for Lignocellulose Science and Engineering, School of Light Industry and Chemical Engineering, Dalian, China
Editorial Manager
Cláudia Nunes
University of Aveiro Department of Materials and Ceramic Engineering, Campus Universitário de Santiago, 3810-193, Aveiro, Portugal Email Cláudia Nunes
Founding Editor
John Mitchell
University of Nottingham School of Biosciences, Loughborough, United Kingdom
Editorial Board Members
James BeMiller
Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana, United States
Eric Bertoft
University of Minnesota Department of Animal Science, St. Paul, Minnesota, United States
H Cheng
USDA-ARS Southern Regional Research Center, New Orleans, Louisiana, United States
Bjørn Christensen
Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway
Maurice Collins
University of Limerick, Limerick, Ireland
Hongbing Deng
Wuhan University, Wuhan, China
Keyur Desai
Kimberly-Clark Corporation
Jacques Desbrieres
University of Pau and Pays de l’Adour, Pau, France
Alain Dufresne
International Graduate School of Paper Print Communication and Biomaterials, St Martin d'Heres, France
Pedro Fardim
Åbo Akademi University Physics, TURKU, Finland
Jovin Hasjim
Roquette Management Shanghai Co Ltd, Shanghai, China
Gloria Huerta-Angeles
Contipro a s, Dolni Dobrouc, Czech Republic
Marcello Iacomini
Federal University of Parana, Curitiba, Brazil
Hiroshi Kamitakahara
Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan
Rupert Kargl
University of Maribor Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Slovenija, Germany
Andreas Koschella
Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Jena, Germany
Xiaoxi Li
South China University of Technology, Guangzhou, China
Robert Linhardt
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, New York, United States
Ping Lu
Long Island University, Brooklyn, New York, United States
Pawadee Methacanon
Metal and Materials Technology Center, Khlong Luang, Thailand
F.L. Fwu-Long Mi
Taipei Medical University, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Cell Biology, School of Medicine, College of Medicine, Taipei, Taiwan
John Moore
Stellenbosch University Department of Viticulture and Oenology, Matieland, South Africa
Edwin Morris
University College Cork National University of Ireland, Cork, Ireland
Patrick Navard
Engineering College Paris, Paris, France
Poonsuk Prasertsan
Prince of Songkla University Department of Industrial Biotechnology, Hat Yai, Thailand
Ian Sims
Victoria University of Wellington Ferrier Research Institute, Wellington, New Zealand
Rekha Singhal
Institute of Chemical Technology, Mumbai, India
Andrej Sinica
University of Chemistry and Technology Prague, Praha, Czech Republic
Maciej Skotak
New Jersey Institute of Technology, Newark, New Jersey, United States
Stefan Spirk
Graz University of Technology, Graz, Austria
Eduardo Jaime Vernon-Carter
Metropolitan Autonomous University Iztapalapa, Iztapalapa, Mexico
Manuel Vilanova
University of Porto, Portugal
Qi Wang
Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada Guelph Research and Development Centre, Guelph, Ontario, Canada
Pete Williams
Wrexham Glyndwr University, Wrexham, United Kingdom
Jian-Yong Wu
The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Kowloon, Hong Kong
Gregory Ziegler
Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania, United States