The aims of the International Journal of Thermophysics are to:
Serve as an international medium for publication of peer-reviewed papers in thermophysics, e.g.,
- Publish experimental, theoretical, and computational papers in the field of thermophysics, i.e., the study of equilibrium and transport properties of systems in their gas, liquid, or solid state, and the transformation between such states under non-equilibrium conditions. The systems include soft matter, biofluids, nanofluids, nano- and bio-materials, thin layers, and thin films. A wide range of variables (temperature, pressure, composition, wavelength, and other relevant variables) and fields generated by these variables are of interest.
- Publish methods-oriented papers on instrumentation and measurement techniques in thermophysics (e.g., including densimetry, calorimetry, viscometry, thermal conductivity and diffusivity, photoacoustic and photothermal techniques, light scattering, etc.).
- Assist generators and users of thermophysical property data who are aiming for an understanding of property-function relationships.
Cover a diverse range of topics such as
- Thermodynamic properties, including p-v-T behavior, phase equilibria, heat capacity, enthalpy, thermal expansion, sound speed, and critical phenomena.
- Transport properties, including viscosity; thermal and electrical conductivity; mass diffusivity; thermal diffusivity and effusivity; non-Newtonian behavior; and thermal, thermoacoustic, and other diffusionphenomena.
- Optical and thermal radiative properties, including dielectric constant, refractive index, emissivity, reflectivity, transmissivity, and absorptivity.
- Interfacial properties, including solid-solid, solid-fluid, and fluid-fluid interfaces; surface tension; interfacial profiles; interfacial transport; and wetting.
- Data correlation and models, including data evaluation and prediction, equations of state, standard reference data, databases, thermophysical property information systems, and simulation studies of model and related systems.
- Nonequilibrium thermodynamics, including nucleation phenomena, fluctuations, metastability, mesoscopic systems, micro-heterogeneous systems, and reactions.
- Metrology in thermophysics, including development of measurement techniques and calibration standards, measurements of fundamental constants, and uncertainty assessments.
Established and emerging areas of thermophysics applications, including but not limited to: Imaging, biothermophysics, nanoscale thermophysical properties and processes and instrumentation systems, cross-disciplinary topics (thermophysics with photonics, ultrasound, electromagnetic fields), metamaterials. Applications or experiments that contribute to development of non-equilibrium theories, or vice versa, new theories that predict effects, which subsequently are verified, are particularly welcome.
Papers accepted for publication in the International Journal of Thermophysics must represent significant contributions to the field of thermophysics. Comprehensive review papers within a sub-field of thermophysics are encouraged.
Papers emphasizing experimental results must put these results in the context of the existing related literature—generally explicit comparisons with previous results are expected and comparisons with physically based models are encouraged. Experimental results need not be accompanied by mathematical modeling: simple curve-fitting of data is discouraged, except to facilitate comparisons with literature data or as part of an uncertainty analysis. Authors should express data on mixtures in a manner that has physical meaning as befits a thermophysics journal.
Papers that simply apply existing mathematical techniques to model systems, such as those involved in heat and mass transfer or thermoelasticity, are not appropriate unless they contribute directly to a significant advance in the understanding of aspects of thermophysics or advance the state of the art in measurements within the field of thermophysics. Papers providing new mathematical or theoretical models should indicate how they improve existing models or contribute to an understanding of some phenomenon in thermophysics.
To maintain/improve/demonstrate the reliability/quality of experimental thermophysical and thermochemical property data published in the International Journal of Thermophysics (and other collaborating journals), the Thermodynamics Research Center (TRC) of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has developed a system:
(a) to capture the raw experimental data in a standard format,
(b) to evaluate the data for detection of inconsistencies caused by typographical errors, misidentification of components, incomplete property and sample purity specification, etc.,
(c) to compare the reported experimental data with that existing in the literature and to identify any unexpectedly large discrepancies,
(d) to provide a list of relevant literature sources of experimental data,
(e) to check and ensure that reported uncertainties are consistent with established, rigorous standard definitions/formats,
(f) to include the data in XML-based (Thermo-ML, IUPAC standard) files in a database posted on the internet for free public access, and
(g) to link the data files with the relevant articles published in the Journal.
This system/process is described in editorials published in the Journal: Int. J. Thermophys. 26, 307 (2005); 30, 371 (2009); 32, 1999 (2011) and will be implemented for all appropriate experimental papers published in the Journal.