Materials Today Communications

During my doctoral period, my first paper was about the application of neural networks in lightweight alloys. It did not have any fancy representation, and the workload may have been more than usual. I will share the status of the paper: I initially submitted it to JAC (received advice to transfer), JMP, and AMSE, but they all rejected it, stating that it did not meet their target audience. In frustration, I submitted it to China Foundry. Later, both my advisor and I felt a bit regretful. Fortunately, the editor asked me to supplement a conflict of interest statement and provided suggestions for resubmission. I promptly withdrew the paper and submitted it to MTC. It was submitted on December 25th (remember to write a cover letter when submitting). The editing process started on January 12th, and there was another round of editing on January 14th. It was sent for review on January 15th and received reviewer comments on January 19th (one reviewer with seven questions). Due to the inconvenience of working from home during the winter break, I revised the paper on February 14th and received acceptance on February 15th (before that, I read comments saying that a clean version was required, so I specifically included both a marked version and a clean version when preparing the revised manuscript). Looking back, the entire process from submission to acceptance took over 50 days, which was quite fast. I am very grateful to Editor Houlong Zhuang for the speedy processing and hope that the journal will continue to improve.

The paper has been accepted. Let me explain the timeline.

6.30 - Received transfer (submitted to journal for one month)
7.30 - Under review
8.11 - Revised
8.20 - Revision submitted to journal
8.20 - Accepted

In the early stages, it took a long time from submission to reaching the editor (I had to remind them twice, and they responded saying they had a high volume of manuscripts and would process it within one to two weeks. However, looking back, it seemed like the reminders had little effect). But once it reached the editor, the processing speed was very fast.

There was one reviewer, and the editor was Houlong Zhuang, who gave me two months to make revisions. I originally planned to take one month to make the revisions so that it wouldn't seem like I didn't make proper modifications. However, I needed it urgently, so I wrote a thorough ten-page response, included all the necessary materials, and made significant improvements to the overall content and quality of the paper. Surprisingly, I submitted it on the evening of the 20th, which was a Friday. I thought it would be sent for review again or at least take another two to three days. However, when I checked the next morning, it had already been accepted. It seems like the editor is available 24/7. Editor Houlong Zhuang's processing speed is truly impressive. Kudos to him! I also wish everyone good luck!