About Journal of Fluid Mechanics

Journal of Fluid Mechanics (JFM) is the leading international journal in the field publishing authoritative articles covering theoretical, computational, and experimental investigations of all aspects of the mechanics of fluids. Every paper must present fully developed and supported primary research and is expected to have a clear conclusion that spells out the contributions made to the advancement of fluid-mechanical understanding. 

Our scope is wide-ranging and covers the fundamental aspects of fluid mechanics and its applications to other fields such as aeronautics, astrophysics, biology, chemical and mechanical engineering, hydraulics, materials, meteorology, oceanography, geology, acoustics and combustion. For a full list of the topics included in JFM please see the list of JFM Keywords.

If you have any questions about the suitability of your manuscript please contact the Editorial Office at JFMEditorial@cambridge.org or one of our Associate Editors.

Article types

JFM considers the following peer-reviewed article types for submission

• JFM Papers
• JFM Rapids (10 page limit, constructed with LaTeX using the JFM style)

The following article types are published by invitation only

• JFM Perspectives
• Focus on Fluids

Detailed information on each article type is below and details of their peer review can be found in our Review process page.

JFM Papers

Regular submissions to JFM are published as JFM Papers (also referred to as ‘Standard articles’). JFM papers are comprehensive articles reporting original research with significant fluid mechanical insight, substantially advancing understanding. They present novel and valuable research results of community interest in a clear, self-contained way, giving appropriate acknowledgement to pre-existing work. There is no strict constraint on the length, approach or structure of such Standard articles beyond addressing an open research question of fluid mechanical relevance. Nevertheless, a key contribution of the peer review and editorial process is to ensure that the authors’ arguments are presented in a cogent, compelling and non-repetitive document.

JFM Rapids (10 page limit)

JFM Rapids articles are short, yet still self-contained and complete, articles addressing timely research challenges of broad interest. Rapids articles should present exciting results that are likely to have a high impact on some aspect of currently active fluid mechanical research, typically triggering upon publication further significant research activity of the fluid mechanics community.

Rapids manuscripts are restricted in length on submission to be at most 10 pages when compiled with an unmodified JFM LaTeX style file including all appendices, figures, and references. With this restriction, the review process can be conducted more rapidly than for (usually longer) Standard articles, with typical submission-to-publication times under 100 days and a first decision received within 30 days.

Authors will be asked to highlight to the Editor the timeliness and potential for exceptional impact which justifies submission of the research as a Rapids article.

Referees will be asked to comment specifically on: the timeliness and potential for exceptional impact of the submitted manuscript; and the clarity and completeness of the arguments presented in the submitted manuscript. In light of the referees’ comments, the Associate Editor may transfer the manuscript to the “Standard” track, either because the results presented in the manuscript are definitely valuable but do not reach the required threshold of timeliness and impact, and/or because the manuscript is not complete as submitted, requiring substantial lengthening to present the underlying key results clearly. If the referees’ comments are sufficiently positive to justify the manuscript remaining within the “Rapids” track, the authors may exceptionally be allowed to extend the paper slightly if such an extension is absolutely necessary to address the comments of the referees or Associate Editor.

For the avoidance of doubt, Rapids articles are not preliminary reports to be followed up subsequently by more thorough studies by (essentially) the same authors, nor are they brief extensions of previously published work. Authors are also reminded that “supplementary material” must be completely ancillary and cannot be used as a means of shortening a paper: any such artificial shortening will lead either to the paper being transferred for consideration as a Standard article, or being rejected without review.

For details on the rapid reviewing of JFM Rapids please see our Review process page. For questions about JFM Rapids please contact the Rapids Editor, details on our contacts page.

JFM Perspectives

JFM Perspectives are critical surveys of the state of a particular topic drawn from the whole of fluid mechanics, written by an invited leading expert. Perspectives articles are typically around 50-70 pages long and structured so that a person entering the specific field without specialist knowledge can access and understand the key results and the current major research questions.

For questions about JFM Perspectives please contact the Perspectives Editor, details on our contacts page.

Focus on Fluids

Focus on Fluids articles are short articles of approximately 4 pages, published each month, that highlight one particularly interesting recent article published in JFM. Focus on Fluids articles are written by invited leading experts, and explain the context, importance and implications of the underlying paper to a wider audience.

Authors are welcome to propose that their papers are featured in this section by contacting the Focus on Fluids Editor, details on our contacts page.

Corrigendum

Corrigenda will be published that alter significant conclusions made in a paper. When published, Corrigenda are clearly linked with the original articles to which they refer, and the articles to them. The Journal does not normally publish Corrigenda to amend typographical errors, so it is extremely important that authors make very careful checks of their manuscript at every stage, including the reading of proofs, prior to publication.

Editorials and any other article types are published at the invitation and discretion of the Editor in Chief.

Preparing your article for submission

Authors should write their papers clearly and concisely in English, adhering to JFM's established style for mathematical notation, as provided in section 3.1 of the JFM Template here. Metric units should be used throughout and all abbreviations must be defined at first use, even those deemed to be well known to the readership. British spelling must be used, and should follow the Shorter Oxford English Dictionary.

Templates

JFM templates are available for download here

• JFM LaTeX template files

Main document file type

Authors are strongly encouraged to compose their papers in LaTeX, using the jfm.cls style file provided here (please note that this is mandatory for JFM Rapids). A PDF of the LaTeX file should then be generated and submitted via the submission site. For the review process the pdf file should be no more than 6MB. There is no need to submit the LaTeX source files alongside the PDF, but upon acceptance of the paper, the LaTeX source files, along with individual figure files and a PDF of the final version, will need to be submitted for typesetting purposes.

Authors may also compose standard papers in Word, though this will lead to the paper spending a longer period in production. If using Word, please note that equations must NOT be converted to picture format and the file must be saved with the option `make equation editable'. 

JFM Notebooks

JFM Notebooks are interactive objects that execute code and visualise data. We have partnered with CoCalc (https://cocalc.com) for cloud-based long-term hosting of Jupyter notebooks associated with JFM papers. JFM Notebooks allow authors to provide more than a static two-dimensional snapshot of the results of research presented in article figures. Authors can link to a JFM Notebook which hosts the underlying data and code and allows readers to interrogate and probe the data to explore alternative ideas and gain further insights. For a detailed introduction, please read the Editorial ‘Introducing JFM Notebooks’ which can be read here.

Detailed instructions on preparing and submitting your article with JFM Notebooks can be found at our dedicated page here. You can also email jfmeditorial@cambridge.org with any questions.

Supplementary materials

Movies

If your submission is accompanied by movies, either of experiments or simulations, then these will be considered as integral to the paper and therefore will be part of what is refereed. All submitted movie files should be formatted as MP4 (H.264) and have the file designation of ‘Movie’. MP4 has full compatibility across commonly used browsers, whereas other video formats will only work on selected browsers. This will ensure the greatest possible dissemination of this work.

They must be accompanied by explanatory captions and the paper must refer to them. Each movie must be numbered in the order they are mentioned and titled movie 1, movie 2 etc and accompanied by a separate caption. To ensure maths terms display correctly they should be bounded by $$ and written in TeX. Each movie should be no more than 50MB. Upon publication these materials will then be hosted online alongside the final published article.

Appendices

In order not to disrupt the narrative flow, purely technical material may be included in the appendices. This material should corroborate or add to the main result and be essential for the understanding of the paper. It should be a small proportion of the paper and must not be longer than the paper itself.

Other supplementary material

Material that is not essential to understanding or supporting a manuscript, but which may nonetheless be relevant or interesting to readers, may be submitted as supplementary material. Supplementary material will be published online alongside your article, but will not be published in the pages of the journal. Types of supplementary material may include, but are not limited to datasets, detailed mathematical relations, additional tables or figures. The appropriateness of supplementary material will be assessed by the Associate Editor but it will not be refereed for accuracy.

This content will be hosted online alongside the final published article and designated as ‘Other supplementary material’. Supplementary materials will not be typeset or copyedited, so should be supplied exactly as they are to appear online, all ‘draft’ information should be removed. Please see our general guidance on supplementary materials for further information.

Where relevant we encourage authors to publish additional qualitative or quantitative research outputs in an appropriate repository, and cite these in manuscripts.

Abstract

All papers should feature a single-paragraph abstract of no more than 250 words, which provides a summary of the main aims and results. The abstract should not spill onto the second page of the manuscript (when constructed with LaTeX using the JFM style). Please see our guide to writing an effective abstract for more information.

Graphical Abstract

In addition to the figures in the main article a graphical abstract is required. It will be used as a small thumbnail in the table of contents and on the abstract page, so multiple panels are not suitable and will be rejected. The image must be of aspect ratio 1.2:1 (e.g. 6cm x 5cm landscape) and should be submitted in GIF or high resolution JPEG format (300 dpi). Unless very large, vector graphics are preferred to ensure image sharpness regardless of sizing. If you do not have the copyright to the image, please ensure you have permission to reuse the figure. Captions are not required. Text is actively discouraged, but if it must be used, it should be legible in a small thumbnail (2.4cm x 2cm) presented in the table of contents. All graphical abstract images will be considered for a JFM cover selection by the JFM Panel. Please note that we publish 24 covers in a year.

Key words

JFM Keywords may be used to help select relevant referees and will also be printed on the final article. Authors should not enter keywords on the manuscript, as these must be chosen by the author during the online submission process and will then be added during the typesetting process. Authors can choose up to 3 keywords from the list of JFM Keywords which reflect the scope of the paper.

• Download a list of keywords of the Journal of Fluid Mechanics here

MSC Codes are optional; they should be added to the manuscript under the Abstract.

Figures

All authors need to acquire the correct permissions and licences to reproduce figures, which should be submitted with the production files. The preferred figure format for submission is vector PDF or EPS (with editable labels and colour in RGB format). Bitmap/raster formats at a minimum of 300 dpi (EPS, PNG, TIFF) are also acceptable for mixed halftones, photographs, imaging system output, etc. Please note that the journal will publish with bitmap/raster figures at 150 dpi and at a higher resolution option of 300 dpi as well. The minimum acceptable width of any line is 0.5pt. Each figure should be accompanied by a single caption, to appear beneath, and must be cited in the text. Figures should appear in the order in which they are first mentioned in the text and figure files must be named accordingly (`Abstract.eps’, ‘Fig1.eps', `Fig2a.tiff', etc) to assist the production process (and numbering of figures should continue through any appendices). Words figure 1, table 1 and movie 1 should be lower case. Failure to follow figure guidelines may result in a request for resupply and a subsequent delay in the production process. Note that all figures will be relabelled by the typesetter, so please ensure all figure labels are carefully checked against your originals when you receive your proofs.

Please see our Journals Artwork Guide for more information.

Tables

Tables, however small, must be numbered sequentially in the order in which they are mentioned in the text. Words table 1, table 2 should be lower case throughout. 

Permission to use copyright material

If your article contains any material in which you do not own copyright, including figures, charts, tables, photographs or excerpts of text, you must obtain permission from the copyright holder to reuse that material. As the author it is your responsibility to obtain this permission and pay any related fees, and you will need to send us a copy of each permission statement at acceptance.

Please see ourguidance on seeking permission to use copyrighted material; for more information.

Further information on applying for permission to reuse figures from Cambridge products can be found here. 

Notation and style

Generally any queries concerning notation and journal style can be answered by viewing recent pages in the Journal. However, the key points to note are outlined in Section 3 of the JFM Template here. It is expected that Journal style and mathematical notation will be followed, and authors should take care to define all variables or entities upon first use. Also note that footnotes are not normally accepted. Abbreviations must be defined at first use, glossaries or lists/tables of abbreviations are not permitted.

Citations and references

All papers included in the References section must be cited in the article, and vice versa. Citations should be included as, for example “It has been shown (Rogallo 1981) that..." (using the \citep command, part of the natbib package) “recent work by Dennis (1985)...” (using \citet). The natbib package can be used to generate citation variations, as described in Section 4 of the JFM Template here

The References section can either be built from individual \bibitem commands, or can be built using BibTex. The BibTex files used to generate the references in this document can be found in the templates zip file here.

Where there are up to ten authors, all authors' names should be given in the reference list. Where there are more than ten authors, only the first name should appear, followed by et al.

JFM discourages citations of manuscripts posted on social media sites (such as ResearchGate) or on pre-print servers (e.g. ArXiv), that have not been peer-reviewed or published in journals.

Disclosure statements

Where appropriate, all articles must include the following sections, which should be added at the end of the manuscript before the Reference section.

• Acknowledgements
• Funding statement
• Competing Interests (compulsory)
• Data availability statement
• Author ORCID
• Author contributions
• Ethical guidelines

More information about each of the above statements and any relevant JFM polices can be found in the sections below.

Acknowledgements

These should recognize help and advice from those who contributed to the article but do not meet the criteria for authorship, as well as other kinds of non-financial support from individuals and organisations.  See also Funding statement below.

Funding statement

Please provide details of the sources of financial support for all authors, including grant numbers. For example, "This work was supported by the National Science Foundation (grant number XXXXXXX)". Multiple grant numbers should be separated by a comma and space, and where research was funded by more than one agency the different agencies should be separated by a semi-colon, with 'and' before the final funder. Grants held by different authors should be identified as belonging to individual authors by the authors' initials. For example, "This work was supported by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (A.B., grant numbers XXXX, YYYY), (C.D., grant number ZZZZ); the Natural Environment Research Council (E.F., grant number FFFF); and the Australian Research Council (A.B., grant number GGGG), (E.F., grant number HHHH)".

Where no specific funding has been provided for research, please provide the following statement: "This research received no specific grant from any funding agency, commercial or not-for-profit sectors."

Data availability statement

Data availability statements help to promote transparency and reproducibility in research, and to increase the visibility of valuable evidence produced or gathered during the course of research. Please see JFM’s Research transparency policy for more information. It is highly recommended that authors provide a Data Availability Statement in the manuscript, describing how readers can access the resources necessary to replicate the findings if they are publicly accessible. If these resources are under embargo or cannot be publicly released for legal, ethical, commercial or other reasons, the Data Availability Statement should make this clear with a brief explanation.

More guidance on data availability statements can be found here and guidance on how to make resources accessible here.

Author ORCID

Authors may include the ORCID identifers as follows. F. Smith, https://orcid.org/0000-0001-2345-6789; B. Jones, https://orcid.org/0000-0009-8765-4321

Author contributions

Authors may include details of the contributions made by each author to the manuscript, for example, “A.G. and T.F. derived the theory and T.F. and T.D. performed the simulations. All authors contributed equally to analysing data and reaching conclusions, and in writing the paper.”

See below for more information on Authorship and contributors.

Ethical guidelines

All Cambridge journals adhere to a set of Ethical Standards, as laid out here. For detailed guidance on JFM's policies please see our Publishing Ethics page.

Where research involves human and/or animal experimentation, the following statements should be included (as applicable): "The authors assert that all procedures contributing to this work comply with the ethical standards of the relevant national and institutional committees on human experimentation (XXXX ethics committee, approval number XXXX) and with the Helsinki Declaration of 1975, as revised in 2008." and "The authors assert that all procedures contributing to this work comply with the ethical standards of the relevant national and institutional guides on the care and use of laboratory animals."  Any other specific ethical clearance with details of the granting institution should be given in the Methods section.