Sponsored by Chinese Materials Research Society, managed by Northwest Institute for Nonferrous Metal Research, and published by Chemical Industry Press, Materials China is a top-level national academic periodical (International Standard Serial Number: ISSN 1674—3962; National United Number of Periodical: CN61—1473/TG; Post Distribution Code: 52-281). Starting publication as early as 1982 and with the former name as Rare Metals Letters, the journal was renamed as Materials China in January 2009. The honorary president of Chinese Materials Research Society, Academician ZHOU Lian has been assuming the principalship, i.e. the editor in chief, of the journal. The honorary chief of its editorial committee is undertaken by academician YAN Dongsheng, academician SHI Changxu, and academician LI Hengde. The commissioners of the committee are composed of both well-known Chinese experts in materials field with academic standing and foreign materials scientists. Aiming at fully covering the academic forefront of materials science in China, and timely reporting the industrial policies and educational status of materials in China, as well as the worldwide developments, Materials China will turn into a high level comprehensive and authoritative periodical of materials in China.

    As a publication of Chinese Materials Research Society, Materials China will take “tracing the forefront of materials science, advocating S&T innovations, accelerating S&T achievements transformation, promoting materials industrial progress” as the tenets, seek for an academic spirit of “based upon the front, focusing on hot topics, grasping the overall situation, expanding the viewpoint”, and devote ourselves to establishing an advanced, extensive, effective and professional information exchange platform of materials in China. Lots of experts and scholars herein get together to build up a stage for various performance show of materials research in China, and lay out the blossom of our materials industry. Herein concerns the latest developments and leading research programs of materials science in China, and the column of Hot Comments has become the carrier of different voices. Herein highlights the features of domestically famous innovative laboratories, parks and bases, and the column of Profile turns into the medium of transformation status of domestic intellectual property rights, thus bringing along the combination of commercial production, academic study and scientific research. Herein centers the newest worldwide information on key academic conferences, and the column of Information on Academic Conferences will become the channel of near term activities interested.

    Since the year 2009, Materials China has covered fields as follows in its Special Column: superconducting material, hydrogen storage material, advanced resin matrix composite material, energy material and engineering, surface engineering and thin film coating material, advanced concrete material, application of neutron scattering in material science, novel photocatalytic material, TiAl intermetallic compounds, metal matrix composite, Ti and Ti alloy material, material solidification processing, advanced materials and materials education, advanced cement-based material, artificial crystals, manufacturing and processing technologies, biomedical materials, and etc. All this pulls the attention of numerous academicians and experts in materials field. Statistics show that 36 persons/times of the corresponding authors belong to academician of both Chinese Academy of Sciences and Chinese Academy of Engineering, and 81 persons/times of the corresponding authors are either chief scientists of national 973 and chief experts of national 863, or “Changjiang Scholar Program” chair professors & outstanding youth, exceeding 50% of the total authors who have got their papers published in Materials China. Among all papers, 67 are supported by 973 National Program, 19 by 863 National Program, 68 by National Natural Science Foundation, and 38 by key projects supported by Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Ministry of Education, accounting for over 80% of the total published.

    At present, monthly circulation of Materials China has gone beyond 5000, covering key institutes of higher learning, disciplines (colleges) of materials science, key laboratories for materials research, as well as enterprises, institutions and scientific research institutes. We should say that Materials China is now having a growing influence in materials science.

    Backed up by a large batch of internationally celebrated experts and scholars in materials science, and sticking to the criterion of being strict, Materials China will base itself upon a higher level, to stride toward the “nationally top-ranking and internationally well-known” target with solid and stable steps.