Additive Manufacturing (additive-manufacturing)
Journal positioning
Additive Manufacturing is a leading archival journal dedicated to the science of
additive manufacturing: new AM processes and process physics,
process–structure–property relationships, AM-specific materials, design-for-AM,
and in-situ monitoring and qualification. Its center of gravity is AM as a science —
understanding how the layer-wise process governs structure and performance, and how
to monitor and qualify what is built — established with experimental rigor. The
journal differs from a metallurgy-first venue (where the microstructure mechanism is
the point) and from a precision-machining venue (subtractive/precision). Papers that
print a known part on a commercial machine with no AM-specific insight, or that
report a property with no link to the process, are a weak fit. This skill is a fit
/ venue-selection / re-framing tool. It does not replace the journal's current
official author guidelines. Before submitting, re-check the live Additive
Manufacturing Guide for Authors.
When to trigger
- The author names Additive Manufacturing for an AM-process, AM-materials, or
AM-qualification manuscript and wants a fit/framing check.
- A paper must be re-framed from "we 3D-printed this part" into an AM
process–structure–property or qualification contribution.
- The author is deciding between Additive Manufacturing, a metallurgy-first venue
(
acta-materialia), and a precision-machining venue
(international-journal-of-machine-tools-and-manufacture).
- The author needs AM's experimental-rigor bar and desk-reject heuristics.
Scope & topic fit
- New AM processes and process physics: powder-bed fusion, directed energy deposition,
binder jetting, vat photopolymerization, material extrusion — with new process
understanding or capability.
- Process–structure–property relationships: how AM parameters govern porosity,
microstructure, anisotropy, residual stress, and mechanical/functional performance.
- AM materials: alloys, polymers, ceramics, composites, and multi-material/functionally
graded structures designed or adapted for AM.
- Design-for-AM: lattices, topology-optimized and architected structures realized by AM,
when the AM realizability and performance are central.
- In-situ monitoring, sensing, and process control: melt-pool/defect monitoring,
closed-loop control, and data-driven process insight.
- Qualification, repeatability, and defect science: linking process signatures to
defect formation and to part qualification.
Method & evidence bar
- The central claim is an AM-specific advance — a process capability, a
process–structure–property link, or a monitoring/qualification method — not a part
printed on a stock machine.
- Process parameters must be reported completely (machine, feedstock, energy input,
scan strategy, atmosphere) so the build is reproducible.
- Structure and property characterization must be quantitative and statistically
representative (porosity sampling, microstructure quantification, mechanical
statistics), not single images.
- For monitoring/control, demonstrate the signal-to-defect or signal-to-property link
with validation, not just sensor traces.
- Benchmark against the correct baseline (conventionally made counterpart or
state-of-the-art AM) and explain the AM mechanism behind any improvement.
- Reproducibility: feedstock characteristics, process window, post-processing, and
testing protocol reported in enough detail to reproduce the structure and property.
Structure & house style
- Standard full-length research-article structure; Additive Manufacturing publishes
archival articles — re-check article types on the live guide.
- The introduction motivates the AM-science gap (process physics, structure control,
qualification), not a generic application; the discussion makes the
process–structure–property argument explicit.
- Figures are load-bearing: process schematics, porosity/microstructure quantification,
in-situ signals with ground truth, and property plots with statistics.
- Notation and units follow AM/materials-engineering conventions; report energy density
and scan parameters unambiguously.
- Supplementary material carries extended builds, full parameter sets, and monitoring
data; the main-text figures must support the central AM insight on their own.
Official-submission checklist
- Before giving submission-ready advice, read
../../resources/source-basis.md and
../../resources/official-source-map.md; start from the Elsevier anchors, then
cite the current Additive Manufacturing Guide for Authors page you checked.
- Search the live site for "Additive Manufacturing journal guide for authors" and
follow the current Elsevier/Editorial Manager version.
- Re-check article types, length/figure expectations, and the data-availability policy
for process, monitoring, and characterization data.
- Confirm highlights, graphical-abstract, and any structured-abstract requirement.
- Re-check competing-interests, funding, author-contribution (CRediT), and AI-use
disclosure requirements.
- If the live official instructions conflict with this skill, the official
instructions win.
Pre-submission self-check
Common desk-reject triggers
- Printing a known part on a commercial machine with no AM-specific process or material insight.
- Property reported with no link to AM process parameters or structure.
- Characterization by representative images only, with no quantification or sampling.
- Monitoring data shown as sensor traces with no validated link to defects or properties.
- Scope mismatch: a metallurgy-first microstructure paper, a subtractive/precision-machining paper, or a pure design-optimization paper with AM as a label.
- Better framed as a physical-metallurgy mechanism study or a precision-manufacturing process study.
Re-routing decision
- Microstructure mechanism is the point, AM merely the route →
acta-materialia.
- Subtractive/precision manufacturing or post-machining of AM parts →
international-journal-of-machine-tools-and-manufacture.
- AM of composite/architected composites with composites as the focus →
composites-part-b-engineering.
- Constitutive/plasticity modeling of AM material as the core →
international-journal-of-plasticity.
- Highest-impact conceptual materials advance for a broad audience →
nature-materials.
Output format
[Fit] High / Medium / Low (one-line reason)
[Target] Additive Manufacturing
[Topic tags] <2–3 closest AM subtopics>
[AM advance] <the process / structure–property / monitoring contribution in one line>
[Method/evidence] <does the AM characterization + reproducibility clear the journal's bar?>
[Top risk] <the single most likely reason for rejection>
[Official items to re-check] <article type / length / data policy / abstract / disclosures>
[Re-route suggestion] <if not a fit, a better-matched venue>