JOHOR BAHRU, 3 November 2014 – An article entitled ‘Radiation-grafted Membranes for Polymer Electrolyte Fuel Cells: Current Trends and Future Directions’ written by several UTM researchers, led by Prof. Dr. Mohamed Mahmoud El-Sayed Nasef, from the UTM Institute of Hydrogen Economy, and Energy Research Alliance,. has been accepted to be published at the Journal of Chemical Reviews, with an Impact Factor (IF) of 45.661. The Journal of Chemical Reviews is the most cited journal in the category of Multidisciplinary Chemistry with a total of 124,463 citations.
Prof. Nasef said that in order to publish in this journal there are two routes and both of them require the authors to have a world-class recognized contribution in the field of chemistry.
“The first route is through a direct invitation from the journal editor to the author, and the second is through writing a proposal to the editor, which is to be evaluated by five prominent reviewers in the field of the proposed paper.
“Once the proposal is accepted, the authors are given 1-2 years to complete the article, which has to be reviewed again by five reviewers,” he said.
In Prof. Nasef’s case, the first route was taken during a discussion with one of the associate editors in one of the conferences in which he was an invited speaker.
After getting an offer from the editors, Prof. Nasef wrote five pages of the proposed article and submitted it to the editor. After the proposal was revised and evaluated by five evaluators, it was accepted.
“It took us more than 2 years to write the article, which contains 150 pages (double spacing), 40 Figures, 7 Tables and more than 400 references.
This article is a masterpiece that serves researchers in the field of different levels comprising both beginners and advanced. The acceptance of this paper is a reflection of the advanced status of research that we have achieved in UTM in particular and Malaysia general, in the field of the use of high-energy radiation for preparation of materials/membranes for energy and environmental applications,” he said.
This enhances world wide recognition to UTM and to the country’s research capacity in the bigger field of  peaceful use of atomic energy. In fact, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has recognized Prof. Nasef’s contribution in this field and has appointed him as an expert consultant in several missions in Vienna.
UTM has also represented Malaysia in Coordinated Research Projects with IAEA in the period 2007-2010.
Chemical Reviews is one of the most highly regarded and highest-ranked journals covering the general topic of chemical sciences with an intention to provide a platform for comprehensive, authoritative, critical, and readable reviews of important recent research in organic, inorganic, physical, analytical, theoretical, and biological chemistry.
It also serves as a podium where top researchers display their high caliber or research and provides guidance to fellow researchers on future research in the field.