Open Calls for Papers
EPJ ST Collection: Fractional Calculus and Time-Delayed Dynamics
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- Published on 02 March 2026
Guest Editors: Mattia Coccolo, Miguel A. F. Sanjuán
The study of dynamical systems with memory has advanced rapidly in recent years, largely through two major frameworks: fractional calculus and time-delayed dynamics. Each has developed into a mature discipline with its own theories, methods, and applications, yet they have often evolved in parallel rather than in dialogue.
Fractional derivatives provide a natural framework for hereditary effects and anomalous transport through continuous memory kernels, while time delays capture explicit dependencies on past states arising from finite signal propagation or feedback. Despite their different mathematical formulations, both approaches aim to describe how the past influences the present. Striking parallels have begun to emerge: fractional operators can sometimes be interpreted as infinite-dimensional delay distributions, while time-delayed systems can reproduce long-memory effects in discrete form. This suggests a deeper, underexplored connection between the two perspectives.
EPJ ST Collection: Boron Nitride: Materials, Physics, and Applications
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- Published on 12 February 2026
Guest Editor: Wei Zheng
In the wave of contemporary materials science and interdisciplinary research, hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) is gradually emerging as a "bridge material" connecting multiple research fields, thanks to its unique physicochemical properties. As a wide-bandgap semiconductor with a graphene-like layered structure, hBN not only exhibits excellent chemical stability, high thermal conductivity, and superior insulating performance but also demonstrates irreplaceable advantages in terms of atomic-level flatness and surface defect regulation. These characteristics enable it to perfectly meet the requirements for constructing low-dimensional material systems, providing an ideal experimental platform for exploring cutting-edge scientific issues in quantum physics, optoelectronics, and other fields. Consequently, hBN has become a highly regarded and excellent carrier in interdisciplinary research.
EPJ ST Collection: Research in Physics Education and History of Physics: Focus on Teacher Training and the Teaching of Quantum Mechanics
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- Published on 27 January 2026
Guest Editors: Marina Carpineti, Marco Giliberti, Luisa Lovisetti, Marisa Michelini, Salvatore Esposito
Submissions are invited for a Special Issue of EPJ-ST dedicated to “Research in Physics Education and History of Physics: Focus on Teacher Training and the Teaching of Quantum Mechanics”. The issue will include selected contributions presented at the national COOFIS-08 4th meeting on “Research in Physics Education and History of Physics" with a focus on teachers’ formation and on quantum mechanics education that will take place from December 11th to 13th 2025 at the Università degli Studi di Milano (Italy). The conference is a forum for discussion of the Coordination of physics education research in Italy among most of the researchers working in this field.
EPJ ST Collection: Self-Organization and Higher-Order Interactions in Complex Networks
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- Published on 19 January 2026
Guest Editors: Alexander Pisarchik, Jürgen Kurths, Alexander Hramov, Semyon Kurkin, Drozdstoy Stoyanov, Dibakar Ghosh
The science of complex networks has fundamentally reshaped our understanding of interconnected systems across disciplines. Traditionally, network science has relied on pairwise interactions to model system dynamics. However, many real-world systems—from functional brain networks and ecological communities to social systems and collaborative networks—are driven by higher-order interactions (HOIs), where the relationship between elements cannot be decomposed into simple binary links. Concurrently, self-organization, the process where a system's internal interactions lead to the spontaneous emergence of ordered structure and function without external control, is a hallmark of complex adaptive systems. The interplay between self-organization and HOIs is a frontier of modern network science, crucial for developing accurate models of real-world complexity.
EPJ ST Special Issue: Methodological Developments in Molecular Sciences for Materials Design and Synthesis
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- Published on 19 September 2025
Guest Editors: Lakshmi Praveen, Suresh Sagadevan, Prasat Kittakoop, Chinna Bathula
Methodological developments in molecular sciences are dynamic that are addressing various challenges in materials design and synthesis. The advances include computational methods like molecular modeling and machine learning, along with state-of-the-art experimental approaches. These developments enable researchers to predict and analyze the material behavior at molecular level for meeting the design and synthetic procedures.
EPJ ST Special Issue: Materials and Devices for Extreme Conditions
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- Published on 26 August 2025
Guest Editors: Ai Du, Minjie Zhou, Jingquan Liu, Jianming Yang
The quest to understand the behaviours and performance of materials and devices under extreme conditions is a boundary-pushing venture that broadens the scope of human knowledge. Spanning the icy vacuum of space to the high-temperature and high-pressure core of a star, the field of materials and devices for extreme conditions emerges as a critical area of study. The focus lies in deciphering how materials and devices respond to extreme conditions, including, but not limited to, intense radiation, extreme cold, ultrahigh temperature, ultrahigh magnetic fields, and ultrahigh pressures, as well as the conditions induced by high-power lasers. This exploration delves into the physical effects and damage resulting from the interaction between different harsh environments and multidimensional, cross-scale material systems.
EPJ ST Special Issue: The Physics, Simulations, Designs, and Applications of Particle Colliders: CEPC, FCC, and Other Future Colliders
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- Published on 26 June 2025
Guest Editors: Yongsheng Huang, Manqi Ruan
Mankind's exploration of the material world has never stopped. In the past 100 years, thanks to scientific and technological advances, high-energy accelerators have been built, and mankind has a powerful tool, the particle collider, to conduct in-depth research on the composition of microscopic particles. Since the birth of the Standard Model, the theory of constructing the universe based on elementary particles such as quarks and gluons has gradually gained recognition, which is inseparable from the massive experimental data obtained by the large particle collider.
EPJ ST Special Issue: Preparation, Characterization, and Application of Photo-Thermo-Electric Functional Materials Based on Spatial Charge Modulation
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- Published on 26 June 2025
Guest Editors: Wenbo Yan, Yue Liu
Electrons and holes, as the primary carriers of charges, play crucial roles in numerous physicochemical processes. Most fundamental effects in optoelectronic, thermoelectric, and photo-thermo-electric functional materials are associated with the generation, transport, modulation, and recombination of electrons and holes. Recently, deep involvement of charges was found in many emerging applications of functional materials, for example, photovoltaic micro/nano manipulation based on surface charge modulation, hybrid microfluidics utilizing triboelectricity, trace molecule detection through plasmonic array, ion sensing via surface plasmon resonance, perovskite quantum dots leveraging electron-hole recombination, and photocatalytic water splitting enabled by spatial charge separation in III-V compounds.
EPJ ST Special Issue: Interaction of Highly Charged Ions and Electrons with Atoms and Molecules
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- Published on 05 June 2025
Guest Editors: Baoren Wei, Amine Cassimi, Xu Shan
The interaction of highly charged ions and electrons with atom/molecule is one of the most important processes in nano- and atto-science, representing a critical frontier and persistent challenge in atomic and molecular physics. Investigations on these processes also hold significant applications for plasma physics, space physics, biomedical applications and materials science. However, due to the complexity arising from multi-electron interactions, the reaction channels are numerous and coupled with each other, significant challenges exist for both experiment and theory, where the many-body correlation problem remains to be solved. In recent years, advancements in ion source technology and momentum spectroscopy, combined with the integration of AI, have opened up unprecedented opportunities in atomic and molecular physics. These innovations are expected to drive significant progress in atomic and molecular dynamics research.
EPJ ST Special Issue: From Microscopic/Mesoscopic Particle Aggregates (Formations) to Macroscopic Structures
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- Published on 20 May 2025
Guest Editors: Liubov Toropova, Irina Nizovtseva
Transport processes around phase interfaces, together with thermodynamic properties and kinetic phenomena, control the formation of dendritic patterns. Using the thermodynamic and kinetic data of phase interfaces obtained on an atomic scale, one can analyse the formation of a single dendrite and the growth of a dendritic ensemble. This is the result of recent progress in theoretical methods and computational algorithms calculated using powerful computer clusters.
