Journal of Engineering Mechanics

About Journal of Engineering Mechanics

Journal of Engineering Mechanics — Profile and Author Guide

The Journal of Engineering Mechanics is a monthly, peer-reviewed scientific journal published by the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) in the United States. It covers activity and development in applied mechanics as that field relates to civil engineering, and it is one of the longest-running specialist outlets in its discipline. Published papers typically describe the development and implementation of new analytical models, innovative numerical methods, and novel experimental methods and results. For researchers in structural, geotechnical, materials and computational mechanics, the journal occupies a distinctive position: it is a mechanics journal first and a civil-engineering journal second, so the work it accepts must advance the understanding of mechanical behaviour, not simply report a design application.

Overview

Engineering mechanics is the branch of engineering science concerned with how forces, motion, deformation and failure behave in materials and structures. The Journal of Engineering Mechanics exists to publish the fundamental side of that work for the civil-engineering community: new theory, new computation and new experiment that other engineers can then build into design methods, codes and practice. A typical contribution might present a constitutive model for a material under cyclic loading, a numerical scheme that solves a nonlinear dynamics problem more reliably than existing schemes, a probabilistic formulation for structural reliability, or an experimental study that reveals a mechanism — for example in fracture, turbulence or granular flow — that theory had not yet captured.

That positioning matters for authors deciding where to submit. ASCE publishes many journals that are organised around application areas, such as structural engineering, geotechnical engineering, hydraulics and transportation. The mechanics journal is the natural home for work whose main claim is a mechanics advance that cuts across those application areas. A paper whose novelty lies mainly in a particular bridge, dam or building type will usually fit an application journal better, whereas a paper whose novelty lies in the model, the method or the measured behaviour itself belongs here. Reading recent issues is the simplest way to calibrate that boundary, because the journal's published mix of analytical, computational and experimental papers shows the balance clearly.

The journal is published monthly in English and reaches readers through ASCE's journal platform, the ASCE Library, as well as through the major abstracting and indexing services listed below. Reference summaries name Franz-Josef Ulm, a well-known mechanics researcher, as editor in recent listings; editorial leadership and board membership change over time, so authors should confirm the current editor-in-chief and board on the journal's ASCE page before submitting or before proposing a special collection.

History and Development

ASCE, founded in 1852, is one of the oldest national engineering societies in the United States, and its publishing programme grew out of its transactions and divisional journals. The mechanics title has antecedents in the journal of ASCE's Engineering Mechanics Division — catalogues record the Journal of the Engineering Mechanics Division as a predecessor — and secondary listings give 1983 as the start year of publication under the present title, Journal of Engineering Mechanics. Some general reference works trace the journal's lineage much further back into ASCE's nineteenth-century publishing history; the safest summary is that the current title dates from 1983 and that it continues a much older ASCE mechanics publishing tradition.

Over the decades the journal's contents have mirrored the discipline itself. Early strength in classical elasticity, structural stability and dynamics was joined, from the 1980s onward, by rapid growth in computational mechanics, finite-element and mesh-free methods, probabilistic and stochastic mechanics, and the mechanics of modern materials including composites and, more recently, nanomaterials, soft materials and architected metamaterials. ASCE calls for papers issued for the journal illustrate this continuing breadth: a special collection on instability and failure of nonclassical materials and nonlinear structures invited theoretical, experimental and numerical work on biomaterials, nanomaterials, metamaterials, soft materials and instability-driven design, while a special collection on statistical physics in structural mechanics sat at the meeting point of statistical physics, continuum mechanics and structural mechanics and was linked to the journal's permanent section in nano- and micromechanics. Special collections of this kind are a regular feature of the journal and are announced through ASCE; they are often a good route for authors whose work matches a themed call, provided the manuscript still meets the journal's general standard of a clear mechanics contribution.

Scope and Subject Coverage

The journal's stated scope covers research on bioengineering, computational mechanics, computer-aided engineering, dynamics of structures, elasticity, experimental analysis and instrumentation, fluid mechanics, flow of granular media, inelastic behaviour of solids and structures, probabilistic methods, properties of materials, fracture mechanics, stability of structural elements and systems, and turbulence. In practice, submissions cluster into several recognisable areas:

• Computational mechanics. New finite-element formulations, mesh-free and particle methods, multiscale modelling, reduced-order models, error estimation, and computational approaches to coupled problems. Papers are expected to demonstrate the method on demanding problems and to compare it honestly with existing approaches.
• Structural dynamics and stability. Vibration, wave propagation, seismic and wind response, buckling and post-buckling behaviour, and the stability of structural elements and systems, including nonclassical and nonlinear structures.
• Mechanics of materials. Constitutive modelling, plasticity and inelastic behaviour, damage and fracture mechanics, fatigue, and the properties of concrete, metals, composites, granular media and emerging materials at several scales.
• Fluid mechanics and turbulence. Fundamental fluid behaviour of civil-engineering relevance, including turbulence modelling and fluid–structure interaction where the mechanics contribution is central.
• Probabilistic methods and reliability. Stochastic modelling of loads and materials, reliability and risk analysis, uncertainty quantification and probabilistic design methods.
• Experimental mechanics. Novel experimental methods, instrumentation and measurement techniques, and experimental results that test, calibrate or overturn theory.
• Nano- and micromechanics. Mechanics at small scales, including the statistical-physics approaches highlighted in the journal's special collections, where behaviour at the scale of atoms, grains or fibres explains macroscopic response.

Work that is purely descriptive, that applies a commercial software package to a routine problem without methodological insight, or that reports a site-specific case study without generalisable mechanics content is unlikely to fit. The recurring editorial expectation, visible across the journal's published papers, is a clearly stated advance — a model, method, measurement or mechanism — that readers outside the author's immediate application area can use.

Publisher and Editorial Organisation

The journal is published by the American Society of Civil Engineers from the United States; directory listings give ASCE's address as 1801 Alexander Bell Drive, Reston, Virginia. ASCE is a professional society publisher rather than a commercial house, and the journal sits within the society's wider programme of journals, books, standards and conference activity for civil engineering. The journal is closely connected with ASCE's Engineering Mechanics Institute, the society's home for mechanics research and conferences, which helps explain the journal's strong presence in the research community that gathers around engineering-mechanics conferences in the United States and internationally.

Editorially, the journal works through an editor-in-chief supported by associate editors who handle manuscripts in their areas, with peer review by specialists drawn from the international mechanics community. Special collections are led by guest or section editors — ASCE's published calls name, for example, section editors drawn from universities in Hong Kong, Cyprus and the United Kingdom for the instability collection — which shows the international reach of the journal's editorial network even though the publisher is American. Authors should use the journal's current ASCE page for the authoritative board list, because board composition rotates.

Identifiers and Bibliographic Details

The journal's print ISSN is 0733-9399 and its online ISSN is 1943-7889; these are the two identifiers carried in this Journals World record, in unhyphenated form, and they match the ISSN assignments reported by reference and indexing sources. The ISO 4 standard abbreviation is J. Eng. Mech., and the CODEN is JENMDT. When citing the journal, give the article's Digital Object Identifier where one is assigned — ASCE assigns DOIs through Crossref — because the DOI resolves the exact version of record even where volume or page details are quoted differently across databases. Libraries catalogue the title under its current name with a note of its divisional predecessor, so inter-library and archive searches for older material should try both the current title and Journal of the Engineering Mechanics Division.

Indexing and Abstracting

Reference listings report the journal as indexed or abstracted in a wide range of services, including Google Scholar, Baidu Scholar, Ei Compendex (Elsevier), Web of Science (Clarivate), ProQuest collections, the Civil Engineering Database, TRID, WorldCat, IET INSPEC, Crossref, Scopus and EBSCOhost. Indexing in Ei Compendex and Scopus is particularly significant for engineering authors, because many institutions and funders use those databases to verify publication venues. Indexing status can change, and individual databases occasionally delist or re-list titles, so authors with a hard institutional requirement should verify the journal's presence in the specific database and year that matters to them before submitting.

Metrics — Read With Attribution and in Context

Journal-level metrics for this title come from several different systems, and they are not interchangeable. According to Researcher.Life, a Scopus-based aggregator, the journal's CiteScore is 4.5 and its SNIP is 1.18, with a best quartile of Q1 in mechanical engineering in SCImago-based reporting. According to SCImago-derived reporting reproduced by ResearchBite, the journal's SCImago Journal Rank (SJR) was 0.920 in 2023 with an h-index of 138. An older Journal Citation Reports figure widely reproduced in reference works is an impact factor of 2.264 for 2018. These numbers describe different citation windows and different databases; none of them measures the quality of any individual article, and all of them move from year to year. Authors should therefore treat the metrics as evidence that the journal is an established, well-cited venue in mechanics — which the combination of Q1 standing, a three-figure h-index and decades of continuous publication supports — rather than as a promise about the citation performance of their own paper. For the most recent Journal Impact Factor, consult Clarivate's Journal Citation Reports directly, since that figure is licensed and changes annually.

Publication Model and Charges

The journal is published primarily on a subscription basis through ASCE, with reader access provided directly and through institutional subscriptions to the ASCE Library. ASCE operates author-side options across its journals programme, and any open-access availability, licence terms or article charges for this title are set out in ASCE's current author instructions rather than in a single permanent public tariff. A fixed article processing charge for this journal could not be verified from the public pages consulted for this profile, so no figure is stated here; authors who need open access for funder compliance should confirm the current option and price with ASCE before submission, and should also check whether their institution holds a subscription or publishing arrangement with ASCE that affects cost or access.

Submitting a Manuscript

Submissions are made through ASCE's online manuscript system, following the journal's author instructions on the ASCE site. Practical guidance for prospective authors includes the following:

• State the mechanics advance early. The abstract and introduction should say, in plain terms, what is new — the model, method, experiment or insight — and why it matters beyond the immediate example studied.
• Validate properly. Computational papers should include verification and validation evidence, convergence behaviour and comparisons with analytical solutions, experiments or established methods. Experimental papers should describe instrumentation, uncertainty and repeatability.
• Respect length and format rules. ASCE journals enforce article-type and length requirements and use the society's reference style, with in-text citations by author name and year. Check the current instructions for the exact limits for technical papers, technical notes and discussions.
• Consider the article type. Alongside full technical papers, ASCE journals publish shorter technical notes and discussions of previously published papers, with author closures; a focused contribution is often better placed as a note than padded into a paper.
• Watch for special collections. Themed calls, such as those on nonclassical materials and statistical physics in structural mechanics, provide guest-edited routes with defined deadlines; manuscripts must still fit the call's stated scope.
• Disclose data and code honestly. Where results depend on data or code, describe their availability accurately in line with ASCE policy at the time of submission.

Peer review is selective. The most common reasons mechanics manuscripts fail at journals of this standing are an incremental advance presented as a major one, validation that does not support the claims, and a mismatch between the paper's real contribution and the journal's mechanics-first scope. A candid pre-submission reading of several recent papers in the closest sub-area is the best available calibration.

Who Reads and Cites This Journal

The readership is the international engineering-mechanics research community: university groups in civil, mechanical and aerospace engineering, researchers in national laboratories, and advanced practitioners who develop the methods that later enter design software and codes. Because ASCE is the principal American professional society for civil engineering, the journal is also read by the standards and practice community that translates mechanics research into provisions for structures, foundations and infrastructure. Citation of the journal's papers in both research literature and method-oriented publications reflects that dual audience.

Frequently Asked Questions

What are the ISSNs of the Journal of Engineering Mechanics?
The print ISSN is 0733-9399 and the online ISSN is 1943-7889.

Who publishes the Journal of Engineering Mechanics?
The American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), the United States professional society for civil engineering, publishes the journal monthly.

Is the Journal of Engineering Mechanics peer-reviewed?
Yes. It is a peer-reviewed scientific journal; manuscripts are assessed by specialists under the direction of the editor-in-chief and associate editors.

When did the current title begin?
Secondary listings give 1983 as the start of the current title. The journal continues an older ASCE mechanics publishing line that includes the Journal of the Engineering Mechanics Division.

What subjects fit the journal best?
Applied mechanics for civil engineering: computational mechanics, structural dynamics and stability, mechanics and fracture of materials, fluid mechanics and turbulence, granular flow, probabilistic methods and reliability, experimental mechanics, and nano- and micromechanics.

Is the journal indexed in Scopus and Web of Science?
Reference listings report indexing in both Scopus and Web of Science, as well as Ei Compendex and other services. Verify current status in the database you depend on, because indexing lists change.

Does the journal charge authors to publish?
The journal is primarily subscription-based. Any open-access option or author charge is defined in ASCE's current author instructions; a fixed charge could not be verified from public pages for this profile, so confirm directly with ASCE before submitting if cost is a deciding factor.

Sources and Verification Note

This profile is based on the journal's record in this directory (title, publisher and ISSNs 07339399 and 19437889), ASCE calls for papers and journal material, the journal's reference entry summarising its aims, indexing and identifiers, the Online Books and catalogue tradition for its divisional predecessor, and attributed aggregator reporting from SCImago via ResearchBite and Scopus-based reporting via Researcher.Life for metrics. Metric figures are dated and attributed in the text; readers needing a current Journal Impact Factor should consult Journal Citation Reports. Editorial leadership is described from recent reference listings and should be confirmed on the journal's ASCE page, which is authoritative.

Article Types, Discussions and Special Collections in Practice

Beyond full technical papers, ASCE journals have a long tradition of published discussion and closure: readers may submit a discussion of a published paper, and the original authors reply with a closure, both appearing in the journal. This convention suits mechanics particularly well, because analytical derivations and numerical methods invite correction, extension and alternative derivation, and the discussion record often becomes part of how a result is understood. Authors planning a submission should check whether closely related work in the journal has attracted discussion, and reviewers of their own drafts should anticipate the questions a discussion would raise — about assumptions, limiting cases and comparison with known solutions — and answer them in the paper itself.

Special collections deserve a similarly practical reading. The calls described earlier — on instability and failure of nonclassical materials and nonlinear structures, and on statistical physics in structural mechanics linked to the nano- and micromechanics section — show how the journal uses guest-edited collections to build a visible home for an emerging area before it is fully established. A collection is not an easier route into the journal: manuscripts are peer-reviewed to the journal's standard, and the collection's editors are named senior researchers in the area, drawn in the instability case from City University of Hong Kong, Cyprus University of Technology and Imperial College London. What a collection does offer is context: a paper published alongside related work is more likely to be found, read and cited by exactly the community working on that problem. Authors should therefore treat ASCE's current calls page as part of their submission strategy, while remembering that a strong paper outside any collection remains the journal's core content.

Finally, a note on how the journal is used after publication. Mechanics results in this journal feed two downstream literatures: the research literature, where models and methods are extended, and the methods literature embodied in design software documentation, textbooks and code commentaries, where established results are restated for practitioners. Papers that state their assumptions, notation and limiting behaviour clearly are the ones that travel into both literatures, which is one more reason the journal's editorial process presses authors on completeness of presentation as well as novelty.