--- name: international-journal-of-plasticity description: Use when targeting the International Journal of Plasticity (IJP) or deciding whether a plastic-deformation modeling manuscript fits this venue. Encodes the journal's fit, the constitutive-model-plus-experimental-validation bar, the plasticity-centric scope, the IJP-vs-JMPS routing, official-submission re-check, and desk-reject heuristics. --- # International Journal of Plasticity (international-journal-of-plasticity) ## Journal positioning The International Journal of Plasticity (IJP) is a leading archival journal focused specifically on the **theory and modeling of plastic deformation** of solids: rate-dependent and rate-independent constitutive models, crystal plasticity, finite-deformation plasticity, and the coupling of plasticity with damage, fracture, and phase transformation. Unlike a broad solid-mechanics journal, IJP is plasticity-centric — its center of gravity is a new or improved constitutive description of inelastic behavior, formulated rigorously and validated against experiment. Papers that report a deformation observation with no constitutive contribution, or that apply an off-the-shelf plasticity model to one part with no modeling advance, 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 IJP Guide for Authors. ## When to trigger - The author names IJP for a plasticity, crystal-plasticity, or inelastic-behavior manuscript and wants a fit/framing check. - A paper must be re-framed from "we observed plastic deformation" into a constitutive-model contribution validated against data. - The author is choosing between IJP (plasticity-centric, constitutive focus) and a broader fundamental-mechanics venue (`journal-of-the-mechanics-and-physics-of-solids`). - The author needs IJP's constitutive-model rigor bar and desk-reject heuristics. ## Scope & topic fit - Phenomenological constitutive models of plasticity/viscoplasticity: rate-dependent and rate-independent flow rules, hardening laws, yield-surface evolution, anisotropy. - Crystal plasticity: single-crystal and polycrystal models, slip/twinning kinematics, texture evolution, and grain-scale-to-macroscale linking. - Finite-deformation and large-strain plasticity: kinematic decompositions, objective formulations, and their numerical implementation. - Coupled plasticity: plasticity coupled with damage, ductile fracture, phase transformation, recrystallization, or thermomechanical effects. - Gradient, size-dependent, and dislocation-based plasticity capturing length-scale effects with a constitutive contribution. - Plasticity of advanced materials (high-entropy alloys, TWIP/TRIP steels, polymers, metallic glasses) when the advance is the constitutive model, not just the material. ## Method & evidence bar - The central object is a **constitutive model** of inelastic behavior — clearly formulated, thermodynamically and kinematically consistent, and physically motivated. - Models must be **validated against experimental data** across more than one loading path or condition; fitting a single curve is not validation. - Calibration and identification of parameters must be transparent: state the data, the procedure, and the predictive (not merely fitted) evidence. - Numerical implementation, when central, must be verified (e.g., convergence, objectivity, consistency of the tangent) and clearly described. - Position against the closest existing plasticity models: what behavior, coupling, or class of materials does the new model capture that prior ones do not. - Reproducibility: report model equations, parameter values, loading protocols, and material/microstructure details sufficient to reproduce the predictions. ## Structure & house style - Standard full-length research-article structure; IJP publishes archival modeling papers — re-check article types on the live guide. - The introduction motivates the constitutive gap (what inelastic behavior is not captured); the body develops the model, its identification, and its validation. - Equations are central and must be self-consistent; use standard finite-deformation plasticity notation and define all internal variables. - Figures carry the validation: model-vs-experiment overlays across loading paths, yield-surface/texture evolution, and parameter-sensitivity plots. - Implementation details, derivations, and extended calibration go to appendices/supplementary material; the main text must establish the model and its predictive validity unaided. ## 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 IJP Guide for Authors page you checked. - Search the live site for "International Journal of Plasticity guide for authors" and follow the current Elsevier/Editorial Manager version. - Re-check article types, length/figure expectations, and the data- and code-availability policy (model parameters, implementation, raw test data). - Confirm equation/notation formatting and any highlights or graphical-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 - [ ] The contribution is a constitutive model of inelastic behavior, not a deformation observation or an off-the-shelf application. - [ ] The formulation is thermodynamically and kinematically consistent with explicit internal variables. - [ ] The model is validated against experiment across multiple loading paths/conditions, not a single fitted curve. - [ ] Parameter identification is transparent and the predictive (not just fitted) evidence is shown. - [ ] Novelty is pinned to specific prior plasticity models (new coupling / behavior / material class). - [ ] The article type and length fit IJP's archival modeling format. ## Common desk-reject triggers - Applying an existing plasticity model to one component with no constitutive advance. - A new model fitted to a single test curve and presented as validated. - Experiment-only deformation study with no constitutive modeling contribution. - Constitutive equations proposed without thermodynamic/kinematic consistency or numerical verification. - Scope mismatch: a broad solid-mechanics, materials-processing, or pure structural-FE paper with plasticity only as a label. - Better framed as fundamental (non-plasticity) mechanics or a materials/microstructure study. ## Re-routing decision - Broad fundamental solid mechanics (fracture, instabilities, soft matter) → `journal-of-the-mechanics-and-physics-of-solids`. - Microstructure-first plasticity mechanism (processing–structure–property) → `acta-materialia`. - Plasticity in composites or composite-structure inelasticity → `composites-part-b-engineering`. - Forming/machining process mechanics where plasticity is the manufacturing tool → `international-journal-of-machine-tools-and-manufacture`. - Highest-impact conceptual mechanics-of-materials advance for a broad audience → `nature-materials`. ## Output format ```text [Fit] High / Medium / Low (one-line reason) [Target] International Journal of Plasticity [Topic tags] <2–3 closest plasticity subtopics> [Constitutive contribution] [Method/evidence] [Top risk] [Official items to re-check]
[Re-route suggestion] ```