A major weekly journal reporting experimental and theoretical studies of the structural, thermal, mechanical, electrical, magnetic, optical and surface properties of condensed matter, including crystalline and amorphous metals, semiconductors and insulators, glasses, liquid crystals, plastic crystals, polymers and superfluids. There are separate sections within the journal for Liquids and Soft Matter and for Surface and Interface Science. Articles examine, for example: solid and liquid structures; mechanical properties; lattice dynamics and crystal statistics; phase transitions and critical phenomena; supercooled liquids and glass transitions; thermodynamic properties; diffusion, segregation/solubility and mixing; quantum fluids and solids; thin films; electron states and electronic transport; semiconductors; superconductivity; magnetic systems, spin models and magnetic ordering; magnetic resonance and relaxation; dielectric materials, including ferroelectrics and piezoelectrics; optical materials and their properties; electron and ion emission; impact phenomena; disperse systems.