雖然在粒狀材料中觀察到的許多現(xiàn)象還沒有得到充分的理解，但利用統(tǒng)計力學的現(xiàn)代工具對我們進一步理解作出了重要貢獻。這些工具適用于無序系統(tǒng)、相變、不穩(wěn)定性或間歇行為以及在最新和最強大的計算機上進行離散粒子模擬的性能。然而，直到現(xiàn)在，許多這樣的結果只在物理文獻中被發(fā)現(xiàn)。此外，物理學家往往不知道工程師在更專業(yè)的技術期刊上發(fā)表的理論和結果。因此，《顆粒物質》雜志是從事顆粒介質基礎研究的各個學科研究人員之間交流的平臺。它有助于建立一種共同的語言，并在一個單一的屋檐下收集文章，這些文章到目前為止已經在不同領域的許多期刊上發(fā)表。

Although many phenomena observed in granular materials are still not yet fully understood, important contributions have been made to further our understanding using modern tools from statistical mechanics. These tools apply to disordered systems, phase transitions, instabilities or intermittent behavior and the performance of discrete particle simulations on the latest and most powerful computers. Until now, however, many of these results were only to be found scattered throughout the physics literature. Furthermore, physicists are often unaware of the theories and results published by engineers in more specialized technical journals.The journal Granular Matter thus serves as a platform of communication among researchers of various disciplines who are involved in the basic research of granular media. It helps to establish a common language and gather articles under one single roof that up to now have been spread over many journals in a variety of fields.