Guide to Authors
- Aims and scope of the journal
- Editors and contact information
- Relationship to other Nature journals
- Editorial and publishing policies
- Impact factor
- Abbreviation
- ISSN and EISSN
Please use the navigation bar on the left to view information about our common editorial policies, how to submit, content types, the editorial process, and biographical information about the editors.
The guide for authors and the editorial policies, including the guide for referees, are also available in PDF format.
Aims and scope of the journal
Nature Nanotechnology is a multidisciplinary journal that publishes papers of the highest quality and significance in all areas of nanoscience and nanotechnology. The journal covers research into the design, characterization and production of structures, devices and systems that involve the manipulation and control of materials and phenomena at atomic, molecular and macromolecular scales. Both bottom-up and top-down approaches - and combinations of the two - are covered.
Nature Nanotechnology also encourages the exchange of ideas between chemists, physicists, material scientists, biomedical researchers, engineers and other researchers who are active at the frontiers of this diverse and multidisciplinary field. Coverage extends from basic research in physics, chemistry and biology, including computational work and simulations, through to the development of new devices and technologies for applications in a wide range of industrial sectors (including information technology, medicine, manufacturing, high-performance materials, and energy and environmental technologies). Organic, inorganic and hybrid materials are all covered.
Research areas covered in the journal include:
- Carbon nanotubes and fullerenes
- Computational nanotechnology
- Electronic properties and devices
- Environmental, health and safety issues
- Molecular machines and motors
- Molecular self-assembly
- Nanobiotechnology
- Nanofluidics
- Nanomagnetism and spintronics
- Nanomaterials
- Nanomedicine
- Nanometrology and instrumentation
- Nanoparticles
- Nanosensors and other devices
- NEMS
- Organic–inorganic nanostructures
- Photonic structures and devices
- Quantum information
- Structural properties
- Surface patterning and imaging
- Synthesis and processing
In addition to primary research, Nature Nanotechnology also publishes review articles, news and views, research highlights about important papers published in other journals, commentaries, book reviews, correspondence, and articles about the broader nanotechnology picture — funding, commercialization, ethical and social issues, and so on. In this way, the journal aims to be the voice of the worldwide nanoscience and nanotechnology community.
Nature Nanotechnology offers readers and authors high visibility, access to a broad readership, high standards of copy editing and production, rigorous peer review, rapid publication, and independence from academic societies and other vested interests.
Top of pageEditors and contact information
Like the other Nature titles, Nature Nanotechnology has no external editorial board. Instead, all editorial decisions are made by a team of full-time professional editors, who are PhD-level scientists. Information about the scientific background of the editors can be found here.
General editorial inquiries and correspondence should be addressed to the Editor, at naturenano@nature.com.
Inquiries about the status of a manuscript should be addressed to the Editorial Assistant, at naturenano@nature.com.
Top of pageRelationship to other Nature journals
Nature Nanotechnology is editorially independent, and its editors make their own decisions, independent of the other Nature journals. It is for authors alone to decide where to submit their manuscripts. Nature will continue to publish the most significant advances in science, including nanotechnology. Nature Nanotechnology publishes landmark papers within the field of nanotechnology alone. Topics covered by other Nature journals (such as materials science, physics and photonics) may feature in Nature Nanotechnology when the work centres on some new development in nanotechnology; otherwise these topics will be the remit of the other relevant journal. For papers that could satisfy the scope of more than one Nature journal, the choice of which journal to submit first lies with the authors.
If a paper is rejected from one Nature journal, the authors can use an automated manuscript transfer service to submit the paper to Nature Nanotechnology via a link sent to them by the editor handling the manuscript. Authors should note that referees' comments (including any confidential comments to the editor) and identities are transferred to the editor of the second journal along with the manuscript. The journal editors will take the previous reviews into account when making their decision, although in some cases the editors may choose to take advice from additional referees. Alternatively, authors may choose to request a fresh review, in which case they should not use the automated transfer link, and the editors will evaluate the paper without reference to the previous review process. For more information, please consult the following:
- Details of the manuscript transfer service
- Listing of all NPG journals and subject areas
- Listing of all Nature research journals
- A general explanation of the relationships between Nature titles
Editorial and publishing policies
Please see authors and referees @ npg for detailed information about author and referee services and publication policies at the Nature family of journals. These journals, including Nature Nanotechnology, share a number of common policies including the following:
- Licence agreement and author copyright
- Embargo policy and press releases
- Use of experimental animals and human subjects
- Competing financial interests
- Availability of materials and data
- Digital image integrity and standards
- Security concerns
- Refutations, complaints and corrections
- Duplicate publication
- Confidentiality and pre-publicity
- Plagiarism and fabrication
Impact factor
The 2007 ISI impact factor for Nature Nanotechnology is 14.917, according to the ISI Journal Citation Reports. This places Nature Nanotechnology first among all journals in nanoscience & nanotechnology.
The 2007 impact factor represents the average number of citations per paper in 2007 and is calculated on the basis of the previous two years' worth of a particular journal's publications. A more detailed explanation of impact factors appears on the ISI web site.
Abbreviation
The correct abbreviation for abstracting and indexing purposes is Nature Nanotech.
ISSN
The international standard serial numbers (ISSN) for Nature Nanotechnology are 1748-3387 (print) and 1748-3395 (online).
The guide for authors and the editorial policies, including the guide for referees, are also available in PDF format.