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For m ore inform ation on how to publish papers in a specific NPG title, please v isit the au th or in struct ions page forth ejournal tha t is of interest to y ou.

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Nature journal pledge to authors

Editors of the Na tur e journ als striv e to prov ide authors with an outstandingly efficient, fair a nd thoughtful

submission, peer-rev iew and publishing experience. Au thors can expect all m anu scripts th at a re published to be

scrutin ized for peer-rev iew wit h th e utm ost professional r igor and care by expert r eferees wh o are selected by th e

editors for th eir ability to prov ide incisiv e and useful analy sis. Editors weigh m any factors wh en choosing content

for Nature journals, but th ey strive to m inim ize th e tim e taken t o m ake decisions about pu blication wh ile

m aint ainin g th e highest possible qua lity of that decision.

After rev iew , editors w ork to increase a paper's readability , and thereby its audience, through adv ice and editing,

so tha t al l research is presented in a form th at is both readable to those in th e field and un derstan dable to scientists

out side the imm ediate discipline. Resear ch is published online w ithout delay thr oug h our Adv ance Online

Publication sy stem. Natu re journals prov ide more than 3,000 registered journ alists with weekly press releases

th at m ention all r esearch papers to be published. About 800, 000 r egistered users receiv e e-m ailed tables of

contents, and ma ny papers are high ligh ted for th e nonspecialist reader on the jour nal's homepage, content s pages

and in News and Views.

Thr oug hout t his process, th e editors of Natu re journ als uphold editorial, et hical and scientific stan dards according

to the policies out lined on th e aut hor and referee site as well as on our journa l websites. We periodically rev iew

th ose policies to ensure th at t hey continue to reflect the needs of the scientific comm unit y , and welcome comm ents

and suggestions from scientists, either v ia th e feedback links on the au th or a nd referees' website or v ia our au th or

blog, Nautilus, or peer-rev iew blog, Peer to Peer.

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How to publish your research in a Nature journal

The Natu re journ als comprise the weekly , m ultidisciplinaryNature, wh ich publishes research of th e highest

influence w ith in a discipline th at w ill be of interest to scientists in oth er fields, an d fifteen month ly titles,

publishing papers of the high est qual ity and of exceptional impact :Nature Biotechnology, Nature Cell Biology,Nature

Chemical Biology,Nature Chemistry, Nature Climate Change, Nature Communications,Nature Genetics ,Nature

Geoscience,Nature Immunology,Nature Materials, Nature Medicine, Nature Methods, Nature Nanotechnology, Nature

Neuroscience,Nature Photonics,Nature Physics ,Nature Protocols an dNature Structural and Molecular Biology. Th ese

journa ls are in terna tiona l, being published and pr inted in th e United St ates, t he United Kingdom an d Japan. Seehere for more information about the rela tionship between th ese jour nals.

Nature and the Natur e monthly journa ls hav e Impact Factors that are am ong th e highest in the world. The high

prestige of these jour nals bring s m any rew ar ds to their au th ors, but also m eans that competition for publicat ion is

sev ere, so m any submissions hav e to be declined without peer-rev iew.

The Natu re journ als differ from m ost other journals in th at t hey do not h av e editorial boards, but are instead run

by professional editors w ho consu lt widely am ong th e scienti fic com m unity in making decisions about publica tion

of papers. This article is to prov ide y ou w ith an ov erv iew of the genera l editorial processes of these unique journa ls.

Al th oug h the journa ls are br oadly sim ilar an d shar e editorial policies, all au th ors should consult th e aut hor

inform ation pages of the specific Nat ur e jour nal before subm ittin g, t o obtain detailed inform ation on criter ia for

publication and m anu script preparat ion for th at journ al, a s som e differences exist.
http://www.nature.com/authors/editorial_policieshttp://www.nature.com/authors/author_services/about_nature_family.htmlhttp://www.nature.com/authors/author_services/about_nature_family.htmlhttp://www.nature.com/authors/author_resources/how_publish.html#tophttp://blogs.nature.com/nautilushttp://blogs.nature.com/peer-to-peerhttp://www.nature.com/authors/index.htmlhttp://www.nature.com/authors/author_resources/how_publish.html#tophttp://www.nature.com/authors/author_resources/about_aop.htmlhttp://www.nature.com/authors/author_resources/about_aop.htmlhttp://www.nature.com/authors/author_resources/about_aop.htmlhttp://www.nature.com/authors/author_resources/article_types.htmlhttp://www.nature.com/authors/author_resources/article_types.htmlhttp://www.nature.com/authors/editorial_policieshttp://www.nature.com/authors/author_services/about_nature_family.htmlhttp://www.nature.com/authors/author_resources/how_publish.html#tophttp://blogs.nature.com/peer-to-peerhttp://blogs.nature.com/nautilushttp://www.nature.com/authors/index.htmlhttp://www.nature.com/authors/author_resources/how_publish.html#tophttp://www.nature.com/siteindex/index.htmlhttp://www.nature.com/authors/author_resources/article_types.htmlhttp://www.nature.com/authors/author_resources/about_aop.html


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Editorial Process

The followin g sections summ arise th e journa ls' editorial processes and describe how m anu scripts are h andled by

editors between submission a nd publicat ion. At all stages of th e process, y ou can access the online submission

sy stem and find the statu s of y our ma nuscript.

Presubmission enquiries

Research ers may obtain in form al feedback from editors before submit ting th e whole paper. This serv ice is intended

to sav e y ou tim e if the editors feel it would not be suit able, y ou can submit t he m anu script to another jour nal

without dela y . If y ou w ish to u se the pr esubm ission enquir y serv ice, please use the onl ine sy stem of th e jou rna l of

y our ch oice t o send a parag raph expla ining the im porta nce of y our paper , a s well as t he abstr act or su m m ar y

para gr aph w ith it s associated citat ion list so th e editors may judge the paper in rela tion to oth er relat ed work. Th e

editors will quickly either inv ite y ou to submit t he whole manu script (which does not m ean any comm itment to

publication), or will say th at it is not suit able for th e jour nal. If y ou receiv e a negat iv e response, please do not reply .

If you ar e conv inced of the importan ce of y our paper despite editors' reserv ations, y ou m ay submit t he wh ole

m anu script using th e jour nal's online subm ission sy stem. Th e editors can th en m ake a m ore complete assessment of

y our work.

Init ial submission

When y ou a re ready to subm it the pa per , plea se use the onl ine subm ission sy stem for t he jou rna l concerned. Whenthe journal r eceiv es y our ma nuscript, it w ill be assigned a num ber and an editor, who reads the paper, seeks

inform al adv ice from scientific adv isors and editorial colleagu es, an d compa res y our submission to other recent ly

published papers in the field. If the paper seem s nov el and ar resting, a nd the w ork described has both imm ediate

and far-reach ing im plications, the editor will send it out for peer-rev iew, u sually to two or th ree independent

specialists. Howev er, becau se the journa ls can pu blish a small proportion of the papers in the field or subfield

concerned, man y papers hav e to be declined without peer-rev iew ev en th ough they ma y describe solid scientific

results.

Transfers between Natu re journa ls

In som e cases, an editor is unable to offer publica tion, but m ight suggest tha t th e ma nu script is m ore suitable for

one of the other Na tur e journa ls. If y ou w ish t o resubmit y our ma nuscript to the suggested journa l, y ou ca n simply

follow the link prov ided by the editor to tr ansfer y our m anu script to th e new jour nal. T his process is entir ely iny our contr ol: y ou can ch oose not t o use t his serv ice and instead to subm it y our m anu scr ipt to any oth er Na tu re or

Natu re Publishing Group journal, with or without including th e rev iewers' comm ents, depending on the journ al's

policies, u sing th e journa l's usual online subm ission serv ice.

Peer review

The corresponding a ut hor is notified by e-m ail w hen a n editor decides to send a paper for r ev iew. Th e editors choose

referees for t heir independence, ability to evalu ate th e technical aspects of the paper fully and fairly , w hether they

are curr ently or recently assessing related submissions, and whether they can rev iew the ma nuscript within th e

short tim e requested.

You m ay sug gest r efer ees for y our paper (in cluding address details), so long as t hey ar e in depen dent scient ists.

These suggestions are often helpful, alt hough t hey ar e not alw ay s followed. Editors will honour y our requests to

exclude a lim ited num ber of nam ed scientists as rev iewers.

Decisions and rev isions

When m ak ing a decision a bout publica tion in the light of rev iew ers' comm ents, edit ors consider not only how g ood

th e paper is now, bu t also how good it migh t becom e after rev ision. When a ll the r ev iewers' comm ents hav e been

receiv ed, the editors discuss a m anu script among th emselv es and then w rite to the aut hor. In th is letter , the editor

will either decl ine to publish y our paper , or su gg est th at y ou r ev ise it for r esubm ission, or offer to publish i t without

furt her r ev ision. If th e editor suggests rev ising y our paper, h e or she will pr ovide specific sug gestions, will stat e in

the letter w hether t he rev isions are ma jor or m inor, a nd wheth er furth er consultation w ith r eferees is likely wh en

y ou r esubm it the rev ised v ersion.

If the editor inv ites y ou to rev ise y our ma nuscript, y ou should include with y our resubmitt ed version a new cover

letter tha t incl udes a point-by -point r esponse to the rev iewers' and editors' comm ents, inclu ding an explana tion of
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how y ou h av e alt ered y our m anu scr ipt in response t o th ese, an d an estim ation of the length of the rev ised

v ersion wit h figur es/tables.

Additional supplement ar y inform ation is published wit h th e online v ersion of your paper if the editors and referees

hav e ju dged that it is essential for th e conclu sions of the pa per (for exam ple, a large ta ble of data or th e deriv ation

ofa m odel) but of m ore specialist int erest tha n th e rest of the paper. Editors encour age a ut hors whose papers

describe met hods to prov ide a sum ma ry of the met hod for th e print v ersion a nd to include full details and protocols

online. Au th ors ar e also encourag ed to post the full protocol in the journalNature Protocols, wh ich as well as a

protocols database prov ides an online foru m for readers in th e field to add comm ents, suggestions and r efinements

to the published protocols.

After acceptance

Your a ccepted manu script is prepared for publicat ion by copy editors (also called subeditors), who refine it so that

th e text a nd figures are r eadable and clear t o th ose out side the im m ediate field; choose key words to

m axim ize v isibility in online search es as well as suita ble for indexing serv ices; and ensur e that th e papers conform

to house style. Th e copy editors are ha ppy to giv e adv ice to authors whose nativ e langu age is not English, and w ill

edit th ose papers wit h special care.

After publication

Al l papers are published in the pr int edition and, in PDF and HTML forma t, in the online edition of th e jour nal, in

full. Many linking and nav igational serv ices are provided with the online (HTML) v ersion of all papers published

by the Natu re journa ls.

Al l papers and conta ct details of corresponding a uth ors are in cluded in our press release serv ice, wh ich m eans that

y our work is draw n to the att ention of all th e main media organ izations in th e world, wh o m ay choose to featu re

th e work in new spaper an d oth er m edia report s. Som e papers ar e summ arized and highlighted within Natu re and

Na tu re Publishing Group publicat ions and subject-specific w ebsites.

Jour nals published by Nat ur e Publishing Gr oup do not ask auth ors for copyr ight , but instead ask y ou to sign an

exclusive publishing l icense. This allows y ou to archiv e the accepted ver sion of y our paper six month s after

publica tion on y our own , y our institu tion's, and y our funder 's websites.

Disagreements with decisions

If a jour nal's editors ar e un able to offer pu blication of a ma nu script and hav e not inv ited resubmission, y ou a re

str ongly adv ised to submit y our paper for publicat ion elsewh ere. Howev er, if y ou believ e tha t th e editors or

reviewers hav e misunderstood y our paper, y ou m ay writ e to the editors, explaining th e scientific reasons why y oubeliev e the decision w as incorr ect. Please bear in m ind tha t editors prioritise newly submitt ed manu scripts and

m anu scripts where resubm ission ha s been inv ited, so it can take sev eral weeks before lett ers of disagr eement can be

an swered. During this time, y ou m ust not submit y our m anuscript elsewh ere. In th e interests of publishing y our

results without u nnecessary delay , w e therefore adv ise y ou t o subm it y our paper to a nother journal if i t has been

declined, rather than to spend time on corresponding further with t he editors of the declining journ al.

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