Nature杂志投稿指南

Nature杂志投稿指南

1. 描述研究工作的格式（Formats for description of research）

《Nature》杂志反映原始研究工作的主要论文格式是“来信”（ Letters to Nature）和

“文章”（ Articles）。

1.1 “来信”（Letters to Nature）

是较短的原始研究工作报告，集中反映某一重要发现，它的重要性意味着其他领域的科学家也会对其感兴趣。这种论文的长度一般不应超过《Nature》杂志的2.5个页面，参考文献不应超过30条。论文以一个不超过180个单词的自然段开头，标明所有必要的参考文献，其读者对象是其他领域的科学家。这段文字概述研究工作的背景和原理，接下来介绍论文的主要结论，用“Here we show”或类似的短语来引导。允许再有一小段引言内容，但其后的正文部分则应仅限于对发现做简短描述，并且只能有一小段的讨论部分。

1.2 “文章”（Articles）

是反映原始研究工作的报告，其结论代表着人们在理解某一重要问题上所取得的一个实质性进展，许多不同领域的读者都会对其感兴趣。这类论文的长度一般不超过《Nature》杂志5个页面，参考文献不超过50条。（一整页文字大约为1300个单词）。这类论文有一个不标参考文献的摘要部分，与正文分开，长度最多150个单词，其中不含数字、缩写或计量单位，除非确有必要。同“来信”类论文的开头一段一样，“文章”类论文的这一摘要

部分也是对研究工作的背景和原理的简短介绍，随后为用“Here we show”或类似短语引导的论文的主要结论。文章本身以长达500字、标注参考文献的文字开始，对研究工作的背景做进一步介绍（与摘要部分有一些重复是允许的），接下来对研究工作的发现做精练的、集中的分析，最后为一到两段较短的讨论部分。这类论文应有几个小标题，每个小标题的长度不应超过40个字符。

2. 可读性（Readability）

《Nature》是一个覆盖所有科学领域的国际性杂志，因此给《Nature》杂志的稿件应当条理清楚，简单明了，以便让其他领域的读者以及英语不是其第一语言的读者也能看懂。

(1) 对虽然重要、但专业性较强的术语，应当简明扼要地予以解释，而不应照本宣科。

(2) 在向《Nature》杂志投稿前，请其他专业的同事看看论文最后一稿是否清楚易懂往往非常有用。

(3) 在投稿被正式接受发表之前，《Nature》杂志的编辑会就论文格式向作者做详细说明。

接受之前，常常需要对论文进行压缩。《Nature》杂志的编辑经常会建议作者修改标题、改

写“文章”类论文的摘要部分和“来信”类论文的第一段。

(4) 在接受之后，《Nature》杂志的助理编辑负责保证论文的文字和图形能让其他专业的读者读懂，并按照《Nature》杂志自己的风格对论文进行编辑。

(5) 编辑部会给作者寄去校样，并欢迎作者与《Nature》杂志的编辑就修改意见进行讨论，

但《Nature》杂志保留就与论文的格式和图形的大小有关的问题做最后决定的权利。

3. 怎样准备您的论文（How to prepare your paper）

3.1 选择过程（Selection process）

《Nature》杂志版面有限，竞争异常激烈。大多数投稿未经正式审稿就被编辑退回，主要是因为编辑认为其他领域的科学家不可能对它们感兴趣。甚至在那些已被送审的论文中，大多数也被退给作者了，经过一轮以上的审稿是很正常的。总的来说，“文章”类和“来信”类论文中能被接受的不到十分之一。这种压力还意味着，文章的简洁非常重要。

3.2 投稿程序（Procedure for submission）

可能时，“来信”和“文章”类论文应通过www.nature.com/submit/ 以在线方式投稿。作者不可以通过email来投稿。

(1) 以在线方式投稿的“来信”和“文章”类稿件的作者不要再寄来一份其论文的硬拷贝。

(2) 不能以在线方式投稿的作者要求用磁盘投稿，不能用email投稿。论文的文件应以与在线投稿相同的方式来准备。如果用磁盘投稿，同一信封中还应装入一份论文的硬拷贝。

(3) 稿件应隔行打印，用英文（采用《牛津英语词典》中的拼法）撰写。如果论文是打印在纸上的，则文字只能打印在纸的一面。

(4) 投稿和修改稿应一式五份。图件应放在纸的背面，每一幅图单独用一张纸，不能放在文件夹中，也不能用钉书针钉在一起。

(5) 修改稿在可能的情况下应以电子方式发回。所有修改稿都应有作者对审稿人和编辑修改意见所做的反应。如果修改稿是打印在纸上的，则要求提供五份作者对修改意见的反应。

(6) 投稿中还应包括通信作者给编辑的一封短信（单独放在一个信封中，一式两份），信中说明论文的字数、论文估计大概会占用《Nature》杂志多少个页面（有关页面计算方法，详见4.2 和 4.8）、目前完整的通信地址、电话和传真号码以及e-mail地址。作者如果不愿让《Nature》杂志用传真与其联系的话，应该说明。作者给编辑的短信还应包括一段简短的文字，说明为什么其论文适合在《Nature》杂志发表，而不适合在某一专业杂志发表。欢迎作者推荐合适的审稿人，但《Nature》杂志有可能不用作者所推荐的人。如果存在某种利益冲突的话，作者还可要求《Nature》杂志不要让一个或两个（但不能再多）个人或实验室来审阅其论文，《Nature》杂志会尽可能满足这种要求的。

关于作者姓名排序：

(1)《Nature》杂志并不要求一篇论文的所有作者都在投稿信上签字，也不会给作者名单来排序。

(2) 有必要区分作者的工作单位时，我们按顺序采用以下符号： * ? ? § || ? # ；若不

够

用，再依次用双符号。

(3)《Nature》杂志不希望作者排名时过份强调相对地位；如果确有必要说明两个以上的作者在地位上是相同的，可用一个额外的符号来区分，并在地址之后加上这样的说明语：“这些作者对研究工作的贡献是相同的”（These authors contributed equally to the work）。

作者可在致谢部分说明其共同作者所做的贡献（见 Nature 399, 393; （1999））。根据地

位对共同作者做其他分类是不允许的。

(4) 目前的通信地址应紧跟在作者名单之后；其他所有与作者有关的解释应放在致谢部分。投稿时，还应包括作者中任何一人向其他地方所投的或正在出版的所有相关论文一式三份（包括投给《Nature》杂志的论文正在考虑之中时投到其他地方的论文），并如实标明；未能做到这一点时，有可能导致其论文被拒绝。以在线或磁盘方式投稿的论文作者，应尽可能将其支持论文的电子版本发来，最好采用PDF格式。 《Nature》杂志不考虑那些在其他地方被考虑或正在发表的投稿。如果一篇投稿的部分内容已经出现在其他地方或已经投往他处，只要其主要结果、结论和意义并不能从另一篇论文明显看出，则该论文也不会被自动拒绝。在这种情况下，通信作者必须在其给编辑的短信中说明论文的哪一部分将在或已在其他地方发表，并指出该出版物的名称。作者还必须说明其论文的任何内容是否将在或已在某个预印服务器上出现，如果是的话，是哪一个（见5.1）。

关于投稿：

(1) 《Nature》杂志希望作者最好利用其网址上的模板来进行在线投稿。

(2) 如果作者不能进行在线投稿，《Nature》杂志希望作者最好用磁盘投稿（见3.2.2）。

(3) 如果作者不能进行在线投稿，可将论文寄至： the Editor at Nature, Porters South,

4 Crinan St, London N1 9XW, UK。

(4) 在目的国以外投寄的邮件应标明“no commercial value”。

《Nature》杂志所有编辑部、办公室和办事处的传真和e-mail地址刊登在每期《Nature》杂

志的刊头上，其位置在目录页和每期主要文章之间。

4. “文章”和“来信”类论文的格式（Format of Articles and Letters）

来稿应按以下次序排列：标题、正文、方法、参考文献、致谢、表格、图例、图形。有关格

式的详细情况，投稿者可参考最近几期的《Nature》杂志，并仔细阅读以下说明：

4.1 标题（Titles）

不应超过3行，每行30个字符（包括空格），一般不应含有数字、首字母缩略词、缩写或标点符号（必要时可 用一个冒号）。

4.2 正文（Text）

长度是按《Nature》杂志页面数来计算的。一满页文字大约有1300个单词，所以，一篇典型的“来信”类论文占用《Nature》杂志2.5个页面，含约1500个单词的正文（包括“来信”类论文的第一段，但不包括图例和方法部分）和四个带有简短说明的显示项目（图形和/或表格）（有关图形大小的说明，见4.8 ）。

在投新的稿件或寄回修改稿时，作者应说明正文、图例和方法部分（如果有的话）的长度。

较长的论文有时也是允许的，但只有当该论文的责任编辑能够提供额外版面时才可以。稿件长度大大超过这里所说的长度时，在论文被接受前，编辑会要求作者对论文进行压缩，这样难免会耽误论文的发表。作者可从《Nature》杂志网址上下载一个MS Word template，我们希望作者利用该模板来准备自己的论文。

4.3 方法（Methods）

如果方法部分内容很短，可在正文中给出，以参考文献的形式注明所用的方法。 否则，就应当在正文最后的“方法”部分来介绍，可采用一些用黑体字打印的较短的小标题来指明所用的方法。这一部分一般不应超过800个单词，最好再短一些。方法部分在自然科学（physicalsciences） 稿件中不常见。

4.4致谢（Acknowledgements）

篇幅较短，其位置在参考文献列表之后。《Nature》杂志不发表研究课题得到的资助或经费的数量，也不发表对匿名审稿人和编辑的感谢或过分热情的话语。“文章”和“来信”类论文在致谢之后有这样一句话：“ Correspondence and requests for materials should be

addressed to xxxxx”，如果愿意的话可提供一个e-mail地址，接下来为支持数据集的编号

或网址（见4.10）。读者询问或索要与论文有关的材料时，由上面所提到的作者来处理。必

要时，《Nature》杂志将要求该作者处理由发表其稿件所引发的事情。

4.5 参考文献（References）

按其在正文、表格和图例中出现的次序来编号。

(1) 当在正文中引用时，参考文献编号采用上标形式，不要放在方括号中。

(2) 参考文献最大数量对“文章”类论文为50条，对“来信”类论文为30条。每一个编号只能给出一个文献。

(3) 只有已经发表或已经投给某一个指明的出版物的论文才能列入参考文献中；正在准备中的论文可在正文中提到，并列出其作者（如果该论文的作者中有任何一人是当前所

投稿件的共同作者，可用其姓名的首字母缩写）。

(4) 已经发表的会议摘要和大家认可的预印服务器可列在参考文献中，但正文、资助详情和致谢则不能列入。

(5) 所有作者都应包括在参考文献列表中，除非作者人数超过５个，在这种情况下，只列第一个作者，其他作者用“et al.”来省略。在准备参考文献列表时，请参考《Nature》杂志印刷本中的风格。

(6) 作者姓名的排列方式是：姓在前，姓后为一个逗号和名字的首字母缩写。

(7) 所引用的全部文章的标题都要求列出。参考文献列表中引用的文章标题应采用正体字，不能用斜体字。标题第一个单词要大写。整个标题要与其在所引用的论文中完全一样，以一个句号结束。书名采用斜体字，所有主要单词都要大写。杂志名称采用斜体字，并根据通常的用法来缩写。作者可参考Nature、Index Medicus 或American Institute of Physics 的

风格手册，了解这方面的详细情况。

(8) 卷号采用黑体字。对所引用的书，要求提供出版者和出版城市的名称。（详情请参阅

《Nature》杂志）。

4.6 表格（Tables）

每个表格应单独放在一张纸上，纸的大小和方向应与稿件其他部分一样。

(1) 表格文字采用罗马正体（不是黑体），其大小与正文其他部分相同，表头要简短，只能有一行，采用黑体字。

(2) 表体不应含有水平或垂直标尺，这些内容在论文被接受发表后必要时会由《Nature》杂志加上。

(3) 符号和缩写应紧跟在表下予以定义，定义之后为重要的描述性内容，都要隔行打印。

4.7 图例（Figure legends）

对有方法部分的稿件，每一个图例应以一个简短的、代表整幅图形的标题开始，接下来为对所用的每一个图斑、每一个符号的简短描述。图例不应含有关于方法的任何细节，一般不应超过100个单词。

对没有方法部分的稿件，每一个图例应以一个代表整幅图形的标题开始，接下来为对所用图斑和符号以及对所用方法的一个简短描述，字数不超过300个单词（目的是使所有图例的总长度不超过800个单词）。

4.8 图形（Figures）

应单独放在与稿件其他部分大小和方向相同的纸上，应按它们印出后的形式来排列。

(1) 每一份拷贝都要标明该图形的编号、通信作者的姓名以及（如果知道的话）该论

文的参考编号。

(2) 当编辑要求作者提供论文修改稿时，作者除提供硬拷贝外，还必须用磁盘提供能达到生产质量的所有图形的电子版本（有关电子图形格式的详细情况，请参阅下文）。

投稿时，作者应提供一套未经缩放的原始图形，以供复制。这些原始图形应装在单独的信封

中，并予以注明。其余四份拷贝质量要足够好，可用于审稿，所有图斑应同其印出后一样排

成一长方形（详见下文）。

另外，要求提供原始图形的一份复印件。如果《Nature》杂志不能发表一篇论文时，所有原始图形都会退还作者，但论文的两份复印件及原始图形的复印件将留存（为作者保密）。

作者不必将图形缩至其实际采用时的大小，但应指明图形最后采用时可接受的最小尺寸是多

少，并指明对图形的任何特殊要求，如立体对（stereo pairs）之间的分隔距离等。

应避免提供不必要的图形及其组成部分（图斑）。例如，列在小表格或直方图中的数据通常

可在正文中简短陈述，而没有必要列表或作图。图形不应含有一个以上的图斑，除非

其各部

分在逻辑上是有联系的。对于一个由多部分组成的图形，在确定每一个图斑的大小时应注

意，要使整幅图形在按比例压缩并印出后具有最小的尺寸，而重要的细节又能看得清楚。

氨基酸序列应以单字母码来打印，每行含50或100个字符。对“文章”和“来信”类论文，

《Nature》杂志每一个页面含两栏，每栏86mm宽；一幅正方形、一栏宽的图形大约相当于240个单词。

(3) 《Nature》杂志将研究论文的图形印刷在一个长方形的空间内，所以，由若干个部分构成的图形在所投稿件中应排成一个长方形。

(4) “文章”和“来信”类稿件中的大多数图形在印刷时其宽度都大大小于一栏，所以图斑应当小一些。例如，2或3幅图可边靠边地排列，以便缩至一栏宽；对直方图，若每一个柱为2mm宽、每一组柱之间相距1mm就可以看得清楚。

(5) 代表相同内容的图斑应当以统一的尺寸来复制，所采用的字母大小应当前后一致，从而使各项内容（例如胶体线）的宽度在所有图斑中都是不变的。

(6) 作者一定要确保当图形及其文字缩至所要求的最后尺寸时（例如用复印机进行复印时）都能看得清楚，这一点很重要。

(7) 图形上的文字应当采用一种清楚的、没有衬线的字样（例如Arial or Helvetica）；可

能时，一篇论文中的所有图形都应采用同样的字样。

(8) 应当避免使用不必要的颜色、细节或装饰（如三维“摩天大楼”直方图）。

(9) 字体大小和字距应能保证当缩至可以接受的最小印刷尺寸时仍能看得清楚，但也要避免使用不必要的大字体。

(10) 《Nature》杂志的图形中典型的字母大小和字距分别为8点和0.25点，因此，对打算分别缩至原大的80%、67%、50%和33%的一栏宽图形，“文章”和“来信”类论文的作者应分别使用10/0.31、12/0.375、16/0.5和24/0.75点的字体和字距（即在缩小之前的宽度分别为112、135、180和270mm）。

(11) 我们建议，作者投稿时图表的尺寸应与在杂志上使用时所需的最后尺寸大小差不多，图形的压缩比例最好不要超过50%。

(12) 作者将会看到图形的一份校样。在这一阶段，我们会考虑作者要求放大图形的合理请求，但有关图形大小的最后决定将由《Nature》杂志做出。分成几部分的图形应用小写黑体字母a、b等依次来标记，字母大小应与图形中其他地方所用的字母大小相同。

(13) 图形中的文字（如坐标轴的标记等）应采用小写，第一个字母大写，不用句号。

(14) 对于单位，在数字与单位之间应有一个空格，紧跟着为SI名称或某一特殊领域常用的名称。千位应用逗号分开（如1,000）。不常见的单位或缩写应完整拼出或在图例中

予以定义。

(15) 应采用比例尺，而不应采用放大倍数；比例尺的长度应在图例中定义，而不应在比例尺上定义。

(16) 最好避免在有阴影或有内容的区域直接打印（而应当创建一个白框，将文字放在框

内）、避免采用反向打印（即在一个黑色背景上打印白色文字），因为这样通常会影响复制

质量。

(17) 在可能的情况下，文字，包括符号说明，应放在图例中，而不应放在图形本身上。（请参阅已出版的《Nature》杂志）。

对“文章”和“来信”类稿件，要求作者承担一部分复制彩色图形的费用。但作者无力支付

这笔费用时，也不会影响编辑认为重要的彩色图形的发表。

4.9 电子图形格式（Electronic figure format）

一篇论文被接受之后（而不是在接受之前），《Nature》杂志希望采用图形的电子版本，以确保最佳复制质量。如果您所提供的电子文件不合适，我们还可以扫描图件，所以您在准备图件的硬拷贝时请务必考虑到这一点。请将文件发来。我们可接受以下内容：

(1) 软盘;

(2) CD-rom;

(3) Jaz;

(4) Zip;

(5) Optical (128 MB);

(6) Macintosh or PC formatted.

格式（Formats）

(1) 复印件：我们希望采用400+ dpi TIFF 或Photoshop v5 图形（实际大小）。我们可接受

JPEG、 EPS 或DCS 1&2。

(2) 线图／图表／图形（Line art/charts/graphs）：我们希望采用Illustrator v8 或更低

版本（AI或EPS）。我们可接受Freehand v8、 Canvas v5或v6、 PDF 或Postscript （level

2）。

一些说明

(1) 应以与印刷时所采用的正确尺寸差不多的大小来准备文件（单栏为90mm，双栏为

185mm）。

(2) 将所有定位图形（placed images）按单独的文件来提供。

(3) 确保将所有彩色图形转换成CMYK（在可能的情况下）。如果有必要，我们可扫描RGB图

片，以帮助彩色转换。

(4) 采用无衬线字样，如Arial or Helvetica。

(5) 应尽可能避免采用字距不到１点的行。

(6) 如果要求时，可对硬拷贝／照片／幻灯片进行扫描。

(7) 只要不含定位图形，就可使用Powerpoint/Word和Excel文件。这样的图形应单独提供。

(8) 一些程序可通过“打印”对话框中的“printing to file”生成Postscript 文件。

(9) 请注意，所有磁盘、email文件和硬拷贝都应标明程序／格式、稿件编号和图形编

号。

(10) 如果《Nature》杂志已经有了您的正文的最后形式时，请采用特快专递将磁盘寄来。请

在邮包上标明零价值，这样我们在收到您的邮包时就不必付费了。《Nature》杂志不会退还

磁盘，除非作者提出要求。

关于如何准备电子图形的详细说明，请参阅我们的“投稿前的最后准备指南”（ guide to

preparing finalized submissions）。

4.10 补充信息（Supplementary information）

是与一篇论文的结论直接相关的内容，因篇幅所限，不能包括在印刷版本中。这种内容是经过审稿的，在出版之时在《Nature》杂志网址上发布，同时也以打印在纸上的形式留存在《Nature》杂志在伦敦的编辑部里，以便向对该内容感兴趣、但又不能上网的读者发送。

“补充信息”应在“通信与材料”（ Correspondence and materials）部分指出，并在正文

中的适当地方提到。在论文被接受以后，作者不可对“补充信息”进行改动。“补充信

息”

还必须可由论文的作者直接提供，既可采用电子形式，也可采用打印在纸上的形式，而且还

必须是免费、及时地提供。“补充信息”一般采用支持图形或表格的形式，反映论文所报告

的结论的重要背景。虽然我们并不鼓励作者随同其论文提供“补充信息”，但处理一篇稿件

的责任编辑偶尔也会向作者提出（常常是根据审稿人的建议），其论文中的部分数据以“补

充信息”的形式来表述可能更合适一些。在这种情况下，编辑会就如何准备“补充信息”向

作者做详细说明。

含有“补充信息”的投稿，在《Nature》杂志收到以最后形式拷在单独一张磁盘上的“补充信息”之前，不会被正式接受发表。该磁盘应标明文件名，并有一简短说明，如“graphics

file”（图形文件）等。作者还必须提供一个完全相同的、打印在纸上的版本（一式五

份），以供向《Nature》杂志感兴趣的读者发送。所有“补充信息”磁盘都必须清楚

标明“补充信息”，写上标题、通信作者的姓名和稿件的参考编号。（注意：作者还必须提供打印在纸上的“补充信息”一式五份，并做类似的标记）。

正文可以任何一种常见格式的文件来提供，但TeX和LaTeX格式除外。对图形和其他数据，我们可接受纯文本文件（.txt）、Acrobat文件（.pdf）、MS Word文件（.doc）、Postscript

文件（.ps）、Quick Time文件（.mov）、graphical image文件（.gif）、HTML文件

（.html）、JPEG图形文件（.jpg）、声音文件（.wav）或MS Excel表格文件（.xls）。请注

意，文件要尽可能地小，以便可很快下载。图形最大尺寸应为0×480像素（9×6.8英寸，

每英寸72像素）。最多允许有8个文件，文件总大小一般不应超过3 MB。电影文件可例外。

请注意：

(1) 用一个尽可能短的文字摘要（不超过50个单词）来介绍每个文件的内容，这个摘要可以

是一个图片说明，也可以是一个图例；

(2) 说明您所提交的文件的类型（程序格式）；

(3) 确保您在自己论文打印稿中正文或图表说明部分的适当位置、在正文最后的“通信与材料”（ Correspondence and materials）部分提到了该“补充信息”。

附：英文版 http://www.nature.com/nature/authors/gta/index.html

For Authors

Manuscript formatting guide This guide describes how to prepare contributions for submission. We recommend you read this in full if you have not previously submitted a contribution to Nature. We also recommend that, before submission, you familiarize yourself with Nature’s style and content by reading the journal, either in print or online, particularly if you have not submitted to the journal recently.

Table of contents

• 1. Formats for Nature contributions

o 1.1 Articles

o 1.2 Letters

o 1.3 Brief Communications Arising and Corrections

o 1.4 Other types of submission

• 2. The editorial process

• 3. Presubmission enquiries

• 4. Readability

• 5. Format of Articles and Letters

o 5.1 Titles

o 5.2 Text

o 5.3 Methods

o 5.4 References

o 5.5 End notes

o 5.6 Statistics

o 5.7 Tables

o 5.8 Figure legends

o 5.9 Figures

o 5.10 Production quality figures

o 5.11 Supplementary information

o 5.12 Chemical structures and characterization of chemical materials

• 6. Submission

• 7. Publishing in other Nature and NPG journals

Parts of this document are summarized in a downloadable information sheet.

1. Formats for Nature contributions

Nature's main formats for original research are Articles and Letters. In addition, Nature publishes other submitted material as detailed below (Section 1.4).

1.1 Articles

Articles are original reports whose conclusions represent a substantial advance in understanding of an important problem and have immediate, far-reaching implications. They do not normally exceed 5 pages of Nature and have no more than 50 references. (One page of undiluted text is about 1,300 words.)

Articles have a summary, separate from the main text, of up to 150 words, which does not have references, and does not contain numbers, abbreviations, acronyms or measurements unless essential. It is aimed at readers outside the

discipline. This summary contains a paragraph (2-3 sentences) of basic-level introduction to the field; a brief account of the background and rationale of the work; a statement of the main conclusions (introduced by the phrase 'Here we show' or its equivalent); and finally, 2-3 sentences putting the main findings into general context so it is clear how the results described in the paper have moved the field forwards.

Articles are typically 3,000 words of text, beginning with up to 500 words of referenced text expanding on the background to the work (some overlap with the summary is acceptable), before proceeding to a concise, focused account of the findings, ending with one or two short paragraphs of discussion.

The text may contain a few short subheadings (not more than six in total) of no more than 40 characters each (less than one line of text in length).

Articles typically have 5 or 6 display items (figures or tables).

1.2 Letters

Letters are short reports of original research focused on an outstanding finding whose importance means that it will be of interest to scientists in other fields.

They do not normally exceed 4 pages of Nature, and have no more than 30 references. They begin with a fully referenced paragraph, ideally of about 200

words, but certainly no more than 300 words, aimed at readers in other disciplines. This paragraph starts with a 2-3 sentence basic introduction to the field; followed by a one-sentence statement of the main conclusions starting 'Here we show' or equivalent phrase; and finally, 2-3 sentences putting the main findings into general context so it is clear how the results described in the paper have moved the field forwards.

Please refer to our annotated example to see how the summary paragraph for a Letter should be constructed.

The rest of the text is typically about 1,500 words long. Any discussion at the end of the text should be as succinct as possible, not repeating previous summary/introduction material, to briefly convey the general relevance of the work.

Letters typically have 3 or 4 small display items (figures or tables).

Word counts refer to the text of the paper. References, title, author list and acknowledgements do not have to be included in total word counts.

1.3 Brief Communications Arising and Corrections

Brief Communications Arising are exceptionally interesting or important comments and clarifications on original research papers or other peer-reviewed material published in Nature. They are published online but not in print.

For further details of and instructions for how to submit a correction to peer-reviewed material published in Nature, please access our Brief Communications Arising section.

1.4 Other contributions to Nature

Please access the other submitted material pages for further details on any of the contribution types below.

• News and Comment

• Correspondence

• Obituaries

• Opinion

• Books & Arts

• Futures

• News & Views

• Insights, Reviews and Perspectives

• Analysis

• Hypothesis

• Careers

• Technology Features

• Outlooks

2. The editorial process

See getting published in Nature for an explanation of Nature's editorial criteria for publication, refereeing policy and how editors handle papers after submission. Submission to a Nature journal is taken by the journal to mean that all the listed authors have agreed all of the contents. See authorship policy for more details.

3. Presubmission enquiries

If you wish to enquire whether your Article or Letter might be suitable for consideration by Nature, please use our online presubmission enquiry service. All presubmission enquiries must include a cover paragraph to the editor stating the interest to a broad scientific readership, a fully referenced summary paragraph in the style for Letters to Nature, and a reference list.

4. Readability

Nature is an international journal covering all the sciences. Contributions

should therefore be written clearly and simply so that they are accessible to readers in other disciplines and to readers for whom English is not their first language.

Essential but specialized terms should be explained concisely but not didactically.

For gene, protein and other specialized names authors can use their preferred terminology so long as it is in current use by the community, but they must give all known names for the entity at first use in the paper. Nature prefers authors to use internationally agreed nomenclature; details are provided in our author policies. Please also note the special circumstances about online publication of formal descriptions of new species.

Nature's editors provide detailed advice about format before contributions are

formally accepted for publication. Nature's editors often suggest revised titles and rewrite the summaries of Articles and first paragraphs of Letters so the conclusions are clear to a broad readership.

After acceptance, Nature's subeditors (copyeditors) ensure that the text and figures are readable and clear to those outside the field, and edit papers into

Nature's house style. They pay particular attention to summary paragraphs, overall

clarity, figures, figure legends and titles.

Proofs are sent before publication; authors are welcome to discuss proposed

changes with Nature's subeditors, but Nature reserves the right to make the final decision about matters of style and the size of figures.

A useful set of articles providing general advice about writing and submitting scientific papers can be found in SciDev.Net's \"How do I?\" section.

5. Format of Articles and Letters.

Contributions should be double-spaced and written in English (spellings as in the Oxford English Dictionary)

Contributions should be organized in the sequence: title, text, methods, references, Supplementary Information line (if any), acknowledgements, author contributions, author information (containing data deposition statement, competing interest declaration and corresponding author line), tables, figure legends.

5.1 Titles

Titles do not exceed two lines in print. This equates to 90 characters (including spaces) for Letters, or 75 characters (including spaces) for Articles. Titles do not normally include numbers, acronyms, abbreviations or punctuation. They should include sufficient detail for indexing purposes but be general enough for readers outside the field to appreciate what the paper is about.

5.2 Text

Articles should fill no more than 5 pages, and Letters no more than 4 pages, of

Nature. An uninterrupted page of text contains about 1,300 words. A typical Article

contains about 3,000 words of text and, additionally, five small display items (figures and/or tables) with brief legends, reference list and methods section if applicable. A typical Letter to Nature contains about 1,500 words of text (excluding the first paragraph of Letters, figure legends, reference list and the methods section if applicable) and four small display items (figures and/or tables) with brief legends. A composite figure (with several panels) usually needs to take about half a page, equivalent to about 600 words, in order for all the elements to be visible (see section 5.9 for instructions on sizing figures).

When submitting new or revised manuscripts, authors should state in a cover letter to the editor their rough estimate of the length of their paper in terms of number of pages of Nature.Authors of contributions that significantly exceed the limits stated here or specified by the editor will have to shorten their papers before acceptance, inevitably delaying publication.

Nature requires authors to specify the contribution made by their co-authors

in the end notes of the paper (see section 5.5). If authors regard it as essential to indicate that two or more co-authors are equal in status, they may be identified by an asterisk symbol with the caption ‘These authors contributed equally to this work’ immediately under the address list. If more than three co-authors are equal in status, this should be indicated in the author contributions statement. Present

addresses appear immediately below the author list (below the footnote rule at the bottom of the first page) and may be identified by a dagger symbol; all other essential author-related explanation is in the acknowledgements.

Our preferred format for text is Microsoft Word, with the style tags removed. We are able to accept TeX, but it must convert correctly to a PDF before it can be accepted (as we convert TeX to Word, and we require a PDF for reference during the conversion).

We prefer the use of a ‘standard’ font, preferably 12-point Times New Roman. For mathematical symbols, Greek letters and other special characters, use normal text or Symbol font. Word Equation Editor/MathType should be used only for formulae that cannot be produced using normal text or Symbol font.

If using Word 2007, please provide the manuscript in Compatibility Mode (i.e. as a Word 97-2003 document; saved as .doc, not .docx).

5.3 Methods.

If brief (less than 200 words in total), methods can be included in the main text at an appropriate place. Otherwise, they should be described at the end of the text in a ‘Methods Summary’ section of no more than 300 words.

Detailed descriptions of methods already published should be avoided; a reference number can be provided to save space, with any new addition or

variation briefly stated.

If more space is required to describe the methods completely, the author should include the 300-word section ‘Methods Summary’ and provide an additional ‘Methods’ section at the end of the text, following the figure legends. This Methods section will appear in the online PDF and in the full-text (HTML) version of the paper online, but will not appear in the printed issue. The Methods section should not normally exceed 1,000 words of text, and should be subdivided by short bold headings referring to methods used. If further references are included in this section, the numbering should continue from the end of the last reference number in the rest of the paper and the list should accompany the additional Methods at the end of the paper.

If both a Methods Summary and additional Methods section are required, the Methods Summary will appear in print only but will not appear in the HTML version of the paper. Therefore, any critical information in the Methods Summary should also be incorporated into the Methods section. Because the Methods Summary does not appear online, any references included in this section must also be included in the Methods section in the same order; if required, additional references can then be included after these in the Methods section as described above. Note that the Methods Summary will only appear in the HTML version of the paper if there is no additional Methods section.

There should be no duplication between the Methods section and the Supplementary Information. The Methods section cannot contain figures or tables

(essential display items should be included in the Supplementary Information).

5.4 References

References are each numbered, ordered sequentially as they appear in the text, methods summary, tables, boxes, figure legends, online-only methods.

When cited in the text, reference numbers are superscript, not in brackets unless they are likely to be confused with a superscript number.

Do not use linked fields (produced by EndNote and similar programs). Please use the one-click button provided by EndNote to remove EndNote codes before saving your file.

The maximum number of references, strictly enforced, is 50 for Articles and 30 for Letters. Only one publication can be listed for each number.

Only articles that have been published or submitted to a named publication should be in the reference list; papers in preparation should be mentioned in the text with a list of authors (or initials if any of the authors are co-authors of the present contribution).

Published conference abstracts, numbered patents and preprints on recognized servers may be included in reference lists, but text, grant details and acknowledgements may not. (An exception is the highlighted references which we

ask authors of Reviews, Perspectives and Insights articles to provide.)

All authors should be included in reference lists unless there are more than five, in which case only the first author should be given, followed by ‘et al.’.

Please follow the style below in the published edition of Nature in preparing reference lists.

• Authors should be listed surname first, followed by a comma and initials of given names.

• Titles of all cited articles are required. Titles of articles cited in reference lists should be in upright, not italic text; the first word of the title is capitalized, the title written exactly as it appears in the work cited, ending with a full stop. Book titles are italic with all main words capitalized. Journal titles are italic and abbreviated according to common usage. Volume numbers are bold. The publisher and city of publication are required for books cited. (Refer to published papers in Nature for details.)

• References to web-only journals should give authors, article title and journal name as above, followed by URL in full - or DOI if known - and the year of publication in parentheses.

• References to websites should give authors if known, title of cited page, URL in full, and year of posting in parentheses.

5.5 End notes

End notes are brief and follow the reference list. Please refer to our annotated example to see how they appear in a Nature paper.

Papers containing Supplementary Information contain a statement after the reference list:

Supplementary Information is linked to the online version of the paper at www.nature.com/nature.

Acknowledgements should be brief, and should not include thanks to anonymous referees and editors, inessential words, or effusive comments. A person can be thanked for assistance, not “excellent” assistance, or for comments, not “insightful” comments, for example. Acknowledgements can contain grant and contribution numbers.

Author Contributions: authors are required to include a statement to specify the contributions of each co-author. The statement can be up to several sentences long, describing the tasks of individual authors referred to by their initials. See the authorship policy page for further explanation and examples.

Author Information: Authors should include a set of statements at the end of the paper, in the following order:

• Data deposition statement if appropriate, with the URL and relevant numbers for public database accession.

• A sentence reading “Reprints and permissions information is available at www.nature.com/reprints”.

• Competing financial interests statement.

• A sentence reading \"Correspondence and requests for materials should be addressed to XX”, where XX refers to one e-mail address. Nature expects this identified author to respond to readers’ enquiries and requests for materials, and to coordinate the handling of any other matters arising from the published contribution, including corrections complaints. The author named as corresponding author is not necessarily the senior author, and publication of this author’s name does not imply seniority. Authors may include more than one e-mail address if essential, in which event Nature will communicate with the first-listed address for any post-publication matters arising, and expect that author to coordinate with the other co-authors.

5.6 Statistics

Authors should ensure that any statistical analysis used is sound and that it conforms to the journal’s guidelines. To minimize the chance of statistical errors, authors can consult the statistical checklist.

The following is a brief guide to Nature's requirements to assist authors. We expect the below to be of use mainly to authors in the biomedical sciences but the principles apply to all disciplines.

Every paper that contains statistical testing should state the name of the statistical test, the n for each statistical analysis, the comparisons of interest, a justification for the use of that test (including, for example, a discussion of the normality of the data when the test is appropriate only for normal data), the alpha level for all tests, whether the tests were one-tailed or two-tailed, and the actual P value for each test (not merely \"significant\" or \"P < 0.5\") It should be clear what statistical test was used to generate every P value. These details should be reported briefly at the most appropriate place in the text: either in the text of a Methods section (if one is present), or as part of a Table or Figure caption.

Data sets should be summarized with descriptive statistics, which should include the n for each data set, a clearly labelled measure of centre (such as the mean or the median), and a clearly labelled measure of variability (such as the standard deviation or range). Ranges are more appropriate than standard deviations or standard errors for small data sets. Graphs should include clearly labelled error bars as part of the figure legend. Authors must state whether a number that follows the ± sign is a standard error (s.e.m.) or a standard deviation (s.d.).

If there is scope for doubt, authors must justify the use of a particular test and explain whether their data conform to the assumptions of the tests, as part of the

Supplementary Information accompanying their paper. Three errors are particularly common, and we ask authors of these types of study to provide appropriate verification in their manuscripts or as Supplementary Information:

• Multiple comparisons: When making multiple statistical comparisons on a single data set, authors should explain how they adjusted the alpha level to avoid an inflated Type I error rate, or they should select statistical tests appropriate for multiple groups (such as ANOVA rather than a series of t-tests).

• Normal distribution: Many statistical tests require that the data be approximately normally distributed; when using these tests, authors should explain how they tested their data for normality. If the data do not meet the assumptions of the test, then a non-parametric alternative should be used instead.

• Small sample size: When the sample size is small (less than about 10), authors should use tests appropriate to small samples or justify their use of large-sample tests.

Authors should be aware that all referees are asked to review any statistical analysis present and to ensure that it is sound and that it conforms to the journal’s guidelines.

5.7 Tables.

Tables should each be presented on a separate page, portrait (not landscape)

orientation, and upright on the page, not sideways.

Tables have a short, one-line title in bold text. Tables should be as small as possible. Bear in mind the size of a Nature page as a limiting factor when compiling a table.

Symbols and abbreviations are defined immediately below the table, followed by essential descriptive material as briefly as possible, all in double-spaced text.

Standard table formats are available for submissions of X-ray refinement statistics and NMR structural statistics. Authors providing these data should use these standard tables. There are shortform versions for the main paper and fuller versions to be deposited in the Supplementary Information. Both versions of these tables are available on the forms and declarations page.

5.8 Figure legends.

Figure legends should be listed one after the other, as part of the text document, separate from the figure files. Please do not write a legend below each figure.

Each figure legend should begin with a brief title for the whole figure and continue with a short description of each panel and the symbols used. For contributions with methods sections, legends should not contain any details of methods, or exceed 100 words (fewer than 500 words in total for the whole paper).

In contributions without methods sections, legends should be fewer than 300 words (800 words or fewer in total for the whole paper).

All error bars must be defined in the figure legend, as discussed in Section 5.6 above.

5.9 Figures

Nature requires figures in electronic format. Please ensure that all digital

images comply with the Nature journals’ policy on image integrity.

Figures should be as small and simple as is compatible with clarity. The goal is for figures to be comprehensible to readers in other or related disciplines, and to assist their understanding of the paper. Unnecessary figures and parts (panels) of figures should be avoided: data presented in small tables or histograms, for instance, can generally be stated briefly in the text instead. Avoid unnecessary complexity, colouring and excessive detail.

Figures should not contain more than one panel unless the parts are logically connected; each panel of a multipart figure should be sized so that the whole figure can be reduced by the same amount and reproduced on the printed page at the smallest size at which essential details are visible. For guidance, Nature’s standard figure sizes are mm (single column) and 183 mm (double column) and the full depth of the page is 247 mm.

Amino-acid sequences should be printed in Courier (or other monospaced) font using the one-letter code in lines of 50 or 100 characters.

Authors describing chemical structures are requested to use the Nature Chemical Biology guidelines.

Some brief guidance for figure preparation:

• Lettering in figures (labelling of axes and so on) should be in lower-case type, with the first letter capitalized and no full stop.

• Units should have a single space between the number and the unit, and follow SI nomenclature or the nomenclature common to a particular field. Thousands should be separated by commas (1,000). Unusual units or abbreviations are defined in the legend.

• Scale bars should be used rather than magnification factors.

• Layering type directly over shaded or textured areas and using reversed type (white lettering on a coloured background) should be avoided where possible.

• Where possible, text, including keys to symbols, should be provided in the legend rather than on the figure itself.

Figure quality

At initial submission, figures should be at good enough quality to be assessed by referees, ideally as JPEGs. Authors are advised to follow the initial and revised submissions guidelines with respect to sizing, resolution and labelling.

Please note that print-publication quality figures are large and it is not helpful to upload them at the submission stage. Even if they will upload onto the Nature submissions site, many referees’ institutions have e-mail systems that will not accept large attachments. Authors will be asked for high-quality figures at the time of acceptance of their article for publication, so it is not necessary to send them at the submission stage.

Figure costs

A contribution towards the total cost of reproduction of colour figures is requested. We currently charge £757.05 for the first colour figure and £270.38 for each additional figure. Inability to pay this charge will not prevent publication of colour figures judged essential by the editors, but this must be agreed with the editor prior to acceptance.

5.10 Production-quality figures.

When a manuscript is accepted in principle for publication, the editor will ask for high-resolution figures. Do not submit publication-quality figures until asked to do so by an editor. At that stage, please prepare figures according to these guidelines.

5.11 Supplementary Information

Supplementary Information (SI) is online-only, peer-reviewed material that is essential background to the Article or Letter (for example, large data sets, methods, calculations), but which is too large or impractical, or of interest only to a few specialists, to justify inclusion in the printed version of the paper. See the Supplementary Information page for further details.

Nature strongly encourages authors to include a simple schematic as

Supplementary Figure 1 of their SI that summarizes the main finding of the paper, where appropriate (for example, to assist understanding of complex detail in cell, structural and molecular biology disciplines).

If a manuscript has accompanying SI, either at submission or in response to an editor’s letter that requests it, authors are asked to refer to discrete items of the SI (for example, figures, tables) at an appropriate point in the main manuscript.

5.12 Chemical structures and characterization of chemical materials

For guidelines describing Nature’s standards for experimental methods and the characterization of new compounds, please see the information sheet on the characterization of chemical materials. For chemical structures, authors should follow the Nature Chemical Biology guidelines.

6. Submission

When possible, Articles and Letters should be submitted online. If online submission is not possible, contributions should be posted. Submissions sent by e-mail will not be considered. Please be sure to read the information on what to include in your cover letter as well as several important content-related issues when putting a submission together.

Before submitting, all contributors must agree to all of Nature's publication policies.

Nature authors must make data and materials publicly available upon publication. This includes deposition of data into the relevant databases and arranging for them to be publicly released on the online publication date (not after). A full description of this policy is at the NPG Authors and Referees website.

7. Other Nature and NPG journals

An account of the relationship between all the Nature journals is provided at the Nature family page. Please see Publications and services for details of the other journals published by the Nature Publishing Group.