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 to authors and the editorial policies, including the guide for referees, are also available in PDF format.
Aims and scope of the journal
Nature Physics publishes papers of the highest quality and significance in all areas of physics, pure and applied. The journal content reflects core physics disciplines, but is also open to a broad range of topics whose central theme falls within the bounds of physics. Theoretical physics, particularly where it is pertinent to experiment, also features. Research areas covered in the journal include:
- Quantum physics
- Atomic and molecular physics
- Statistical physics, thermodynamics and nonlinear dynamics
- Condensed-matter physics
- Fluid dynamics
- Optical physics
- Chemical physics
- Information theory and computation
- Electronics, photonics and device physics
- Nanotechnology
- Nuclear physics
- Plasma physics
- High-energy particle physics
- Astrophysics and cosmology
- Biophysics
- Geophysics
Nature Physics is committed to publishing top-tier original research in physics through a fair and rigorous review process. It offers readers and authors high visibility, access to a broad readership, high standards of copy editing and production, rapid publication, and independence from academic societies and other vested interests.
The journal features two primary research paper formats: Letters and Articles. In addition to publishing primary research, Nature Physics serves as a central source for top-quality information for the physics community through Review Articles, News & Views, Research Highlights on important developments published throughout the physics literature, Commentaries, Book Reviews, and Correspondence.
Top of pageEditors and contact information
Like the other Nature titles, Nature Physics has no external editorial board. Instead, all editorial decisions are made by a team of full-time professional editors, who are PhD-level physicists. Click here for information about the scientific background of the editors
General editorial inquiries and correspondence should be addressed to the Editor, at naturephysics@nature.com.
Inquiries about the status of a manuscript should be addressed to the Editorial Assistant, at naturephysics@nature.com.
Top of pageRelationship to other Nature journals
Nature Physics 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 physics. Nature Physics publishes landmark papers within the field of physics alone. Topics covered by other Nature journals (such as materials science, nanotechnology and photonics) may feature in Nature Physics when the work centres on some new development in physics; otherwise these topics will be the remit of the other relevant journals. For papers that could satisfy the scope of more than one Nature journal, the choice of which journal to submit to 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 Physics 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 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 Physics, 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 Physics is 14.677, according to the ISI Journal Citation Reports. This places Nature Physics first among all primary research journals in physics.
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.
Top of pageAbbreviation
The correct abbreviation for abstracting and indexing purposes is Nature Phys.
Top of pageISSN and EISSN
The international standard serial number (ISSN) for Nature Physics is 1745-2473, and the electronic international standard serial number (EISSN) is 1745-2481.
The guide to authors and the editorial policies, including the guide for referees, are also available in PDF format.
