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Levels of editing at Nature

Levels of editing at Nature

Q: Is editing support given to manuscripts published in Nature? What level of editing is done? Is this editing done in house or outsourced? Are you and the authors pleased with the level of editing? A: When a manuscript is submitted to Nature it goes through several rounds of peer review – the manuscript as accepted is very different from the version submitted. The peer-reviewers (typically 2 or 3) and the editors provide substantial structural (developmental) editing suggestions. All manuscripts accepted in principle for publication go through a detailed checklist procedure to guide the author both in matters of clarity  … Read more

Difference between Nature Articles and Letters

Q. I plan to submit a research article to Nature, but I am not sure what is difference between Nature article and letter. I notice there is usually only one article per issue of Nature, but several letters. I do not know how to decide to submit a manuscript as an article format or as a letter format. Would you please explain this to me?  Read more

Presubmission enquiry or entire manuscript?

Q: Dear Nature: I am considering sending a presubmission enquiry for a Letter, and in the process, noticed your comment that, “The editors would prefer to read the full paper even if it isn’t in journal format, than to read a presub.” If, (hypothetically!) I had a paper written in the format of another journal which that journal has not offered to publish, is there a mechanism by which I could submit this paper, rather than a presubmission enquiry, to Nature with the understanding that it would be rewritten to conform to your format if it were to be formally submitted? Would this be preferable? It would certainly be easier for me, and presumably would give you better information.  Read more

Precedings forum on Nature Network

There is a forum for Nature Precedings on Nature Network, where you can ask questions, receive answers and join the debate about this new way to post your results. (It is all free, but you need to sign up to Nature Network first.) One such question asked of Nature Precedings by a science blogger is: Why post on Precedings when one can just post on one’s blog? Hilary Spencer, product development manager for Nature Precedings, provides a reply at the Nature Network forum:  … Read more

Writing advice for non-native-English speakers

In commenting on the post “Web visibility”, José J. Lunazzi writes: “The title of the article mentioning “speaking” english concerns in fact to a smaller but not small problem, that of “writing” english. It is good to read that people whose native language is english need to be conscious and willing in some way to reduce the problem for the whole science. A good and simple way is to learn esperanto and start communicating with the world through it. Seeing the broad spectrum the “delta” strictly selective function of english can be understood. I had beeing at Korea, China and Japan using esperanto and english, same as in USA, and am sure that esperanto performs much better in every field of activity, coloquial, domestic or in physics.”  … Read more