Several of the Nature journals have a new online article layout, a two-column format that increases on-screen article readability while providing enhanced navigation and a flexible set of tools. For more details of what is included, download a PDF showing the key aspects.

Journals so far in the new template include Nature, Nature Biotechnology, Nature Chemical Biology, Nature Chemistry, Nature Communications, Nature Genetics, Nature Immunology, Nature Materials, Nature Medicine, Nature Neuroscience and Nature Structural and Molecular Biology. The rest of the Nature journals will adopt the new design over the coming months.

An example of an article in the new template at Nature Communications.

From Olive Heffernan, Editor of Nature Reports Climate Change:

Nature Reports Climate Change has published its final issue, on 5 May 2010. In practical terms, thais means that the site will no longer be updated, but the archived content will still be freely available online. Although an ending of sorts, the closure of Nature Reports Climate Change is necessary to facilitate what will ultimately be a much larger effort by Nature Publishing Group to cover climate change.

In April 2011, we will launch Nature Climate Change, a full-fledged journal, whose mission will be to publish original research on climate change and its impacts, as well as to place such change in a wider social and political context. This new addition to the Nature family of journals is exciting for a number of reasons. As an interdisciplinary publication, Nature Climate Change will be the first Nature journal to publish research from social scientists. This marks an exciting new venture for us, but also a challenge in reaching out to a new community.

In addition to publishing the very best research from the natural and social sciences, Nature Climate Change will take forward the features, commentary, analysis and reviews that Nature Reports Climate Change has become known for over the past three years. Blending high-quality original research and opinion from international experts with unique reporting from renowned journalists, Nature Climate Change will set itself apart from existing climate research journals, enabling it to reach out beyond the confines of academia to decision-makers and other stakeholders.

Although April 2011 is some time away, launching a journal is a protracted process, and already the wheels are in motion to ensure that it happens on schedule. So, as the Editor-in-Chief of the new journal, it is with a mixture of anticipation and relief that I sign off on the last issue of Nature Reports Climate Change. Since its inception, the site has provided a home for engaging content from a host of thought-provoking authors and climate change experts. And Nature Publishing Group has done a wonderful service to society in making this content freely available to all. Nature Reports Climate Change has been the obvious precursor to what will be a bigger, better beast.

Our regular readers can follow the journal’s launch on our Climate Feedback blog which will continue to be a mainstay of discussions on climate science in the world at large, but will also become a vehicle for informing a wider audience of the new insights, analysis and opinion published in the subscription-based journal.

Finally, sincere thanks to those who have followed and contributed to Nature Reports Climate Change since its launch in 2007. We hope that you share our excitement about our new venture, and we welcome your thoughts and suggestions for its evolution.

Nature Climate Change – preliminary website.

About the new journal.

Contact the journal.

Climate Feedback blog.

Nature Climate Change will launch later in 2010. It will be a monthly journal providing in-depth coverage of scientific and impact-based research relating to the Earth’s changing climate. A multidisciplinary journal, Nature Climate Change will publish high-quality papers across both the natural and social sciences, as well as place the latest research into a wider economic, social and political context. The journal’s scope will cover research in the climate sciences but will cast a wider net to cover the implications of climate change for the economy, policy and society. As well as reflecting the traditional core subjects relating to climate change and its impacts, such as atmospheric science, biogeochemistry, geography, geomorphology, ecology, environmental economics, geoengineering, modelling and prediction, oceanography, palaeoclimatology and paleaoecology, the journal will also cover related subjects including climate and society interactions, political impacts and environmental assessment and management. More information about the journal is available here.

Contact the journal.

A limited number of personal subscriptions to Nature Climate Change will be made freely available to researchers working on the scientific understanding and impact of the Earth’s changing climate as well as policy makers, economists, sociologists and other researchers on the periphery of climate related research. Further information about qualifying for a free subscription will be available shortly via the journal’s website.

General subscription information for Nature Climate Change.

See also: Climate Feedback, the blog that facilitates discussion on climate change, covering the latest research, news, opinion and analysis. It is an informal forum for debate and commentary among the science community and the wider interested public on climate science in our journals and others, in the news, and in the world at large.

Nature Communications, an innovative online science journal covering all areas of the physical, chemical and biological sciences, will be launching in Spring 2010. The journal is open for submissions of manuscripts in these disciplines. For researchers keen to learn more about this new journal, Dr Lesley Anson, the chief editor of Nature Communications, has been interviewed by science blogger Dr Martin Fenner at Nature Network. A brief taste of the interview:

Can you describe Nature Communications for me?

The published research will be of the quality associated with Nature-branded journals, but won’t necessarily have the high impact or broad appeal of papers published in Nature and the Nature research journals. In other words, we expect that papers published in Nature Communications will be of interest and importance to specialists within each field. All research papers will be in Article format, regardless of their length, and will undergo rigorous, yet efficient, peer review and be published rapidly online. Authors of primary research papers can choose to make their published article available via subscribed access, or open access through the payment of a publication fee. Nature Communications will also publish occasional Reviews and Editorials.

What will you be doing differently from other Nature journals?

Like other Nature-branded journals, Nature Communications has an independent team of editors who are responsible for maintaining the quality of the published research through rigorous peer review. However, Nature Communications has streamlined the editorial process – by limiting presubmission enquiries, appeals and the number of rounds of review – in order to secure rapid decisions for authors. Another distinctive feature of Nature Communications is its Editorial Advisory Panel – to be announced shortly – which will consist of recognized experts from all areas of science. Their collective expertise will support the editorial team in ensuring that every field is represented in the journal.

For more information of relevance to researchers interested in publishing in, and reading, the new journal, please see the full interview. Another science blogger, chemist Dr Cameron Neylon, has also written about Nature Communications, this time in an interview with Grace Baynes of the NPG communications team. The interview is posted on Dr Neylon’s blog, Science in the Open. This interview begins by focusing on the publishing model of the journal, which is a hybrid of the subscription model used by many journals, and the newer model in which the author pays a publication fee to allow free readership of the article. It then goes on to discuss speed, quality and the fees charged either to publish in or to subscribe to the new journal. A sample question and answer:

In five years time what are the possible outcomes that would be seen at NPG as the journal being a success? What might a failure look like?

We would like to see Nature Communications publish high quality manuscripts covering all of the natural sciences and work to serve the research community. The rationale for launching this title is to ensure NPG continues to serve the community with new publishing opportunities. A successful outcome would be a journal with an excellent reputation for quality and service, a good impact factor, a substantial archive of published papers that span the entire editorial scope and significant market share.

See the full interview at Science in the Open blog.

Nature Communications guide to authors.

Nature Communications guide to peer-reviewers.

Nature Communications is an innovative online science journal launching in Spring 2010, providing a unique forum for the rapid publication of high-quality research in all areas of the physical, chemical and biological sciences. Nature Communications offers:

– An online publishing arena for the entire scientific spectrum

– Rigorous peer review

– High-quality papers reporting fundamental scientific advances

– Rapid dissemination of accepted research to a broad audience

– An open-access publishing opportunity

You can now submit your research to Nature Communications using the journal’s online manuscript tracking service.

We advise reading the journal’s Guide to Authors before submitting your paper, for information about content types, how to submit, and the editorial process. Here is some more detail for authors:

Nature Communications is an online-only, multidisciplinary journal dedicated to publishing high-quality research in all areas of the biological, physical and chemical sciences. Papers published by the journal represent important advances of significance to specialists within each field.

Nature Communications encourages submissions in fields that aren’t represented by a dedicated Nature research journal; for example developmental biology, plant science, microbiology, ecology and evolution, palaeontology, astronomy and high-energy physics. The editors particularly welcome submissions from cross-disciplinary fields, including biophysics, physical chemistry, environmental science and mathematical biology, although no area is excluded from consideration. In all cases, papers published in Nature Communications will be of high quality, without necessarily having the scientific reach of papers published in Nature and the Nature research journals.

Nature Communications is committed to providing an efficient service for both authors and readers. A streamlined peer-review system, together with the support of an Editorial Advisory Panel, allows a team of independent editors to make rapid and fair publication decisions. Prompt dissemination of accepted papers to Nature Publishing Group’s wide readership and beyond is achieved through a programme of continuous online publication. Published manuscripts are enhanced by innovative web technologies, including interactive browsing and efficient data- and text-mining.

Further information:

About the editors of Nature Communications.

Open Access options.

Frequently asked questions about Nature Communications (PDF).

Contact the journal.

Nature Communications Nature Network forum, where you can read, post and discuss matters relating to the journal with the editors and other Nature Network users.