1. Manuscript submission

Legal requirements
Submission of a manuscript implies: that the work described has not been published before; that it is not under consideration for publication anywhere else; that its publication has been approved by all co-authors, if any, as well as by the responsible authorities – tacitly or explicitly – at the institute where the work has been carried out. The publisher will not be held legally responsible should there be any claims for compensation.

Permissions
Authors wishing to include figures, tables, or text passages that have already been published elsewhere (including in the authors’ own previous papers) are required to OBTAIN PERMISSION from the copyright owner(s) [the publisher(s) of the journal, not the authors of the paper] and to state clearly in the figure/table caption or other appropriate locations in the manuscript that such permission has been obtained. For example: Reproduced with permission from ref. xxx. Copyright American Chemical Society, 2008. Any content received without such evidence will be assumed to originate from the author(s). It is the authors’ responsibility to retain an electronic or hardcopy of the permission.

How to submit
Nano Research uses an online system of manuscript tracking called Editorial Manager. Authors must submit their articles online at https://mc03.manuscriptcentral.com/nanores. This will allow quicker and more efficient processing of your manuscript. Please go to the link to submit your article online. To help speed the review process, authors are requested to provide a list of potential reviewers. Each manuscript should also be accompanied by a cover letter that summarizes the main findings of the work and its novelty.Although Editorial Manager supports a wide range of submission file formats, submissions of Microscoft WORD files containing original, high quality figures are encouraged. We strongly advise you NOT to upload PDF files to the system. 

2. Manuscript preparation 

Language

The journal’s language is English. Either British English or American English spelling and terminology may be used, but the system chosen should be followed consistently throughout the article. We request that the language is corrected before submission. Submissions with unsatisfactory English will be returned without review. 

Editing services
All manuscripts are subject to copy editing. 

Length of paper
There is no strict limit on the length of a manuscript. Nevertheless, authors are asked to make the manuscripts as concise as possible and to limit them to less than 40 manuscript pages. Three manuscript pages (12-point font, typed in double space) equal approximately one printed page. The space required for the figures and tables should be calculated on the basis of their final printed size.

Manuscript structure and instruction
Follow this order when typing manuscripts: graphical Table of Contents, title page, abstract, keywords, main text, acknowledgements, list of symbols, appendix, references, tables, figure captions, and figures, cover figure (encouraged). 

Graphical Table of Contents
Each manuscript must include a graphic for the Table of Contents at the beginning of the file. 1-2 sentences should be written below the figure to summarize the paper. This graphic should capture the readers’ attention and give readers a visual impression of the essence of the paper. Labels, formulae, or numbers within the graphic must be legible at publication size. Tables or spectra are not acceptable. Color graphics are highly encouraged. The resolution of the figure should be at least 600 dpi. The size should be at least 50 mm × 80 mm with a rectangular shape (ideally, the ratio of height to width should be less than 1 and larger than 5/8). 

Title page
The title page should include: 

• A concise and informative title
• The name(s) of the author(s)
• The affiliation(s) and address(es) of the author(s)
• The e-mail address of the corresponding author

Abstract
Please provide one paragraph containing a complete but concise description of your work in 100–250 words. The abstract should consist of motivation, problem statement, approach, results, and conclusions in order to make the paper appealing to more readers. Since the abstract is indexed in many databases it should be selfcontained without any undefined abbreviations or any cited references. 

Keywords
Please provide 4 to 6 keywords which can be used for indexing purposes. 

Heading/Section levels (numbered)
For articles, please use the decimal system of headings with no more than three levels.
Examples:
       Introduction
       1. Experimental
       2. Results and Discussion
           3.1…
           3.2…
       3. Conclusions
       Acknowledgements
It is OK to have a Method section placed at the end of the text. 

For short papers, it is OK to have no section levels. 

Text formatting
For submission in Word

• Use a normal, plain font (e.g. 12-point Times Roman), double space line, and one column for text.
• Use the automatic page numbering function to number the pages
• Do not use field functions
• Use tab stops or other commands for indents, not the space bar
• Use the table function, not spreadsheets, to make tables
• Use the equation editor or MathType for equations
  Note: If you use Word 2007, do not create the equations with the default equation editor but use
  MathType instead
• Place any figures at the end of the manuscript and do not integrate them within the text
• Use ChemDraw for any chemical structures in the manuscript (including in figures/tables)

Footnotes
Essential footnotes to the text should be numbered consecutively and placed at the bottom of the page to which they refer. Footnotes on the title page are not given reference symbols. Footnotes to the text are numbered consecutively; those to tables should be indicated by superscript lower-case letters (or asterisks for significance values and other statistical data).  

Formulae and symbols
Formulae, symbols and all subscripts, superscripts, Greek letters, and other characters must be legible and carefully checked. Standard mathematical notation should be used. All symbols used in manuscript must be explained. A list of symbols should follow the abstract if such a list is needed. All equations must be numbered.

Single letters that denote mathematical constants, variables, and unknown quantities should be set in italic type in text and in equations. Numerals, operators, and punctuation should be set in Roman type (upright), as are commonly defined functions or abbreviations, e.g., cos, det, e or exp, lim, log, max, min, sin, tan, d (for derivative) should also be upright . Vectors, tensors, and matrices should be set in bold italic. 

Figures

• Nano Research will publish all figures and illustrations in color and free of charge when deemed necessary.
• The preferred figure formats is TIFF or JPEG with a preferred resolution of 600dpi relative to the final figure size.
• All figures are to be numbered using Arab numerals.
• Figure parts should be denoted by lowercase letters.
• Figures should always be cited in text in consecutive numerical order.
• For each figure, please supply a figure caption.
• Make sure to identify all elements found in the figure in the caption.
• Identify any previously published material by giving the original source in the form of a reference at the end of the caption.
• If any chemical structures are used in the manuscript including figure/table, the use of ChemDraw software is encouraged 

Tables

• All tables are to be numbered using Arab numerals.
• Tables should always be cited in text in consecutive numerical order.
• For each table, please supply a table title. The table title should explain clearly and concisely the components of the table.
• Identify any previously published material by giving the original source in the form of a reference at the end of the table heading.
• Tables should not duplicate results presented elsewhere in the manuscript (for example, in graphs). 

Units and abbreviations
Abbreviations should be used only if deemed absolutely necessary, and should be defined at first mention in the abstract and again in the main body of the text and used consistently thereafter.

Please adhere to internationally agreed standards such as those defined by the International Organization of Standardization (ISO). Metric SI units should be used throughout except where non-SI units are more common [e.g. liter (L) for volume]. 

Acknowledgements
Acknowledgements of people, grants, funds, etc. should be placed in a separate section before the appendices (if any) and reference list. The names of funding organizations should be written in full. Do not include acknowledgements on the title page, as a footnote to the title or otherwise. 

Appendices
If there are two or more appendices, they should be numbered consecutively. Equations in appendices should be designated differently from those in the main body of the paper, e.g. (A1), (A2) etc. In each appendix equations should be numbered separately. 

References
The list of references should only include works that are cited in the text and that have been published or accepted for publication. Personal communications and unpublished works should only be mentioned in the text. Papers accepted for publication are cited as “in press”. Do not use footnotes or endnotes as a substitute for a reference list. References with more than 10 authors must list the first 10 authors, followed by “et al.”. The journal title in the reference list should be abbreviated: use the ISI list of abbreviations given at http://images.isiknowledge.com/WOK45/help/WOS/A_abrvjt.html

Citation in text
References to the literature are cited by number in square brackets at appropriate locations (before a period, comma, etc.) in the text. Some examples:

• Negotiation research spans many disciplines [3].
• This result was later contradicted by Becker and Seligman [5], who…….
• This effect has been widely studied [1–3, 7]. 

List style
All literature citations are compiled in a numbered References list at the end of the manuscript text, in the order of their first citation in the text. Each numbered reference may contain only one literature citation. Please ensure references are given in the correct format, including titles of journal articles/book chapters with initial and final page numbers, in order to avoid delays in typesetting your article. 

(a) Journal article
[1] Zhou, K. B.; Wang, X.; Sun, X. M.; Peng, Q.; Li, Y. D. Enhanced catalytic activity of ceria nanorods from well defined reactive crystal planes. J. Catal. 2005, 229, 206–212. 

(b) Book (authored)
[2] Conway, B. E. Electrochemical Supercapacitors: Scientific Fundamentals and Technological Applications; Kluwer Academic/Plenum: New York, 1999. 

(c) Book chapter
[3] Craighead, H. G. Nanostructures in electronics. In Nanomaterials: Synthesis, Properties and Applications. Edelstein, A.; Cammatata, R., Eds.; Taylor and Francis: New York, 1998; pp 565–566. 

(d) Paper in proceedings
[4] Mahdavi, A.; Spasojevic, B. Incorporating simulation into building systems control logic. In Proceedings of the 10th International Building Performance Simulation Association Conference and Exhibition (BS2007), Beijing, China, 2007, pp 1175–1181. 

(e) Thesis or Dissertation
[5] Chandrakanth, J. S. Effects of ozone on the colloidal stability of particles coated with natural organic matter. Ph.D. Dissertation, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO, USA, 1994. 

(f) Patent
[6] Sheem, S. K. Low-cost fiber optic pressure sensor. U.S. Patent 6,738,537, May 18, 2004. 

(g) Article by DOI
[7] Slifka, M. K.; Whitton, J. L. Clinical implications of dysregulated cytokine production. J. Mol. Med., in press, DOI: 10.1007/s001090000086. 

(h) Online reference
[8] Tour, J. M. Molecular Electronics: Commercial Insights, Chemistry, Devices, Architecture and Programming [Online]. World Scientific: River Edge, NJ, 2003; pp 177–180. http://legacy.netlibrary.com/ebook_info.asp?product_id=91422&piclist=19799,20141,20153 (accessed Nov 7, 2004). 

Electronic Supplementary Material (ESM)
If ESM is submitted, it will be published as received from the author in the online version only. ESM may consist of

• information that cannot be printed: animations, video clips, sound recordings;
• information that is more convenient in electronic form: sequences, spectral data, etc.;
• large amounts of original data, e.g. additional tables, illustrations, etc.;
• If supplying any ESM, the text must make specific mention of the material as a citation, similar to that of figures and tables (e.g., “..Fig. S-1 in the ESM.”). If supplying any ESM, a paragraph should be added before the “References” section (e. g., Electronic Supplementary Material: Supplementary material (add a brief description) is available in the online version of this article at http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/***********************). 

Depositions of crystal structure data from X-ray and neutron diffraction studies
If your paper includes crystal structure data from X-ray and neutron diffraction studies, please deposit the data in a crystallographic database prior to submitting your manuscript to the journal so that referees can access the information electronically free of charge. The two databases, the Cambridge Crystallographic Data Centre (CCDC) and the Fachinformationszentrum Karlsruhe (FIZ), have the same procedure for the deposition of data
and both will be pleased to provide help.

You can send your data (preferably electronically) to the address, e.g. deposit@ccdc.cam.ac.uk. Guidance for data deposition can be obtained from the the database website, e.g. http://www.ccdc.cam.ac.uk/conts/depositing.html. In general, you will receive a depository number from the database two working days after electronic deposition. Please then quote the depository number in your manuscript. 

3. Transliteration

Where possible, all examples from languages not using the Latin alphabet, in particular Asian languages, should be transliterated using an accepted system of transliteration. Authors should use their chosen system consistently throughout the manuscript. Where no standard system has been adopted in the literature (e.g., examples of certain dialects never described before), use symbols to represent sounds that are as close to the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) symbols as possible, and give explanations where appropriate. Where a transliteration system is already used in the literature, no new transliteration system invented by the author will be accepted. 

4. After acceptance

Copyright
Submission of a manuscript implies: that the work described has not been published before (except in the form of an abstract or as part of a published lecture, review, or thesis); that its publication has been approved by all co-authors. The author signs for and accepts responsibility for releasing this material on behalf of any and all co-authors. Transfer of copyright to Tsinghua University Press and Springer becomes effective if and when the article is accepted for publication. The copyright covers the exclusive right (for U.S. government employees: to the extent transferable) to reproduce and distribute the article, including reprints, translations, photographic reproductions, microform, electronic form (offline, online) or other reproductions of similar nature. 

An author may self-archive an author-created version of his/her article on his/her own website and or in his/her institutional repository. He/she may also deposit this version on his/her funder's or funder's designated repository at the funder's request or as a result of a legal obligation, provided it is not made publicly available until 12 months after official publication. He/she may not use the publisher's PDF version, which is posted on www.springerlink.com, for the purpose of self-archiving or deposit. Furthermore, the author may only post his/her version provided acknowledgement is given to the original source of publication and a link is inserted to the published article on Springer's website. The link must be accompanied by the following text: "The original publication is available at www.springerlink.com". 

Just accepted
Accepted papers will be posted online prior to technical editing, formatting for publication, and author proofing “Just Accepted” papers. This is intended to expedite publication and increase the impact of accepted papers. Just accepted papers will be accessible and citable with a Digital Object Identifier (DOI®). Authors will be able to notify Nano Research upon acceptance of a paper if they do not wish to publish their papers as Just Accepted. 

Online first
The articles will be published online after receipt of the corrected proofs. This is the official first publication. After release of the whole issue, the paper can also be cited by issue and page numbers.  

Proof reading
The purpose of the proof is to check for typesetting errors and the completeness and accuracy of the text, tables and figures. Substantial changes in content, e.g., new results, corrected values, title and authorship, are not allowed without the approval of the Editor.

After online publication, further changes can only be made in the form of an Erratum, which will be hyperlinked to the article. 

Template

Use of this template will save time in the review and production processes and will expedite publication. However, use of the template is not a requirement of submission.