An exciting time for Nanoscale

Happy New Year from Nanoscale! As we look back at the previous year, we are delighted to highlight some of the many achievements of the journal in 2011 and we very much look forward to 2012. We would like to take this opportunity to thank all our authors, readers and referees for their contribution to the ongoing success of Nanoscale.

A focus on quality

Nanoscale's first official Impact Factor of 4.11 was announced in July 2011, which was based on our first 3 months of publication in 2009. This is a fantastic start for the journal. The Editors-in-Chief and Editorial Board are committed to ensuring that only research of the highest quality and broad significance across the fields of nanoscience and nanotechnology is published in Nanoscale. 2012 will be an exciting year for Nanoscale and we look forward to receiving our first full Impact Factor later this year.

A great Editorial team

In addition to our existing leading international Editors; Chunli Bai (NCNST, Beijing), Markus Niederberger (ETH Zurich), Francesco Stellacci (EPFL), Wei Lu (Michigan) and Jianfang Wang (Hong Kong), we are delighted to announce that Professor Jie Liu of Duke University has joined the Nanoscale Board as an Editor-in-Chief. Professor Liu's research interests cover the self-assembly of nanostructures, preparation and functionalization of single walled carbon nanotubes and developing carbon-nanotube-based chemical and biological sensors.

We have a great Editorial and Advisory Board team who are working hard to ensure Nanoscale is publishing the best research in the field – we are very grateful to them for their hard work during the past year. We are pleased to announce that we have appointed several new Board members this year and we look forward to working closely with them in the coming months and years – a full list of our Board members can be found on our website. We also sincerely thank all our retiring Board members for their support of Nanoscale.

Keeping you up-to-date with new research across the globe

Submissions to Nanoscale have continued to rise throughout 2011 and we have published an array of high quality research from across the globe. You can see the geographical spread of Nanoscale authors in 2011 in Fig. 1. Following this rise in submissions, from 2012 (our 4th volume) Nanoscale will move to 24 issues a year. This means that authors will have their work published in an issue even sooner, it will make issues easier to browse, and readers will be able to keep up-to-date with the latest cutting-edge research more frequently.

Fig. 1 Location of corresponding author of articles published in Nanoscale in 2011.

Nanoscale now offers authors the chance to publish their accepted article as an Accepted Manuscript, meaning that their research is available in a citable form even more rapidly.

Publishing the articles you want to read

We are delighted that we continue to publish research that is of interest to the communities we serve. This can be illustrated by the insightful feature review articles that Nanoscale publishes on topics of interest to the broad nanoscience and nanotechnology communities. From detailed Reviews to more focused Minireviews which highlight important new research fields, to high-impact Feature Articles which provide the author's personal perspective on a research area.

This year alone we have published almost 100 such articles – highlights include Millie Dresselhaus' Review “Graphene edges: a review of their fabrication and characterization” (DOI: 10.1039/C0NR00600A), Akira Isogai's Review “TEMPO-oxidized cellulose nanofibers” (DOI: 10.1039/C0NR00583E) and Xiaoyuan Chen's Feature Article “Nanoparticles for cell labelling” (DOI: 10.1039/C0NR00493F).

Table 1 The top ten most read articles in Nanoscale in 2011

Title	Authors	DOI
The role of nanomaterials in redox-based supercapacitors for next generation energy storage devices	Patrick S. Grant et al.	10.1039/c0nr00594k
Graphene edges: a review of their fabrication and characterization	Mildred S. Dresselhaus et al.	10.1039/c0nr00600a
Conjugated polymers/semiconductor nanocrystals hybrid materials—preparation, electrical transport properties and applications	Adam Pron et al.	10.1039/c0nr00403k
Controlled assembly of plasmonic colloidal nanoparticle clusters	Luis M. Liz-Marzán et al.	10.1039/c0nr00804d
Mechanised nanoparticles for drug delivery	J. Fraser Stoddart et al.	10.1039/b9nr00162j
Controlled assembly of Fe3O4 magnetic nanoparticles on graphene oxide	Zhijun Zhang et al.	10.1039/c0nr00776e
Preparation of functional magnetic nanocomposites and hybrid materials: recent progress and future directions	Silke Behrens	10.1039/c0nr00634c
Current directions in core–shell nanoparticle design	Wolfgang Schärtl	10.1039/c0nr00028k
2D materials: to graphene and beyond	Félix Zamora et al.	10.1039/c0nr00323a
Microwave chemistry for inorganic nanomaterials synthesis	Idalia Bilecka and Markus Niederberger	10.1039/b9nr00377k

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A focus on important research areas

In 2011, we published a series of themed issues in Nanoscale which allowed us to focus on important emerging areas in the field. Topics covered included themes such as Surface Nanotechnology for Biological Applications guest edited by Xingyu Jiang, Marcus Textor, and Darrell Irvine, Optical Materials guest edited by Claus Feldmann, and Lithography guest edited by Karl K. Berggren. We also brought together a collection of articles in association with the World Gold Council, which included articles from across the whole RSC Publishing portfolio on topics such as Gold Nanoscience & Nanotechnology and Nanoscale Gold in Novel Materials.

More exciting themed issues are planned for 2012 so keep an eye out for announcements on our Nanoscale blog (http://blogs.rsc.org/nr).

Sharing great research in a way that suits you

We continue to highlight the excellent work we have published in Nanoscale via our blog, on Facebook and through Twitter @nanoscale_rsc. We are planning a best paper award in 2012 – keep an eye out for further announcements on Twitter. You can be the first to know about each new issue of the journal and our latest news by signing up to our free contents e-alert and Newsbites Newsletter.

We hope you share our excitement about the achievements of Nanoscale to date and our excitement for the future. We look forward to working with you in the coming year and we remain dedicated to serving the nano-community in 2012.

The Nanoscale team: Philip Earis, Managing Editor, Jane Hordern, Deputy Editor, Heather Montgomery Development Editor and Nicola Nugent, Senior Publishing Editor.

RSC Publishing growth and successes

Journals from RSC Publishing are delivering impressive results on Impact Factors (IF), growth in quality content and international visibility and influence. The 2010 Journal Citation Reports ® proved that our quality is better than ever, and that is thanks to our authors and referees. Of the top 20 journals in the multidisciplinary chemistry category, 25% are from RSC Publishing. Plus, 83% of our journals listed in this year's report have an IF above 3.

The number of articles published in our journals has almost doubled in just two years – and our share of the total has also nearly doubled in that time. More titles have recently joined our portfolio: RSC Advances and Catalysis Science & Technology. In addition, Chemical Science received the ALPSP Award for Best New Journal 2011.

So, more-and-more authors – from 70+ countries in 2011 – are trusting us to ensure their research is communicated to the global community. Our Editorial and Advisory Boards are international, and our publishing operation is supported by offices in USA, China, India and Japan. Plus our content is downloaded by growing numbers of readers in virtually every country in the world.

These facts demonstrate that RSC journals are increasingly valued as a key resource for the very best research. www.rsc.org/journals

Books delivering the latest research advances, information, opinions and perspectives in modern science, confirm our reputation as one of the fastest and most dynamic publishers in the world.

In an age where content is key, we understand the importance of your online chemical science resource. The RSC eBook Collection now holds more than 1000 books, equating to over 25 000 chapters, and spanning more than 40 years. The publication of our 1000th eBook in 2011 was a celebratory milestone.

We continue to provide expert, interdisciplinary chemical science books: over 100 new print titles are planned for 2012 alongside the launch of several new series including:

• Food and Nutritional Components in Focus

• New Developments in Mass Spectrometry

• New Developments in NMR

• RSC Smart Materials

Our ability to deliver fast, accurate information to our customers was rewarded by the BIC Basic Award, an accolade held by few publishers. www.rsc.org/books

RSC Publishing platform

Access one million journal articles and book chapters in one simple integrated search.

The RSC Publishing Platform provides the most valued interface and features that connect you with the highest quality scientific research. With one single search box, students, academics, researchers, scientists and professionals can easily access our books, journals and databases. www.rsc.org/platform

To access content on the go, download our RSC Mobile app for your electronic device. www.rsc.org/rscmobile

Free online access

Free online access is available to all our newest journals, and much more – all you need to do is register for an RSC Publishing Personal Account. Once logged in, you will be able to access all our free content including:

• All content of our newest journals for the first two volumes

• Any articles that are part of a special free access promotion (e.g. ‘hot’ papers, web theme issues, etc.)

• A sample chapter from each book in the RSC eBook Collection

With your username and password you can access free content any time, any place – all you need is internet access. You can also save searches and favourite articles. Register now at www.rsc.org/personalregistration

If your institution/organisation is a current customer or on a free trial with IP registered addresses, you will be able to access all free content automatically, if authenticated. To request free access for your institution/organisation, go to www.rsc.org/freeaccess.

ChemSpider: the free chemical database

www.chemspider.com gives you the most comprehensive view of freely available chemical data from a single online search.

Search: over 26 million structures from 400+ sources.

Discover: related information from RSC publications, Wikipedia, Google Scholar & PubMed.

Share: add and curate data.

Access ChemSpider any time, any place, anywhere with the free ChemSpider mobile app, www.rsc.org/ChemSpidermobile

RSC conferences and events 2012

The RSC organises a broad range of conferences and events to promote the advancement of the chemical sciences. Please visit the website for the most up-to-date listing: www.rsc.org/events

Of particular interest to the Nanoscale community is:

Challenges in Nanoscience (ISACS9)

31 August–3 September 2012, Xiamen, China www.rsc.org/isacs9

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