The development of Nanoscale

Nanoscale was launched in 2009 by the Royal Society of Chemistry, in collaboration with the National Center for Nanoscience and Technology (NCNST) in Beijing, China. As the journal's Managing Editor at the very beginning and throughout its life, I look back with pride at what we have achieved over the past five years.

From the start, our aspirations were always to publish a world class, community-spanning and truly international journal, evaluating submissions from all researchers with rigour, efficiency and fairness.

Over the five years from its birth, Nanoscale has enjoyed considerable success by any metric. In the past 12 months we have received over 7000 original submissions, reflecting our journal's impact on and strong support of scientists around the world. Downloads to the research published in Nanoscale are exceptionally high and rising at over 40% each year, underlining the important of and interest in the science we publish.

I would like to pay tribute to the exceptional work of our world-class handling Editors. Nanoscale started with 3 Editors and this has risen steadily, now up to 12. Working under the direction of Editorial Board Chair Prof. Chunli Bai (白春礼), the Editors have universally approached their roles with dedication and diligence, using their exceptional scientific knowledge and judgement to ensure Nanoscale has operated robust and fair processes that have the confidence of the communities we serve. Without exception the Editors have consistently gone above and beyond the call of duty, approaching their demanding role (and ever-rising submissions) with supreme skill, care and good humour. Their support has made Nanoscale what it is, and I cannot thank them enough.

There has of course been much hard work in parallel from the Nanoscale Editorial Office. My colleagues and I have worked to ensure that we are attracting the best and most topical research and review articles to the journal, that Nanoscale maintains a broad scope, strong reputation and enjoys ever-greater visibility, and that we meet the high expectations and aspirations of the broad nano-communities. In particular I would like to acknowledge my colleague Fangjie Chen (陈方洁), who has worked tirelessly to coordinate the administration of Nanoscale from Beijing since the journal's inception. Fangjie deserves the warmest thanks of all Nanoscale authors, reviewers and editors.

All good things come to an end, and with this Editorial I am announcing my departure from my Executive Editor role, and from the Royal Society of Chemistry. It has been an exceptionally stimulating time for me founding and developing Nanoscale. On a personal level, I have hugely enjoyed meeting and interacting with nano researchers around the world, travelling extensively to discuss new science, receive feedback and ensure that Nanoscale remains topical and well supported. Through my very many interactions with scientists in many countries, I have made firm friendships and learnt so much. I will greatly miss this.

I believe I leave Nanoscale in a strong place. My successor as Executive Editor is Dr Fiona McKenzie. Fiona grew up in Kent, UK and then moved to Scotland to complete her undergraduate degree at the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow. She remained at Strathclyde for her Ph.D. studies under the supervision of Professor Duncan Graham where her research focused on functionalising metallic nanoparticles with DNA and antibodies for probing biomolecular interactions by optical spectroscopies. Fiona joined the Royal Society of Chemistry in early 2010 as a Publishing Editor for Chem. Commun. and Chem. Sci. She has since progressed from Development Editor to Deputy Editor to her current role as Editor of Mater. Horiz. and the J. Mater. Chem. family.

Both personally and on behalf of the whole Royal Society of Chemistry, I thank you all for your considerable and ongoing support. I wish Fiona all the very best in taking our journal forwards, and offer my full backing. I am confident she is well-placed to continue to take Nanoscale from strength to strength.

 

With my warmest regards,

Philip Earis (易天翔, earis@cantab.net)

Prof. Chunli Bai and Philip Earis cutting the Nanoscale cake at the ChinaNano 2013 conference, accompanied by Fangjie Chen (left) and Associate Editors Profs. Jie Liu and Xingyu Jiang (far right)

Dr Fiona McKenzie

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