Nanoscale Horizons journal

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Nanoscale Horizons is a Transformative Journal, and Plan S compliant

Impact factor: 8.0*

Time to first decision (all decisions): 9.0 days**

Time to first decision (peer reviewed only): 41.0 days***

Editorial Board Chair: Katharina Landfester

Open access publishing options available

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Meet the team

Journal scope

Nanoscale Horizons is a leading journal for the publication of exceptionally high-quality, innovative nanoscience and nanotechnology. The journal places an emphasis on original research that demonstrates a new concept or a new way of thinking (a conceptual advance), rather than primarily reporting technological improvements. However, outstanding articles featuring truly breakthrough developments such as record performance alone may also be published in the journal. For work to be published it must be of significant general interest to our community-spanning readership.

Topics covered in the journal include, but are not limited to:

Synthesis of nanostructured and nanoscale materials
Quantum materials
2D materials
Layered materials
Layered quantum materials
Characterisation of functional nanoscale materials and bio-assemblies
Properties of nanoscale materials
Self-assembly and molecular organisation
Complex hybrid nanostructures
Nanocomposites, nanoparticles, nanocrystalline materials, and nanoclusters
Nanotubes, molecular nanowires and nanocrystals
Molecular nanoscience
Nanocatalysis
Theoretical modelling
Single-molecules
Plasmonics
Nanoelectronics and molecular electronics
Nanophotonics
Nanochips, nanosensors, nanofluidics and nanofabrication
Carbon-based nanoscale materials and devices
Biomimetic materials
Nanobiotechnology/bionanomaterials
Nanomedicine
Regulatory approaches and risk assessment

New concepts statement

Nanoscale Horizons Communications must include a separate ‘new concepts’ statement. This statement should be a paragraph of no more than 200 words and should address the following questions:

What new concept has been demonstrated?
What differentiates this concept from existing research?
What additional insight does your work and the underlying concept bring to nanoscience and nanotechnology?

This statement will be seen by editors and reviewers and will help ascertain the significance of the research. The statement should not be a summary of the work reported, as in the article abstract. If the paper is accepted, this statement will also be published. Please note that papers cannot be peer-reviewed without this statement.

See examples of ‘New Concepts’ statements

Watch new concepts statement video to find out more

Publish in Nanoscale Horizons

Expect to be impressed

Horizons research pushes the boundaries of nanoscience and nanotechnology – think new unexpected observations, new directions and new levels of insight.

Put your trust in our team

Our editorial processes are transparent, rigorous, fair and rapid, with an editorial board of leading scientists, guided by a society publisher – we get great work into the world, fast.

Learn something new

Focus articles clarify often misunderstood topic areas, and original research comes with a New Concepts statement which explains the work and its wider significance.

Part of the nanoscale family

Nanoscale Horizons is part of the nanoscale family, which also includes Nanoscale Advances and Nanoscale. The journal series allows full coverage of interdisciplinary advances in nanoscience and nanotechnology.

Nanoscale Horizons

Nanoscale

Nanoscale Advances

Nanoscale Horizons Outstanding Paper Award

In order to recognize some of the outstanding work published in the journal, as well as the authors behind those articles, we annually award a Nanoscale Horizons Outstanding Paper Award. The prize recognises the contributions of all authors and celebrates these exceptional publications.

Find out more

Meet the team

Find out who is on the editorial and advisory boards for the Nanoscale Horizons journal.

Katharina Landfester

Editorial Board Chair: Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research, Germany

Katsuhiko Ariga

Scientific editor: National Institute for Materials Science (NIMS), Japan

Wenlong Cheng

Scientific editor:The University of Sydney, Australia

Miaofang Chi

Editorial board member:Oak Ridge National Laboratory, USA

Yves Dufrêne

Scientific editor: Université Catholique de Louvain, Belgium

Mark MacLachlan

Scientific editor:
University of British Columbia, Canada

Jin-Hong Park

Editorial board member:Sungkyunkwan University, South Korea

Xiaohui Qiu

Scientific editor:
National Center for Nanoscience and Technology (NCNST), China

Jinlan Wang

Scientific editor: Southeast University, China

Chunli Bai, Institute of Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China

Uri Banin, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel

Frank Caruso, University of Melbourne, Australia

Cinzia Casiraghi, University of Manchester, UK

Paola Ceroni, University of Bologna, Italy

Xiaodong Chen, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore

Chunying Chen, National Center for Nanoscience and Technology, China

Harold Craighead, Cornell University, USA

Serena Cussen, University College Dublin, Republic of Ireland

Qing Dai, National Center for Nanoscience and Technology of China, China

Shuai Dong, Southeast University, China

Laura Fabris, Politecnico di Torino, Italy

Andrea Ferrari, University of Cambridge, UK

Anna Fontcuberta i Morral, EPFL, Switzerland

Dirk Guldi, Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nürnberg, Germany

Raju Kumar Gupta, Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur, India

Nobuhiko Hosono, University of Tokyo, Japan

Xingyu Jiang, Southern University of Science and Technology, China

Rongchao Jin, Carnegie Mellon University, USA

Dong Ha Kim, Ewha Womans University, Korea

Jang-Kyo Kim, University of New South Wales, Australia

Kostas Kostarelos, University of Manchester, UK

Yamuna Krishnan, University of Chicago, USA

Tai Wei David Leong, National University of Singapore, Singapore

Li Li, Northeastern University, USA

Quan Li, Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong

Xing Yi Ling, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore

Jie Liu, Duke University, USA

Xiaogang Liu, National University of Singapore, Singapore

Renzhi Ma, National Institute for Materials Science (NIMS), Japan

Stefan Maier, Monash University, Australia

Liberato Manna, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Italy

Chad Mirkin, Northwestern University, USA

Paul Mulvaney, University of Melbourne, Australia

Catherine Murphy, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA

Valeria Nicolosi, Trinity College Dublin, Ireland

Dong Qin, Georgia Institute of Technology, USA

Sandra Rosenthal, Vanderbilt University, USA

Jungki Ryu, Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology, Korea

Michael Sailor, University of California, USA

Paolo Samorì, Université de Strasbourg, France

Leslie Schoop, Princeton University, USA

Ester Segal, Technion - Israel Institute of Technology, Israel

Elena Shevchenko, Argonne National Laboratory, USA

Hisanori Shinohara, Nagoya University, Japan

Zuzanna Siwy, University of California, Irvine, USA

Sara Skrabalak, Indiana University, USA

Francesco Stellacci, École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne, Switzerland

Shouheng Sun, Brown University, USA

Ling-Dong Sun, Peking University, China

Zhiyong Tang, National Center for Nanoscience and Technology, China

Sarah Tolbert, University of California, Los Angeles, USA

Jonathan Veinot, University of Alberta, Canada

Umesh Waghmare, Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research, India

Jianfang Wang, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR

Sharon Weiss, Vanderbilt University, USA

Benjamin Wiley, Duke University, USA

Wenzhuo Wu, Purdue University, USA

Nobuhiro Yanai, Kyushu University, Japan

Stefan Zauscher, Duke University, USA

Xiao Cheng Zeng, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, USA

Hongjie Zhang, Changchun Institute of Applied Chemistry, China

Hua Zhang, City University of Hong Kong, China

Miqin Zhang, University of Washington, USA

Manzhou Zhu, Anhui University, China

Jin Zou, University of Queensland, Australia

Our Community Board is an early career advisory board made up of researchers with expertise across all areas of the journal’s scope. The board members provide feedback and advice regarding journal activities, as well as acting as advocates for the journal.

Amina Benchohra, Université de Bretagne-Occidentale, France

Fangfang Cao, National University of Singapore, Singapore

Arun Richard Chandrasekaran, The RNA Institute, University at Albany, SUNY, USA

Yihuang Chen, Wenzhou University, China

Dennis Christensen, Technical University of Denmark, Denmark

Didem Dede, EPFL, Switzerland

Sara Domenici, Polytechnic University of Turin, Italy

Jingshan Du, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, USA

Yuanxing Fang, Fuzhou University, China

Yuan Fang, Soochow University, China

Calum T. J. Ferguson, Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research, Germany

Susel Del Sol Fernández, University of Zaragoza, Spain

Lucas Güniat, Lumiphase Corporation , Switzerland

Minjeong Ha, Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology, South Korea

Marilena Hadjidemetriou, University of Manchester, UK

Xue Han, Brookhaven National Laboratory, USA

Shumeng Hao, Beijing Univerisity of Chemical Technology, China

Jundie Hu, Suzhou University of Science and Technology, China

Shuaidong Huo, Xiamen University, China

Ignacio Insua, University of Santiago de Compostela, Spain

Taskeen Janjua, The University of Queensland, Australia

Meysam Keshavarz, Imperial College London, UK

Yoonseob Kim, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Hong Kong

Zhiwei Li, Northwestern University, USA

Chunchun Li, East China University of Science and Technology, China

Zhiyuan Liu, Shenzhen Institute of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China

Albert Liu, University of Michigan, USA

Jette Mathiesen, Technical University of Denmark, Denmark

Dinesh Mullangi, Johns Hopkins University, USA

Saeed Nazemidashtarjandi, Harvard Medical School, USA

Pepita Pla-Vilanova, University of Lleida, Spain

Satyajit Ratha, Indian Institute of Technology Bhubaneswar, India

Michael B. Ross, University of Massachusetts Lowell, USA

Tracy Schloemer, Stanford University, USA

Qianqian Shi, University of Newcastle, Australia

Pengzhan Sun, University of Macao, China

Jaime Andres Perez Taborda, National University of Colombia, Colombia

Yanlong Wang, Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, China

Chao Wang, Oregon State University, USA

Jiangjiexing Wu, Tianjin University, China

Tong Wu, Qingdao University, China

Zhenhua Wu, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, China

Xiuqiang Xie, Hunan University, China

Yikai Xu, East China University of Science and Technology, China

Akiko Yagi, Nagoya University, Japan

Jiandong Yao, Sun Yat-sen University, China

Fei Zhang, Tianjin University, China

Zishuai (Bill) Zhang, Peking University, China

Kai Zhu, Harbin Engineering University, China

Xiaolu Zhuo, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, China

Michaela Mühlberg, Executive Editor ORCID 0000-0002-3468-280X

Heather Montgomery, Managing Editor ORCID 0000-0002-3241-2785

Tiffany Rogers, Development Editor

Jonathon Watson, Editorial Manager

Alex Metherell, Associate Editorial Manager

Matthew Blow, Publishing Editor

Chris Dias, Publishing Editor

Hemna Fathima, Publishing Editor

Rob Hinde, Publishing Editor

Clara Humann, Publishing Editor

Evie Karkera, Publishing Editor

Tamara Kosikova, Publishing Editor

Sophie Mander, Publishing Editor

Carole Martin, Publishing Editor

Kirsty McRoberts, Publishing Editor

Cat Schofield, Publishing Editor

Manman Wang, Publishing Editor

Rebecca Siddall, Editorial Assistant

Elizabeth So, Editorial Assistant

Shengnan Sha, Assistant Editor

Sam Keltie, Publisher, Journals, ORCID 0000-0002-9369-8414

Article Types

Nanoscale Horizons publishes:

Communications
Reviews
Minireviews
Focus articles
Comments

Communications

All original research published in the journal is in the form of Communication articles. These are exceptionally high-quality and innovative reports that are of significant broad appeal to the nanoscience community at large. The research presented should provide new insight into the topic and demonstrate a new concept or a new way of thinking (a conceptual advance), rather than primarily reporting technological improvements. However, outstanding articles featuring truly breakthrough developments such as record performance of materials alone may also be published in the journal.

Nanoscale Horizons Communications must include a separate ‘new concepts’ statement. This statement should be a paragraph of no more than 200 words and should address the following questions:

What new concept has been demonstrated?
What differentiates this concept from existing research?
What additional insight does your work and the underlying concept bring to nanoscience and nanotechnology?

Although there is no page limit for a Communication, the recommended length is three printed journal pages. Authors are encouraged to provide a succinct and relevant introduction to the research and to consider the use of the supplementary information for additional material. Please see below for some examples of exemplar 'new concepts' statements.

See examples of new concept statement

A location- and sharpness-specific tactile electronic skin based on staircase-like nanowire patches

We report a new tactile electronic skin sensor based on staircase-like vertically aligned gold nanowires (V-AuNWs). With the back-to-back linear or spiral assembly of two antiparallel staircase structures into a single sensor, we are able to recognize pressure in a highly location-specific manner for both non-stretched and stretched states (up to 50% strain). With a concentric design on the fingertip, we can identify the sharpness of an external object in a similar way to human skin for the first time. Note that only location-specific pressure sensing under a non-stretched state has been demonstrated with existing unpixellated pressure sensors. Other important functions of human tactile sensing, such as the ability to discriminate sharp/blunt objects and location-specific sensing under stretched states, have not yet been achieved in the literature. We believe that our methodologies open up a new route to low-cost stretchable smart tactile sensors with potential facile integration and high location resolution into future wearable electronics, such as stretchable touch-on displays, soft robotics and prosthetic skins. The staircase structures and location-specific sensitivity could be extended to other novel nanomaterials and designs to form heterogeneous multifunctional optoelectronic devices, indicating broad application potentiality in next-generation skin-like electronics.

Single glucose molecule transport process revealed by force tracing and molecular dynamics simulations

Molecular transports across cell membranes are essential activities of cellular systems. How fast can nutrients, such as single glucose and amino acids, be transported into a living cell? What is the effort the cells need to pay for transporting such molecules? These questions are quite fundamental in cell biology, but have never been revealed at the single molecule level. To address these critical questions, we use the atomic force microscopy (AFM)-based force-tracing technique to monitor the process of single-glucose transport, inspired by a “fishing” concept. We demonstrate that the force-tracing technique enables the single molecule transport process to be followed at a high temporal-spatial resolution. The forces to transport a single molecule of d-glucose across cell membranes and the corresponding transport interval were recorded. Combining with theoretical simulation, the transporting mechanism of glucose is further revealed at an atomic level, which was confirmed by the biological experiments. Our approach leads to the first unambiguous description of the kinetics of the transport process in living cells at the single molecule level, which is significant for understanding how a membrane transporter works. This study provides a new concept of investigating the dynamic function of cell membranes.

Efficient hole transfer from monolayer WS₂ to ultrathin amorphous black phosphorus

We introduce an amorphous semiconductor to the material library for constructing van der Waals heterostructures. Since 2014, van der Waals heterostructures have been one of the most dynamic research topics in nanoscience and nanotechnology. Previous efforts have mostly been focused on combining two materials with similar lattices, such as different types of transition metal dichalcogenides. However, heterostructures combining materials with different lattice structures can potentially allow integration of vastly different properties. Here we explore an extreme example by combining a crystalline monolayer with an amorphous ultrathin film. We fabricate heterostructures composed of a 2 nm amorphous black phosphorus layer and a monolayer of WS2. Time-integrated photoluminescence and time-resolved transient absorption measurements both revealed that holes excited in WS2 can efficiently transfer to amorphous black phosphorus on an ultrafast time scale. Furthermore, we show that a hexagonal BN bilayer can effectively control the hole transfer process. These results establish amorphous black phosphorus as a building block for van der Waals heterostructures, provide new information for understanding interlayer charge transfer, and allow electrical connections to amorphous materials by van der Waals interfaces.

Reviews

Reviews are typically commissioned by the Nanoscale Horizons editorial board and editorial office, although we do welcome direct submissions of reviews of timely topics. Nanoscale Horizons Reviews must be very high-quality, authoritative, state-of-the-art accounts of the selected research field.

Reviews should be timely and provide insights based on existing literature as well as being of general interest to the journal's wide readership. All Reviews undergo a rigorous and full peer review procedure, in the same way as regular research papers.

Authors are encouraged to identify areas in the field where further developments are imminent or of urgent need and any areas that may be of significance to the community in general. Reviews are typically six to eight printed journal pages in length. Reviews should not contain unpublished original research.

Minireviews

Minireviews are highlights or summaries of research in an emerging area of nanoscience or nanotechnology (typically from the last two to three years). They are not intended to be comprehensive overviews but rather should highlight recent and important developments and provide insights into the emerging area on which they are focused. Minireviews should set the topic in the context of the relevant literature and may include perspectives on the future development of the field

Perspectives on the future development of the field are appropriate. The recommended length of a Nanoscale Horizons Minireview is three printed journal pages.

Focus articles

Nanoscale Horizons Focus articles are educational articles that can take the form of either an editorial or a review article. They are designed to address topic areas which are often misunderstood or require greater explanation.

Focus articles are invited by the Nanoscale Horizons editorial board and editorial office. Suggestions from readers for topics and authors of Focus articles are welcome and should be directed to the editor.

Comments

Comments and Replies are a medium for the discussion and exchange of scientific opinions between authors and readers concerning material published in Nanoscale Horizons.

For publication, a Comment should present an alternative analysis of and/or new insight into the previously published material. Any Reply should further the discussion presented in the original article and the Comment. Comments and Replies that contain any form of personal attack are not suitable for publication.

Comments that are acceptable for publication will be forwarded to the authors of the work being discussed, and these authors will be given the opportunity to submit a Reply. The Comment and Reply will both be subject to rigorous peer review in consultation with the journal’s Editorial Board where appropriate. The Comment and Reply will be published together.

Submission and assessment process

On submission to the journal, all manuscripts are initially assessed by a team of professional Publishing Editors who have a wide range of scientific backgrounds. They make an assessment of whether the manuscript may be suitable for the journal, based on the scope and very high significance and broad general interest criteria required for publication. Publishing Editors are supported in this decision making by our academic Scientific Editors who are members of our Editorial Board. Only manuscripts that are successful during these initial assessments will be sent for full peer review. Full details of the initial assessment process can be found with our processes and policies.

The journal follows a single-blind peer review process and articles are typically sent to at least two independent reviewers for evaluation. Professional Publishing Editors are responsible for peer review and associated editorial decisions. The team are guided by our Editorial Board who set the scientific standards and guidelines for the journal. Our Editorial Board are all leading scientists who together have expertise across the breadth of nanoscience and nanotechnology.

Journal specific information

The following guidelines are journal specific. For general guidance on preparing an article please visit our Prepare your article and Resources for authors pages, the content of which is relevant to all of our journals.

We provide some general considerations on suitability for publication of original research in the journal:

Articles that challenge current thinking, present new unexpected observations, create new directions in nanoscience & nanotechnology or introduce a new understanding of a topic. For example, new mechanisms, new synthetic procedures or simplifying the current challenging or lengthy synthetic method, new molecular design guidelines, novel properties that have not been observed before, novel applications
Articles with no new concept, but truly exceptional (top 5% in field) and surprising results are welcome
We consider that a new (nano)material can be equated with a new concept if potentially surprising performance/properties are reported
Demonstration of the use of a (nano) material in an application is not a requirement but could provide further evidence for the impact of work
Reports on known (nano)materials are acceptable if (i) the article reports unexpected combinations with other materials or (ii) the article reports a new unexpected application, new observations or physical properties, etc., that provide insight into molecular design rules/guidelines
Authors should ensure that there is sufficient information on (nano)material synthesis and characterisation in the article or supplementary information for the work to be repeatable. If it is not present then the editors will return the article to the authors
Articles that contain some or wholly theoretical/computational studies are welcome. They should contain a discussion that compares the study to experimental data if this exists in the literature. Authors must provide sufficient information to enable readers to reproduce any computational results. The computational methods used in the study should be included in either the article or the supplementary information. If the software was used for calculations and is generally available, it must be properly cited in the notes and references. References to the methods upon which the software is based must also be provided. Computational results obtained using methods, parameters, or input data that are not adequately described in the manuscript or in the referenced literature are not acceptable for publication
Articles that do not put into context the importance of the study are not suitable for peer review in the journal. Articles with no comparison to state of the art (if available) are not suitable for peer review in the journal
Articles that simply report a combination of already known things with no surprising results are not suitable for peer review in the journal

Open access publishing options

Nanoscale Horizons is a hybrid (transformative) journal and gives authors the choice of publishing their research either via the traditional subscription-based model or instead by choosing our gold open access option. Find out more about our Transformative Journals. which are Plan S compliant.

Gold open access

For authors who want to publish their article gold open access, Nanoscale Horizons charges an article processing charge (APC) of £3,000 (+ any applicable tax). Our APC is all-inclusive and makes your article freely available online immediately, permanently, and includes your choice of Creative Commons licence (CC BY or CC BY-NC) at no extra cost. It is not a submission charge, so you only pay if your article is accepted for publication.

Learn more about publishing open access.

Read & Publish

If your institution has a Read & Publish agreement in place with the Royal Society of Chemistry, APCs for gold open access publishing in Nanoscale Horizons may already be covered.

Please use your official institutional email address to submit your manuscript and check you are assigned as the corresponding author; this helps us to identify if you are eligible for Read & Publish or other APC discounts.

Traditional subscription model

Authors can also publish in Nanoscale Horizons via the traditional subscription model without needing to pay an APC. Articles published via this route are available to institutions and individuals who subscribe to the journal. Our standard licence allows you to make the accepted manuscript of your article freely available after a 12-month embargo period. This is known as the green route to open access.

Learn more about green open access.

Readership information

The readership is cross-disciplinary and includes scientists, researchers and professionals in academia and industry interested in nanoscience and nanotechnology, including (but not limited to) the following areas.

Physics
Chemistry
Biology
Medicine
Materials
Energy/environment
Information technology
Detection science
Healthcare and drug discovery
Electronics

Subscription information

Online only 2025: ISSN 2055-6764 £2,879 / $4,750

*2023 Journal Citation Reports (Clarivate Analytics, 2024)

**The median time from submission to first decision including manuscripts rejected without peer review from the previous calendar year

***The median time from submission to first decision for peer-reviewed manuscripts from the previous calendar year