Springer had already been publishing Nanoscale Research Letters as a fully open access journal for five years when we launched the SpringerOpen imprint. So even though this journal—an open access pioneer in the physical sciences—didn’t formally join the SpringerOpen portfolio until later, it really is our oldest, and one of our most robust and well-established, journals. NRL got off to such a strong start that ISI began tracking it for an Impact Factor almost immediately, and NRL earned its first IF in 2007.
On the occasion of the journal’s 10th anniversary (and as we rapidly approach the 10th anniversary of publishing the journal’s first articles), I took the opportunity to talk (via email) with Zhiming Wang, the founding and current Editor in Chief (via email).
When we started, NRL was the first open access journal in nanotechnology from a major commercial publisher… I believe NRL can contribute more to nanotechnology and make the publications in the field more accessible.
—Zhiming Wang
What are your ambitions for the journal’s future?
Recently we invited 6 more young star scientists in the field to join our Nanoscale Research Letters (NRL) Board as associate editors. In fact, this move reflects my ambition for the journal’s future: NRL is 10 years old, still young as a scientific journal, and it should continue to attract fresh contributions to make a broader and stronger impact in the community.
What factors went in to your decision to edit an open access journal?
When we started, NRL was the first open access journal in nanotechnology from a major commercial publisher. I wanted to do something different, and I believe open access is the future for scientific publishing. NRL is now a leading open access journal in nanotechnology. I believe NRL can contribute more to nanotechnology and make the publications in the field more accessible.
How do you see open access helping (or not) the growth of interdisciplinary areas like nano science?
Interdisciplinary areas like nano research have a very broad spectrum of authorship and readership. It is hard to expect all the authors and readers having subscription to access such an interdisciplinary journal as NRL. I often receive unexpected submissions from various fields and reader comments from other regions. I feel great from those examples knowing that NRL, as a fully open access journal, can reach some people and some corners of the world that traditional journals can’t.
How do you see open access developing in nanoscience?
I believe we will have more open access journals and also I believe more traditional journals will gradually join open access publishing in nano science.
Do you have anything else you’d like to add?
It has been 10 years, a great honor for me to work with SpringerOpen on NRL. I hope for more people to join us to make NRL a great thing. In the short term, I wish more people would support us to help NRL get an even higher Impact Factor to get more noticed in the field [NRL’s current Impact Factor is 2.37—ed.] In a long run, I hope for NRL to attract more people to form a community to share and enjoy nano publications.
