This guide describes how to prepare contributions for submission. We recommend you read this in full if you have not previously submitted a contribution to Nature. We also recommend that, before submission, you familiarize yourself with Nature‟s style and content by reading the journal, either in print or online, particularly if you have not submitted to the journal recently.
Table of contents
∙  1. Formats for Nature contributions Nature文稿格式
o  1.1 Articles文章
o  1.2 Letters快报
o  1.3 Brief Communications Arising and Corrections通信与校正
o  1.4 Other types of submission其他
∙  2. The editorial process编辑处理过程
∙  3. Presubmission enquiries投稿前询问
∙  4. Readability易读性
∙  5. Format of Articles and Letters格式
o  5.1 Titles标题
o  5.2 Text正文
o  5.3 Methods方法
o  5.4 References引文
o  5.5 End notes尾注
o  5.6 Statistics统计资料
o  5.7 Tables表格
o  5.8 Figure legends插图说明
o  5.9 Figures插图
o  5.10 Production quality figures高质量插图
o  5.11 Supplementary information附件信息
o  5.12 Chemical structures and characterization of
chemical materials化学结构
∙  6. Submission提交
∙7. Publishing in other Nature and NPG journals出版
Parts of this document are summarized in a downloadable information sheet.
1. Formats for Nature contributions：Nature文稿格式
Nature's main formats for original research are Articles and Letters. In addition, Nature publishes other submitted material as detailed below (Section 1.4).
"来信"（Letters to Nature）是对某一原始科研成果的初步介绍，其内容是其他领域的研究人员所感兴趣的。"文章"（Articles）是对某一项研究工作的更全面、更周密的介绍，代表着人们对某一事物认识层次的一个显著提高。《Nature》杂志的版面只允许每星期发表约2篇"文章"类论文和16篇左右的"来信"类论文。因此，"文章"类论文的竞争更加激烈。事实上，很多"来信"类论文最初是按"文章"类论文投稿的，后根据《Nature》杂志编辑们的意见缩短了篇幅。
有关"文章"类论文和"来信"类论文的详细写法，请参阅《作者须知》。请特别注意："来信"类论文引言部分用黑体字排版，而且只有一个自然段的较短的讨论部分；"文章"类论文有一个自然段的较短的摘要部分(summary)，排在正文之前，与正文分开，即采用所谓的"standfirst"形式，其正文可包含几个自然段的引言。
1.1 Articles 文章
Articles are original reports whose conclusions represent a substantial advance in understanding of an important problem and have immediate, far-reaching implications. They do not normally exceed 5 pages of Nature and have no more than 50 references. (One page of undiluted text is about 1,300 words.)
摘要。Articles have a summary, separate from the main text, of up to 150 words, which does not have
references, and does not contain numbers, abbreviations, acronyms or measurements unless essential. It is aimed at readers outside the discipline. This summary contains a paragraph (2-3 sentences) of basic-level introduction to the field; a brief account of the background and rationale of the work; a statement of the main conclusions (introduced by the phrase 'Here we show' or its equivalent); and finally, 2-3 sentences putting the main findings into general context so it is clear how the results described in the paper have moved the field forwards.
正文。Articles are typically 3,000 words of text, beginning with up to 500 words of referenced text expanding on the background to the work (some overlap with the summary is acceptable), before proceeding to a concise, focused account of the findings, ending with one or two short paragraphs of discussion.
The text may contain a few short subheadings (not more than six in total) of no more than 40 characters each (less than one line of text in length).
Articles typically have 5 or 6 display items (figures or tables).5-6个图表。
1.2 Letters 快报
Letters are short reports of original research focused on an outstanding finding whose importance means that it will be of interest to scientists in other fields.
They do not normally exceed 4 pages of Nature, and have no more than 30 references. They begin with a fully referenced paragraph, ideally of about 200 words, but certainly no more than 300 words, aimed at readers in other disciplines. This paragraph starts with a 2-3 sentence basic introduction to the field; followed by a one-sentence statement of the main conclusions starting 'Here
we show' or equivalent phrase; and finally, 2-3 sentences putting the main findings into general context so it is clear how the results described in the paper have moved the field forwards.
Please refer to our annotated example to see how the summary paragraph for a Letter should be constructed.
The rest of the text is typically about 1,500 words long. Any discussion at the end of the text should be as succinct as possible, not repeating previous summary/introduction material, to briefly convey the general relevance of the work.
Letters typically have 3 or 4 small display items (figures or tables). Word counts refer to the text of the
paper. References, title, author list and acknowledgements do not have to be included in total word counts.
1.3 Brief Communications Arising and Corrections
Brief Communications Arising are exceptionally interesting or important comments and clarifications on original research papers or other peer-reviewed material published in Nature. They are published online but not in print.
editorial material是什么类型的论文