Author Guide for ReView Submissions - Micro & Nano Letters

In partnership with Wiley, the IET have taken the decision to convert Micro & Nano Letters from a library/subscriber pays model to an author-pays Open Access (OA) model effective from the 2021 volume, which is now in effect for all new submissions to the journal.

Micro & Nano Letters has migrated to a new electronic peer-review management system using ScholarOne which is now open for all new submissions. Authors of new submissions should follow the ScholarOne Author Guide.

For further information on Article Processing Charges (APCs), Wiley’s transformative agreements, Research 4 Life policies, please visit our FAQ Page or contact [email protected]

Any papers that have been submitted to the journal prior to the system migration will continue to run in ReView and authors of these submissions should continue to use the Author Guide on this page.

If you are uncertain of which Author Guide to refer to, please contact [email protected]

These notes are intended to give you the information you need to submit your paper to Micro & Nano Letters and to present it in accordance with our requirements. If you cannot find the information you are looking for, please contact us at [email protected]

Contents

What we look for in your letter
Conference and patent material policy
Manuscript presentation
Publication options
Submit a manuscript
Post-submission
Copyright and Open Access Licence
Proofs
Checklist
Pre-submission editing services

What we look for in your letter

• add significantly to existing research;
• presents original results, which have not have been published previously;
• presents the novelty clearly and concisely;
• offers benefit to genuine and useful applications;
• clearly explains these applications;
• is written so as to make the advance clear to the broader engineering community;
• makes reference to the state-of-the-art.

Manuscripts should not:

• present incremental research;
• present trivial and obvious results;
• be under consideration for publication in any other journal, book or conference proceedings available through a library or by purchase.
• contravene the IET Policy in Relation to Plagiarism, Infringement of Copyright and Infringement of Moral Rights and Submission to Multiple Publications.

Conference and patent material policy

Micro & Nano Letters does not accept material that has previously been presented at a conference for which the conference proceedings are widely available. Any manuscripts that are submitted to Micro & Nano Letters that are based on a conference paper must reference the conference and demonstrate a significant advance in the work.

We can consider material for Micro & Nano Letters that is also the subject of a patent application. The application number should be stated in the paper in the references and the authors should also make sure that the publication of their work in a journal will not harm their patent application in any way.

Manuscript presentation

It is important to format submissions in accordance with Micro & Nano Letters' house style. Following the presentation guide below will ensure that submissions will move straight to reviewing stage.

Please note, submissions which are over the maximum allowed length or formatted incorrectly will be returned immediately to authors for revision.

Submission format
Submissions to Micro & Nano Letters must be formatted to the journal house style which uses a double-column format. In this format the manuscript should be a maximum of twelve columns in length and figures should be placed within the main body of the text.

Please note that, while six pages is the absolute limit, we would expect the average submission to be approximately four pages in length.

We have provided a Microsoft Word template for you to download and edit to create your manuscript. We have also created a LaTeX class file, and a sample LaTeX source file for you to download and edit with your own text and images to create your PDF.

Source files must be supplied. The only acceptable source-file formats are Microsoft Word (.DOC or .RTF) or LaTeX (.TEX). If you are submitting in LaTeX, you need to provide a PDF as well as the LaTeX source file, and all source images.

Full instructions on how to format your manuscript are contained within the Microsoft Word template, which may also be of some use if you are submitting in LaTeX. For submitting in LaTeX, you will need to download the class file and save it into the same folder as your LaTeX source files. For full information on how to use the LaTeX class file, see the sample PDF.

Template examples can be downloaded here (Word) or here (LaTeX).

Publication options

Subscription Access Option

There is no charge to authors for this option and the paper is made available to subscribers.

Open Access Option

Micro & Nano Letters now offers authors the option of publishing their paper open access on payment of an Article Processing Charge of $1450 USD on acceptance of the paper.

Payment for Open Access

The IET has partnered with Copyright Clearance Center, Rightslink who will facilitate the fee collection process. Once your paper is accepted for publication you will be contacted by Rightslink with instructions on how to pay your fees. All fees must be paid within 3 weeks of acceptance; failure to pay your fees in a timely fashion may result in your being debarred from publishing open access with the IET.

IET members are eligible for a 15% discount on their fees. The IET also offers fee waivers for researchers in developing countries, determined using the criteria* set by Research4Life, which provides free or low-cost access to scientific journals, books and databases for scientists, practitioners, students and faculty in the developing world.

The choice of publication is made after acceptance and will not affect the peer review process or decision to publish.

Submit a manuscript

There is no charge for submitting to our journals

Papers should be submitted in electronic form via the manuscript submission and peer review site. Please follow the “Submit your paper” link on each journal’s home page to ensure you submit your paper to the correct manuscript submission and peer review site. Authors should complete all relevant fields in the manuscript upload page.

Authors must upload suitable source files when submitting. See above for more details.

The submitting author must supply the names and email addresses of all co-authors when submitting on ReView.

Authors are encouraged to submit the names and contact details of possible reviewers (although the reviewers selected may not be from this list). These suggestions should be impartial. Authors may also indicate non-preferred reviewers if they are working in competition or have conflicts of interest with individuals or organisations.

Permissions

Please make sure that any permissions you may require for text or figures are cleared before publication. If you unable to clear the permissions under the same licence you wish to use for your paper, please include the permissions copyright statement under any relevant figures. Confirmation and any relevant details of permissions should be clearly stated in your cover letter when submitting a paper to Micro & Nano Letters.

Post-submission

Changes to the submitted manuscript

If your submission is returned because it requires changes, you will need to log in to the manuscript submission and peer review site and resubmit a revised manuscript.
It is not usually possible to make changes to a manuscript when it is under review; although there are exceptions if the changes are minor. Major revisions cannot be made without starting the whole process again.

If you wish to make changes, send us the amended manuscript with a list of the changes made, and the Editors will consider which course of action is most appropriate.

Due to the fast nature of the Micro & Nano Letters publication process, we do not make proofs of accepted papers available to authors. Each accepted manuscript is checked prior to publication, using copy-editors and proofreaders. If you notice any errors in your paper after you have submitted, please inform us as soon as possible.

Review process

All manuscripts are sent out for review by independent experts in the field, and the decision made by the editors is based on these reports. Reviewers are encouraged to provide constructive feedback for the authors, and this will be provided to you where possible. However, bear in mind that to maintain the fast turnaround of the journal, this feedback may not be completely comprehensive. The average time between submission and decision is six weeks.

Copyright and Open Access Licence

Right to publish

An author submitting a paper should ensure that he or she has the right to publish the paper and that it contains nothing defamatory. The IET will assume that all co-authors have agreed to the submission of any paper received.

Copyright Form for Subscription Access

Authors who choose to publish through the subscription access model will be required to fill in the online copyright form in the manuscript submission and peer review site.

Unless the paper is either 'United Kingdom Crown copyright' or 'a work of the US Government and in the Public Domain', the Bylaws of the IET require that copyright should belong to the IET.

Open Access: Creative Commons Licences

Authors who choose to publish their papers open access in Micro & Nano Letters will be asked to sign a Creative Commons Licence as opposed to a copyright form. In this way, the author retains the copyright to their work. As we offer a number of different licence options for authors it is advised that authors take some time to consider which licence they would like to use when they submit their paper so as not to delay the publication of the paper on acceptance. Authors whose work is funded by the Wellcome Trust or Research Councils UK must sign the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY). Other licences available are: Attribution-NoDerivs (CC BY-ND), Attribution-NonCommercial (CC BY-NC) and Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs (CC BY-NC-ND). For more information on these options please see below.

Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) This licence lets others distribute, remix, tweak, and build upon your work, even commercially, as long as they credit you for the original creation. This is the most accommodating of licences offered. Recommended for maximum dissemination and use of licenced materials. (If your work is funded by The Wellcome Trust or Research Councils UK you must use this licence.)
Preview licence

Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs (CC BY-ND) This licence allows for redistribution, commercial and non-commercial, as long as it is passed along unchanged and in whole, with credit to you.
Preview licence

Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial (CC BY-NC) This licence lets others remix, tweak, and build upon your work non-commercially, and although their new works must also acknowledge you and be non-commercial, they don't have to licence their derivative works on the same terms.
Preview licence

Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs (CC BY-NC-ND) This licence is the most restrictive licence we offer, only allowing others to download your works and share them with others as long as they credit you, but they can't change them in any way or use them commercially.
Preview licence

Proofs

Copyediting and proof correction

All accepted papers are copyedited to ensure clarity and consistency, to correct minor errors, to standardise various formatting details and to conform to Micro & Nano Letters house style.

Authors may receive queries if ambiguities in the language or minor errors in a paper are identified by either referees or the copyeditor that cannot be resolved in the editorial office. Delays in replying to such queries may result in a delay to the publication of a paper.

To maintain the speed of publication, proofs are checked in the editorial office and are not normally sent to authors. If you become aware of any errors in your manuscript after submission, please inform us as soon as possible as there may not be time to rectify them if the paper is accepted for publication.

Journal copies and permissions

Once the paper has been published online, we will send the corresponding author a complimentary PDF version of their final published paper. This is subject to the terms and conditions of our green open access policy (see above).

Permission requests to reproduce articles published in Micro & Nano Letters should be emailed to [email protected].

Checklist

Please use this checklist to help you ensure that your paper meets the standards we expect from submitted papers:

• Novelty: This is the most important factor that we ask referees to consider when reviewing for Micro & Nano Letters. We are interested in work that is novel, original and where rapid publication would be of benefit to the engineering community. Papers should provide significant results and the reporting of incremental work is discouraged. Authors should not submit work merely because they need the paper to be published quickly (e.g. in order to graduate or before applying for a new job or promotion).
• Scientific merit: is the work scientifically rigorous, accurate and correct?
• Originality and justification: is the work relevant? Does the work contain significant additional material to that already published and has its value been demonstrated?
• Referencing: has reference been made to the most recent and most appropriate work? Is the present work set in the context of the previous work?
• Appropriateness: is the material appropriate to the scope of the journal?
• Clarity: is the English clear and well-written? Poorly written English may obscure the scientific merit of your paper and can lead to rejection. Are the ideas expressed clearly and concisely? Are the concepts understandable? Is the discussion written in a way that is easy to read and understand?
• Title: is it adequate and appropriate for the content of the article?
• Abstract: does it contain the essential information of the article? Is it complete? Is it suitable for inclusion by itself in an abstracting service?
• Diagrams, figures, tables and captions: are they clear and essential? Are all figures and tables labelled and referred to in the text?
• Graphs and tables: are these clear and necessary? Are the numbers in the tables readily understandable? Explanations should be in the caption, or in the immediately surrounding text.
• Mathematics: is the mathematics necessary? Does it use commonly understood symbols? Are equations numbered if referred to in the text?
• Conclusion: does the paper contain a carefully written conclusion, summarising what has been learned and why it is interesting and useful?

Pre-submission editing services

The IET has partnered with Editage to provide editorial services to authors submitting to IET Journals. The services will help authors craft well-written manuscripts for submission to the journal of their choice. Prior to submitting your manuscript, you may wish to have it edited for correct use of English, particularly if English is not your first language. This is not compulsory but it may assist the journal editors and reviewers to fully understand the content of your paper.
NB: Use of the Editage service does not guarantee that your manuscript will be sent out for peer review or accepted for publication.

If you would like information on the language editing facility offered by Editage, an independent editorial service, please visit their IET microsite where you will receive a 15% discount on the services available.

There are a large number of language-editing services available and you would be free to use any of these. Note that authors are liable for all costs associated with language editing and IET does not accept any responsibility for the level of service provided.