Guide for Authors
Journal of Nantong University (Natural Science Edition) is a quarterly academic journal in the field of natural sciences, sponsored by Nantong University. It is publicly distributed both domestically and internationally. The journal primarily publishes innovative and high-quality research articles and frontier review. Research articles present high-level research achievements on specific topics, while invited reviews summarize representative accomplishments in important research areas, comment on the current research status, identify unresolved issues, and indicate future research directions. Reviews are usually written by renowned professors, but authors can also submit self-recommended reviews to the editorial office. We welcome submissions from scholars both domestically and abroad, and we offer high remuneration for outstanding manuscripts. To enhance writing standard and shorten the publication cycle, authors are advised to carefully read the "Guidelines for Submission" and prepare their manuscripts following the "Manuscript Template." Substandard Manuscripts will be sent back for revision. Authors must ensure that confidential information is not involved in their articles. In the event of any confidential breach, the authors will bear all responsibilities. If the article is funded by confidential research project, authors are required to submit the confidentiality approval from their institutions. The relevant requirements are as follows:
1. Submission Introduction
1) Manuscripts should be innovative, academic, scientific, readable, and normative.
2) Online submission is available at https://xbzkb.ntu.edu.cn.
3) We advocate for a healthy academic atmosphere and strict adherence to academic norms, while discouraging any academic misconduct. Please avoid multiple submission. If notification is not received within two months after submission, authors may handle the manuscript by themselves. Any responsibility and losses resulting from multiple submission will be borne by authors. The journal has never authorized any agency or individual for article submission. Please be cautious against fraud.
4) Manuscripts with undergraduate student as the first author, and non-academic manuscripts will not be accepted. Reviews will be accepted only if the author has a senior professional title. Following manuscripts will be given priority for publishing: The first author holds a senior professional title or have a doctoral degree (excluding doctoral students); the first institution of articles is a 985, 211 or "Double First-Class" university or discipline designated by the Ministry of Education; the first institution is a branch of the Chinese Academy of Sciences or a national-level research institute; the first institution is an internationally renowned university or research organization; the research article is funded by a national-level research fund. (The first author and their primary affiliation cannot be changed after submission.)
5) The editorial office reserves the right to make modifications to manuscripts. If the authors do not accept modification, please indicate upon submission. Two copies of the current issue of the journal will be sent to authors upon publication.
6) All listed authors should have made substantial contributions to the research work and take responsibility for the article. Before submission, all listed authors must review the entire research content of the article to ensure accuracy and reliability of the results, and to ensure there is no academic misconduct. They must also agree on the authorship and the order of co-authorship, which cannot be changed after submission. Authors may express gratitude to collaborators and institutions who have contributed to the research in the acknowledgments section.
2. Manuscript Requirement
1) The manuscript should be with clear theme, reliable data, logical coherence, and concise writing. It should include a title, author names, institutes (including postal codes), abstract, keywords (both in Chinese and English), Chinese Library Classification (CLC) number, main body, references, and a brief introduction of the first author and correspondence contact person (including year of birth, gender, professional title, degree, main research direction, and E-mail). For articles funded by a project, please indicate the name and number of the project.
2) The title should accurately and concisely reflect the specific content of the article. It should be easy for indexing. Avoid using uncommon abbreviations, acronyms, or codes. Do not list the original term and its abbreviation together. Subtitles are generally not used. The Chinese title should not exceed 20 Chinese characters, and the meanings of the Chinese and English titles should be consistent.
3) Abstract should be informative and self-evident, without redundant words, including four elements: objective, methods, results and conclusion (generally between 200-300 words). Abstract in Chinese and English should be consistent. independent and self-evident, without redundant words. Abstract should be written in the third person perspective, avoiding words such as "the article" or "the authors."
4) Keywords (3-8) should be selected normatively and preferably chosen from the Chinese Thesaurus. Chinese and English keywords should correspond to each other.
5) Figures and tables should be self-explanatory and appear in the text. The headings of figures should be placed below, and the headings for tables should be placed above. Headings should be both in Chinese and English. The text, symbols, axis labels, and values in figures and tables must be clear. Standard physical quantity and unit symbols should be adopted (generally not in Chinese). Preferably, the "three-line table" format shall be adopted, and the content of the table should not overlap with figures. The text in figures and tables should be in Song typeface, size 5. All original images of figures should be submitted as attachments.
6) Physical quantities and measurement units in the main body (including figures and tables) must comply with national and international standards. The difference in language, font, capitalization, and regular/italic font and easily confused letters shall be marked clearly. If foreign language are used in the text (foreign names, place names, scientific and technical terms), necessary explanations should be provided in Chinese.
7) The headings at all levels in the article should be numbered using Arabic numerals in three levels, and all should be set full measure at the left. First-level headings should be numbered as 1, 2, 3, …; Second-level as 1.1, 1.2, …; Third-level as 1.1.1, 1.1.2, …. The introduction can be numbered as 0 or left unnumbered. Leave one space after the number and then list the title.
8) For references, only the main documents that have been published and directly cited in the text shall be listed with document type code, generally not less than 20. Sequential coding system is adopted. The layout format of various references shall comply with GB/T 7714-2015.