2016 - All Press Releases

Nature Partner Journals expand in China with npj Quantum Materials, partnered with Nanjing University

London | Shanghai, 1 March 2016

Nature Publishing Group (NPG), part of Springer Nature, will partner with Nanjing University in publishing npj Quantum Materials, a new addition to Nature Partner Journals. This new series of online open access journals is published by NPG, in collaboration with world renowned international partners. Today, both partners signed an agreement on co-publishing the new journal at the university’s campus in Nanjing.

Quantum materials is one of the most widely studied fields of physical science due to the diversity of materials and phenomena available for study. It holds a great significance in fundamental research and has promising application prospects. However, there are currently no journals worldwide specializing in quantum materials especially with so wide a coverage ranging from fundamental properties, to synthesis/fabrication and all the way to devices.

npj Quantum Materials will publish high-quality, peer-reviewed original research covering quantum materials, their fundamental properties, fabrication and applications, as well as reviews, correspondences, meeting reports, etc. to highlight the latest development of quantum materials. The new journal fits well into an existing portfolio of Nature journals in physics, materials sciences and nanotechnology, including Nature Physics, Nature Materials, Nature Nanotechnology, and Nature Communications.

“We have a successful track record of publishing partnership with Chinese academic institutions and are bringing such expertise to the Nature Partner Journals series to meet the need for high-quality, peer-reviewed open access publications,” said Steven Inchcoombe, Managing Director and President of Nature Publishing Group. “Such cooperation is gaining momentum in China as the country has significantly enhanced its standing in the global scientific community. Looking forward, we will definitely see more Nature Partner Journals launched with China-based partners.”

Prof. Dingyu Xing, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Director of the Collaborative Innovation Centre of Advanced Microstructures (CICAM) said, “By forging this landmark partnership with Springer Nature, we are taking a key step toward publishing a high-impact international physics journal based in China. We look forward to working closely with Springer Nature to build up an open access platform that encourages and facilitates collaboration of different disciplines in the study of quantum materials.” The new journal was co-sponsored by CICAM and Nanjing University.

Prof. Steven Kivelson and Prof. Sang-Wook Cheong have been appointed as co-editors-in-chief for the new journal.

Prof. Kivelson is an Endowed Prabhu Goel Family Professor of Physics at Stanford and a member of the Stanford Institute for Materials and Energy Science, a joint institute of SLAC and Stanford. As a condensed matter theorist, he mainly focuses his research on theoretical aspects of strongly correlated electron systems. He received his doctorate from Harvard University in 1979 and was previously a professor of physics and astronomy at UCLA. Kivelson was elected into the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) in 2010.

A Korean American condensed matters and materials scientist at Rutgers University, Prof. Cheong concentrates on the synthesis and experimental investigations of unconventional materials, with a particular focus on multiferroic materials. He has made ground-breaking contributions to the research field of enhanced physical functionalities in complex materials originating from collective correlations and collective phase transitions, such as colossal magnetoresistive and colossal magnetoelectric effects in complex oxides. He is the Board of Governors Professor of Physics with Rutgers University.

All Nature Partner Journals are committed to delivering high-quality, peer-reviewed original research as well as timely overview/review articles and editorials, adhering to a modified set of Nature editorial standards. Licensed under the CC BY license, the journals allow all research to be freely available to anyone upon publication.

Prior to signing npj Quantum Materials with Nanjing University, Springer Nature has partnered respectively with one research institute and two universities in publishing three Nature Partner Journals in China.

npj Quantum Materials will open for submissions in April 2016. More information on the Nature Partner Journal programme can be found here.


ENDS

For more information contact:

Amy Bourke-Waite
Senior Communications Manager
Nature Publishing Group/Palgrave Macmillan
T: +44 (0)20 7843 4603 | M: +44 (0) 7703717212
a.bourke-waite@nature.com

Zhang Li
Senior Corporate Communications Manager, Greater China
T: +86 21 2422 5047
li.zhang@macmillan.com


About Springer Nature

Springer Nature is a leading global research, educational and professional publisher, home to an array of respected and trusted brands providing quality content through a range of innovative products and services. Springer Nature is the world’s largest academic book publisher, publisher of the world’s most influential journals and a pioneer in the field of open research. The company numbers almost 13,000 staff in over 50 countries and has a turnover of approximately € 1.5 billion. Springer Nature was formed in 2015 through the merger of Nature Publishing Group, Palgrave Macmillan, Macmillan Education and Springer Science+Business Media. Visit: www.springernature.com and follow @SpringerNature.

About CICAM

Based on the campus of Nanjing University, the Collaborative Innovation Centre of Advanced Microstructures (CICAM) is a close alliance forged between the national laboratories and centres at Nanjing University, Fudan University, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Zhejiang University, the University of Science and Technology of China, the Hefei Institutes of Physical Science and Huawei Technologies. It was established under the 2011 Plan as an initiative of the Chinese Ministry of Education and Ministry of Finance to develop the innovation capacity of universities across China. The alliance, led by Nanjing University, is committed to undertaking advanced R&D activities in broad areas of microstructures at the crossover of condensed matter physics, materials sciences, information sciences, and energy technologies. One of the CICAM’s missions is to establish itself as a leading institution of international reputations in the field of advanced microstructures, with research findings and inventions catalysing Chinese industry and meeting its core technology needs.

About Nanjing University

Founded in 1902, Nanjing University (NJU) is over a century old. It enjoys an excellent reputation in China and abroad. The university is listed in the first group of high-level universities in the national 211 and 985 projects, which attract strong funding from the Chinese government. As a member of the China Nine League, NJU boasts strong faculty in the humanities, social sciences, natural sciences, medicine and engineering.

According to Thomson Reuters’ Essential Science Indicators, NJU has 13 academic disciplines ranked in the top 1 per cent worldwide. In the QS Word University Rankings 2014, NJU has 20 disciplines listed in the global top 200. According to Nature Index, Nanjing University was placed 38th and 27th globally in 2014 and 2015, and 3rd and 2nd among Chinese universities, in terms of high impact research output. Over the past decade, NJU has also acquired more than 800 national, provincial and ministerial awards for its excellence of research. In 2006, a project accomplished by NJU physicists led by academician Nai-ben Ming won the first prize in the National Natural Science Awards, the highest award for natural scientific research in China. More info about NJU: www.nju.edu.cn