Announcing npj Microgravity – a New Journal

A new journal is born!

The new open access online journal npj Microgravity is now “Open for Business”.  We expect to see the first articles published on the web site in March or April 2015.  The new journal is made possible by support from the Nature Publishing Group, the Arizona State University Biodesign Institute and NASA’s Space Life and Physical Sciences Division. 

npj Microgravity is a new open access, online-only, peer-reviewed journal highlighting important scientific advances in the life sciences, physical sciences and engineering fields that are facilitated by spaceflight and spaceflight analogue platforms.

The journal publishes research that enables space exploration, including scientific research needed to develop advanced exploration technologies and processes, and research that is enabled by spaceflight and spaceflight analogues providing novel insight into engineering, physical and life sciences to benefit Earth-based research. 

Being part of the Nature Partner Journals (npj) family assures the highest possible publishing, editorial and production values, guided by Nature-codified standards.

Please spread the word to your associates and peers throughout the community.  http://www.nature.com/npjmgrav/ ought to be on your and their “must read and must publish in” list for up-to-date important research papers and reviews related to gravity-dependent research. 

And to help enable a broader participation in the near term, the article processing charge fees will be waived for invited and accepted original research articles.  Invited and accepted review articles will always be free of charge, for anyone.  We want to emphasize quality submissions and encourage you to submit your articles as soon as possible. 

Any ideas for article topics, future editorial board members, or general questions about the journal can be addressed to the Nature Publisher, Andrea Macaluso, at a.macaluso@us.nature.com.

For the latest news on npj Microgravity, we encourage you to sign up for e-Alerts. You will not be inundated with any additional material and you can opt out at any time.  It is a great way to keep track of the Journal. 

So submit your next manuscript to npj Microgravity and benefit from:

Assurance of the highest possible publishing, editorial and production values, guided by Nature-codified standards.

High visibility for your research:  a recent study (Research Information Network (RIN), 2014) indicates that open access articles are viewed three times more often than articles only available to subscribers.

Wide dissemination:  articles published under a Creative Commons License are permanently and freely available for all to read, use and cite without restriction, whilst authors retain the copyright to their article.

An online submission system, developed to speed up the submission process.

Compliance with many open access funder mandates.

Global reach through nature.com and widely distributed journal e-Alert messages.

Reputation:  the journal is published in cooperation with the Biodesign Institute at Arizona State University, with the Nature Partner Journals branding to underpin it.

We look forward to the success of npj Microgravity to publish the latest significant new knowledge for gravity-dependent phenomena.