Tag Archives: Nano (database)

Springer Nature and its ‘nano research tool’

There’s news from Springer Nature. From a June 17, 2016 announcement by Benedicte Page for The Bookseller,

Springer Nature has launched its first non-journal product since the merged company was formed last year.

Nano, which will sit within the Nature Research portfolio, pulls together structured information on nanotechnology – the manipulation of matter at the level of atoms or molecules – from high-impact journals and patents, spanning disciplines and combining key features of a database and an indexing discovery tool.

Bettina Goerner, Springer Nature m.d. for corporate markets and databases, told The Bookseller that nanoscience and nanotechnology was “so new and growing so fast” that research is spread across a wide range of literature and applications, with Nano bringing together all the relevant information.

Goerner said it was a truly “joint product development” between the two halves of the merged company. “I come from the former Springer side, and we started developing this two years ago, a serious effort on our side,” she said. “The moment we merged it was clear we now had access to experts we didn’t have before, so we reached out to the editor-in-chief of Nature Nanotechnology, and to other relevant journals in the Nature portfolio, and they got very involved and made recommendations on content.”

Goerner added: “We also have a database called SpringerMaterials and we are definitely looking at this as a portfolio and have lots of ideas. We do see finding the right information is vital, especially in fast-growing fields such as this.”

Access to Nano will be via subscription.

A June 15, 2016 Springer Nature press release provides more details,

Developed to meet the needs of researchers in academic, corporate and government environments, Nano combines the key features of a database and an abstracting and indexing discovery tool. Over 200,000 manually-curated profiles of nanomaterials and devices are available, containing information on properties, synthesis and applications. Trials are available from today.

Growing public and private investment into nanotechnology has led to an increase in research outputs, with related articles more than doubling over the past ten years. Nanotechnology is also of growing importance for a vast range of industries – from medicine to aerospace – in developing new products and applications. With nanotechnology becoming an inescapable part of people’s day-to-day lives, policymakers are paying closer attention to it, too.

This area of research, however, presents challenges. Dr. Omid Farokhzad, Associate Professor, Harvard Medical School, said: “Nanotechnology research and development has been rising on a sharp slope across virtually all scientific disciplines and industries. The result has been a rapidly growing body of information in disparate places that is not readily and efficiently accessible. Researchers need a multidisciplinary database that brings this vast body of data together in an organized and usable way in one place. Working together with other scientists to develop a research solution that can meet this need, through Nano’s External Advisory Board, has made me confident that this is a product that can deliver huge value to the research community.”

Partnership and consultation have been at the heart of Nano’s creation. William Chiuman, Director of Product Management, Nanoscience and Technology, Springer Nature, said: “We have worked closely with academia and industry throughout Nano’s development, and we’ll continue to be guided by these external experts to ensure that Nano keeps pace with this dynamic field, and provides up-to-date, curated content, that will ultimately save researchers time and significantly extend their knowledge base.”

Nano is the first non-journal product to be launched by Springer Nature since it was formed in May 2015 by the merger of Springer Science+Business Media and the majority of Macmillan Science and Education, and will be part of the Nature Research portfolio. Steven Inchcoombe, Chief Publishing Officer, Springer Nature, said: “Nano is a product of the combined skills and talents of our new organisation. It exemplifies our ethos and ultimate aim of putting the needs of the researcher at the heart of everything that we do.”

More information about Nano is available at nano.nature.com.

I haven’t been able to find a subscription rate but you can sign up for a trial (presumably free); scroll down about 80% of the way.

I have some information about the May 2015 merger of Springer with Nature in my Dec. 2, 2015 posting (scroll down about 90% of the way).