The following are required for submission:

• Make sure the manuscript is suitable for this journal via reading the Aims & Scope
• Make sure that issues about publication ethics have been considered
• Make sure that all authors have approved of the submission

2.1 Ensure that the following items are present:

When submitting your manuscript, please make sure that the following items have been prepared as carefully as possible:

• Cover letter (mandatory)
• Manuscript prepared based on the Journal’s Template (mandatory)
• Author biography (mandatory)
• Graphical abstract (mandatory)
• Data availability statement (optional)
• Funding statement (optional)
• Conflict of interest disclosure (optional)
• Ethics approval statement (optional)
• Patient consent statement (optional)
• Permission to reproduce material from other sources (optional)
• Clinical trial registration (optional)
• Electronic supplementary materials (optional)
• Other necessary materials not for review (optional)

First author and One author has been designated as the corresponding author with contact details:

• E-mail address(It should be consistent with the email address in the main text of the manuscript.)
• Full postal address
• ORCiD(Recommend, freely available at https://orcid.org.)

2.2 How to Submit

Our online submission system will guide you step-by-step through the process of entering article information and uploading files. Authors need to register an account, log in to the system, click on [New Submission] in the left navigation bar under the [Author Center] interface, read the submission instructions, submission confirmation letter, submission guidelines, publication ethics, open access policies, and copyright licenses, then proceed to select [Regular Submission] or [Special Issue Submission] to submit your manuscript.

This online submission system employs a one-click submission method. Upon uploading the full manuscript, the system automatically parses the content. Accepted file formats include doc, docx, wps, and pdf (for TeX manuscripts). For TeX manuscripts, authors must provide a compressed zip file containing the TeX source files upon acceptance.

One-click submission steps: 

• Upload the manuscript as required 
• The system automatically extracts information 
• Step-by-step verification of key content 

The key content to be verified step by step is as follows: 

• Step 1: Chinese and English titles, abstract, keywords 
• Step 2: Authors and affiliations 
• Step 3: Recommended or excluded peer reviewers 
• Step 4: Funding and notes 
• Step 5: Manuscript attachments (Authors are requested to provide raw data, program codes, graphical abstracts, experimental videos, and other materials related to the paper for enhanced publishing on CNKI) 
• Step 6: Review and submit

If you have not completed all steps during the manuscript submission process, you may continue submitting your manuscript by logging into the system again and navigating to [Author Center]->[Unsubmitted Manuscripts]->[Manuscript List]. 

This online submission system will prompt authors to scan a QR code to follow the journal's official WeChat account during registration. Please scan and follow promptly, regardless of whether you have previously followed the account, as this action will link your submission to the account. After following, authors will receive timely updates on manuscript processing via WeChat, and the registered valid email will also receive relevant notifications.

Note: 

1) When adding authors, please ensure the validity of their email addresses
2) After submitting the manuscript, remind all authors to check their emails or log in to the system to confirm the submission before the manuscript can proceed to the processing stage
3) It is recommended that the email address registered in the submission and review system matches the contact email in the manuscript to ensure smooth communication during the editing process after acceptance

2.3 Reviewer Recommendation

Authors could suggest several potential reviewers by providing the names and institutional e-mail addresses. Authors should not suggest reviewers who are colleagues, or who have co-authored or collaborated with you during the last three years. Editors would not invite reviewers who have potential competing interests with the authors.

Note: the editor decides whether or not to invite the reviewers you suggested.

3.1 Language

Either Chinese or English manuscripts are all acceptable. For English manuscripts, please write the text in good English. Possible grammatical or spelling errors should be carefully avoided, making the submissions conform to accepted standards of written technical English. The Journal’s editors are not responsible for correcting errors in grammar or spelling. Manuscripts that require extensive English revision may be rejected without review.

For Chinese manuscripts please write the text in good Chinese too. Authors are requested to refer to language and writing standards, scientific paper writing norms, and other relevant criteria when submitting manuscripts that meet publication requirements.

3.2 Length of manuscripts

There are no strict limits on the number of published pages for both research and review articles. Nevertheless, authors are asked to make the manuscript as concise as possible and to limit to less than 20 manuscript pages.

3.3 Article types

Natural Science of Hainan University publishes four types of papers: Research Article, Review, Communication, Perspectives/Highlights/Comment.

3.4 Text formatting

Natural Science of Hainan University accepts doc, docx, wps, and pdf (tex files) manuscripts. The manuscript format complies with the journal's requirements (see the Typesetting Format Specifications in the [Download]). Figures and photographs should be concise and clear, with a resolution of 600 dpi or higher. All images should be provided in vector format. Diagrams created using common software such as Visio, Excel, PPT, Origin, and MATLAB can be submitted directly as source files. For geological maps, please export the source files in CDR/AI/EPS/EMF/PDF formats. For maps, please attached the map review approval number. For other figures, please provide PDF files exported from the source files.

All submissions should include a cover letter that includes a convincing statement of the novelty and significance of the work and the relevance to the aims and scope of Natural Science of Hainan University. This statement should not be a duplicate of the submission’s abstract. If the submission has been rejected previously by any journal, including Natural Science of Hainan University, the cover letter should include the manuscript's previous submission history and response to referees' comments, as an appendix to the cover letter.

If any electronic supplementary materials (ESM) are submitted together with the manuscript, a list of the ESM should be given as an appendix to the cover letter. The authors should explain briefly why these ESM should be provided and why these ESM cannot be incorporated into the main body of the manuscript.

The submission letter should include the author's biography, at least the first author’s and the corresponding author’s are required, including the colorful photo, one-paragraph introduction such as study and work experience, research interests, awards received, etc. Specify the contributions of each author (not required for Review/ Communication/ Perspective/ Highlight).

The cover letter should specify the detailed information of the attached funding projects, including the project name, category, number, start and end dates, as well as the supporting role for this paper.

The authors are required to supply one picture (at least 600 dpi, 5 cm × 8 cm, the ratio of height to length should be less than 1 and larger than 5/8) as graphical abstract with 1–2-sentence summary of the paper.

If Electronic Supplementary Material (ESM) is submitted, it will be published as received from the authors without any conversion, editing, or reformatting. ESM are peer-reviewed materials directly relevant to the conclusions of a paper. Please note that the aims of ESM are only to provide additional, rather than necessary, supports for the conclusions of the paper. The authors are suggested to incorporate all the necessary information in the main text of the manuscript in order that the readers can understand the manuscript content easily and completely without the aid of the ESM. If supplying any ESM, the text must make specific mention of the material as a citation, similar to that of figures and tables (e.g., Fig. S1 in the ESM). Besides, a paragraph should be added before the “References” section (e.g., Electronic Supplementary Material: Supplementary material (add a brief description) is available in the online version of this article).

Information that cannot be printed, such as animations, video clips, sound recordings, etc., should be supplied always as electronic files with MP4 format.

Information that can be printed, such as text, figures, tables, etc., should be integrated into one electronic file with PDF format

The Journal follows a double-blind reviewing procedure. The benefit of double-blind peer review is that it is the traditional model of peer review that many reviewers are comfortable with, and it facilitates a dispassionate critique of a manuscript. A regular review process for each submitted manuscript consists of three stages: initial check, preliminary assessment and peer review.

7.1 Initial check

The submitted manuscript will be initially checked by the Editor-in-Chief . At this stage, a decision of “Reject without review” would be made for the submissions which do not meet the guidelines set out in this document. In addition, all manuscripts submitted to Natural Science of Hainan University will be screened for plagiarism by Crossref Similarity Check or Wanfang, CNKI plagiarism detection system, AIGC detection and internal similarity detection. Those with high overlap scores (higher than 15%) and high AI-generated content that are not properly disclosed may also be rejected directly without further review. We are sorry that we cannot provide the detailed report for the text overlap check and AIGC detection.

7.2 Preliminary assessment

Manuscripts which pass through the initial check will be preliminarily assessed by the handling editor. At this stage, the handling editor have sole discretion on whether to send the manuscript for peer review or reject it without review.

Special emphases will be paid on the readability and the attractiveness of the submitted manuscripts. Manuscripts without an attractive abstract and/or a comprehensive and convincing introduction, or the manuscript contains professional errors, non-standard writing, or suspected academic misconduct issues, that will be rejected at this stage without detailed comments.

7.3 Peer review

Around several reviewers will be invited for peer review. When a submission has at least two useable reports, the Editor-in-Chief will use the reviewers’ comments to decide whether to accept the manuscript for publication, accept with revisions, revise and resubmit, or reject it. All articles are evaluated by fit with the mission statement of the Journal, perceived quality and novelty of the work, potential interest to the Journal’s readership, and the standard of presentation (including the standard of technical written and the quality of figures).

7.4 Editor-in-Chief's Final Review 

After undergoing peer review, the manuscript will be submitted to the Editor-in-Chief for final review. The Editor-in-Chief will decide whether to accept or reject the manuscript based on the peer review comments and the recommendations of the managing editor. Prior to acceptance, the author may be requested to make revisions. If significant publication risks are identified, even manuscripts with favorable peer review recommendations may be rejected by the Editor-in-Chief.

7.5 Manuscript Rejection

A manuscript may be rejected during the initial check, editor's pre-review, peer review, or editor-in-chief's final review stage. Common reasons for rejection include (but are not limited to) the following:

• The manuscript does not align with the journal's aims or scope
• The manuscript violates publication ethics or raises suspicions of academic misconduct
• The manuscript is suspected of leaking state secrets
• Incomplete or inaccurate author information, or lack of academic rigor
• Nonstandard manuscript preparation
• Lack of novelty in research papers
• High publication risks associated with the manuscript
• Rejection with resubmission option
• Other circumstances related to manuscript rejection

7.6 Author Withdrawal and Resubmission 

Authors may initiate withdrawal of their manuscript during the stage when it has not yet been accepted. The withdrawal will be completed after approval by the editor-in-chief. If the withdrawal is due to reasons such as incorrect information submission, authors should provide an explanation to avoid direct rejection upon resubmission. 

If the withdrawal is initiated by the authors due to reasons like incorrect information submission, they may resubmit the manuscript. However, this journal will no longer accept manuscripts that have been rejected by the editor-in-chief.

8.1 Open Access Licence Agreement

All articles in Natural Science of Hainan University will be published on an Open-Access model. In compliance with the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0), upon acceptance of an article, authors will be asked to complete an 'Copyright License Agreement', which will ensure the widest possible protection and dissemination of information under copyright laws.

8.2 Article Processing Charge

Authors are required to pay Article Processing Charge (APC) if the manuscript was accepted. APC is paid by the author, their institution, or funding projects. 

APC fee include: 

• ¥300.00 per page (color); ¥200.00 per page (black and white). Fees are charged per full page, with partial pages rounded up to a full page
• The review fee is RMB ¥200.00 per article. 

Authors from low-income countries facing financial hardship or those without research funding may apply for a waiver of the article processing fee (low-income country classification reference: https://unctad.org/topic/least-developed-countries/list). Authors intending to apply for a fee waiver must submit a formal application document (signed by the first author and corresponding author) together with the manuscript submission.

8.3 Just Accepted

Accepted papers will be posted online prior to technical editing, formatting for publication, and author proofing as “Just Accepted” papers. This is intended to expedite publication and increase the impact of accepted papers. Just accepted papers will be accessible and citable with a Digital Object Identifier (DOI®).

8.4 Proof Reading

The purpose of the proof is to check for typesetting errors and the completeness and accuracy of the text, tables, and figures. Authors will have chance to double check symbols, formulas, and figure legends before final publication, for these may accidentally have been changed during typesetting. Substantial changes in content, e.g., new results, corrected values, title, and authorship, are not allowed without the approval of the Editors-in-Chief. After online publication, further changes can only be made in the form of an Erratum, which will be hyperlinked to the article. During the proofreading process, the editor will send the author the final proofs. Please pay timely attention to the messages on the WeChat public account and emails.

8.5 Online First

The article will be published online first on our website, Wanfang, PubScholar, and CNKI platforms after receipt of the corrected proofs. This is the official first publication citable with the DOI. The online first publication version on our website can be updated in real time during the proofreading process. After release of the printed version, the paper can also be cited by issue and page numbers.

8.6 Printing and Publication 

Manuscripts that have been prioritized for publication undergo a complete proofreading process before finalization. The editor-in-chief selects an appropriate number of finalized manuscripts to compile an entire issue. These manuscripts then go through review stages such as editorial review and expert review to form the print version. After submitting the print version for online-first publication review on the CNKI platform, the finalized materials are sent to the printing house for production. The journal provides authors with offprint services after printing and publication.

8.7 Enhanced Publication 

CNKI's enhanced publication is a novel digital publishing model designed to enrich the content presentation and dissemination methods of academic papers through digital technologies, thereby enhancing the academic impact and reader experience of the papers. Enhanced publication builds upon traditional academic papers (referred to as "root publications") by incorporating additional content such as multimedia materials, detailed data, experimental records, and program code, thereby expanding and deepening the content through digital links. This model is not limited to text and charts but can also include various forms such as audio, video, and animations, making the paper content more multidimensional and comprehensive. 

Electronic Supplementary Material can be uploaded at various stages, including online first publication of accepted manuscripts, online first publication of typeset manuscripts, online first publication of printed versions, and post-publication. This journal encourages submissions to adopt enhanced publication.

8.8 WeChat Official Account Service 

Natural Science of Hainan University has launched a WeChat official account. Authors can follow the journal's official account by scanning the QR code provided by the submission system during registration. This enables authors to receive real-time updates on the processing status of their submissions via WeChat. 

When a manuscript enters the proofreading stage, authors will receive another email requesting them to scan the QR code again to bind the journal's official account. This binding links the account to the manuscript currently under proofreading, allowing authors to receive real-time notifications regarding proofreading updates and facilitating communication with the editors. 

Authors can also use the WeChat official account to access the journal's latest information and article updates.