Springer Nature launches 'Nano' research tool

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.

Researchers can go to nano.nature.com, type in the material they work in, and through a smart search get a view on that material, with a view of relevant literature and links to primary sources, she said.    

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.