1. Mission:

Due to the rapid growth of the field of RNA and its potential applications including RNA therapeutics, it is encouraging to have an RNA journal that advances the field by bridging the fundamental research and application of RNA. The prediction that RNA will become the third milestone in drug development has become a reality.  The establishment of an RNA journal related to this field by the International Society for RNA Nanotechnology and Nanomedicine (ISRNN) will be in line with the vision and mission of the society. 

2. The journal scope:

This journal will include both the fundamentals and application of RNA, paying special attention to bridge these two areas.  Fundamental include both the structure and function and RNA.  The application includes RNA nanotechnology and RNA therapeutics.  RNA therapeutics include both the RNA as drugs and drugs targeting RNA, as well as extracellular RNA communication, paying special attention to new technology and the development of RNA therapeutics as the third milestone in pharmaceutical drug development.

Areas of interest include (but are not limited to) the following:

1) Chemistry, physics, optics, biophysics, computation, and other nanotechnology with potential applications in RNA.

2) RNA as drugs: RNA nanoparticles, aptamers, siRNAs, miRNAs, riboswitches, ribozymes, and other small noncoding RNA, in vivo delivery, treatment of cancer and other diseases.

3) Drugs that bind RNA: screening and design of chemical drugs that bind and inhibit RNA function.

4) The mobility and dynamics of RNA in vitro and in vivo including its trafficking and biodistribution in the body: concepts, design, and characterization.

5) Interactions of RNA with other classes of biological molecules such as proteins, lipids, glucose, and immune systems.

6) RNA as nanomaterials, polymers. antibodies, biosensors.

7) Inter-RNA interaction, computational studies, and machine learning on RNA 2D, 3D and 4D structures and nanoparticle formation.

8) Discovery of new RNA including long and short noncoding RNA and their in vivo processing and regulation.

9) Extracellular vesicles (EV) and Exosomes (EX), including RNA-decorated-EV and EX, RNA isolation/identification in EX and EX, RNA delivery by EV and EX, use of EV or EX for therapy, diagnosis, and tissue/organ repair.

3.Editorial board: 

Editor in Chief:

Peixuan Guo; The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA (More info)

Executive Editor:

Kirill A. Afonin; UNC Charlotte, NC, USA (More info)

Associate Editors (List alphabetically):

Bruce Shapiro; NCI, Frederick, MD (More info)

Daniel Binzel: The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA (More info)

Emil Khisamutdinov, Ball State University, Muncie, IN, USA (More info)

Eric Westhof; University of Strasbourg, Germany (More info)

Shi-Jie Chen, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO, USA (More info)

Tushar Patel, Mayo Clinic,Jacksonville, FL, USA (More info)

Wayne Miles; The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA (More info)

Xing-Jie Liang, National Center for Nanoscience and Technology, China (More info)

Zhe-Sheng Chen, St. John’s University, Queens, NY, USA (More info)

Editorial Board:

David Lilley, University of Dundee, Dundee, Scotland (More info)

David Gorenstein, AM Biotechnologies, LLC

Jong Bum Lee, University of Seoul, Seoul, South Korea (More info)

Hirohide Saito, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan (More info)

 Jørgen Kjems, AARHUS University, Aarhus, Denmark (More info)

Thomas Schmittgen, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA (More info)

Nils Walter, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA (More info)

 Xiaoting Zhang, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH, USA (More info)

Yuri Lyubchenko, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, NE, USA (More info)

Mark Evers, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY, USA (More info)

Paula Hammond, MIT, Cambridge, MA, USA (More info)

Thomas Hermann, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA (More info)

Anil Sood, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX, USA (More info)

Carlo Croce, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA (More info)

Robert Batey, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, CO, USA (More info)

Luc Jaeger, University of California Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA, USA (More info)

Mark Bathe, MIT, Cambridge, MA, USA (More info)

Ebbe Anderson, AARHUS University, Aarhus, Denmark (More info)

Arkadiusz Chworos, Polish Academy of Sciences, Lodz, Poland (More info)

John Rossi, City of Hope, Duarte, CA, USA (More info)

Yizhou Dong, Mount Sinai, New York, NY, USA (More info)

Xandra Breakefield, Harvard University, Charlestown, MA, USA (More info)

Marina Dobrovolskaia, NCI, Frederick, MD (More info)

Shyam Rele, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Washington, D.C., USA (More info)

4. Readership and subscription: 

The journal will be open access, with a reduced 50% cost for faculties within the institute and affiliations that subscribe to this journal. ISRNN members will reduce 40% of the publication cost.  Free charge for the first two (2) years.

5. Types of Articles

ORIGINAL RESEARCH ARTICLES: Full-length articles describe a significant finding with innovative ideas and approaches, full account of hypothesis-based research, and convincing data to support the finding and conclusion. The length should not exceed 6,000 words including body text and figure legends, no more than 8 figures for no limit for supplemental data and figures (see below), no more than 70 references.  The abstract should be no more than 250 words with no more than one independent citation (author, journal, year, volume and pages). The body should include an Introduction, Results, Materials and Methods, Discussions, and Conclusion. No content or figures in this category should have been published.

LETTER of COMMUNICATION: Dissemination of new findings with quick publication to the scientific community. The manuscript will not exceed 2,000 words,  including the body text, figure legends, but not counting the references, and no more than 5 figures and 30 references, with abstract of  less than 150 words.

RREVIEWS: Critical reviews of selected important topics in RNA and Nanomedicine are solicited from established researchers. They should not exceed 5,000 words including body text and figure legends. Figure number should be less than 15, and references should be more than 220 except in the supplementary file(s). The abstract should be no more than 200 words. Unsolicited Review manuscripts should send the title of the proposed title and outline for the specific topics with a description of the related background of the corresponding author for Editors' pre-submission approval. Previously published figures in this category should include permission for reuse from the publisher, and the consent of the author as a courtesy. 

PHILISOPY, LOGIC, PERSPECTIVES IN RESEARCH AND SCIENCE: Invited articles or editorial comments that represent viewpoints, opinions in science and philosophy or logic in research design or approach, written for the general scientific readership in addition to the field of RNA and Nanomedicine. Length should not exceed 5,000 words including body text and figure legends. Authors wishing to submit an unsolicited article in these categories should send the topic, title, and outline of the planned content along with an introduction to the corresponding author and a brief 200-1,000-word synopsis to the editorial office as a pre-submission inquiry.

TECHNOLOGY, METHOD, AND COMMERCIALIZATION NOTES: Information about emerging or new technologies, crucial business development or FDA regulations on RNA nanotechnology commercialization issues, introduction to new RNA  commercialization potential or products, interpretation of newly granted or PCT patents by the inventors, new RNA nanotechnology law, etc. Length of technical notes should not exceed 2,500 words including body text and figure legends, no more than 5 figures, and 15 references with an abstract of no more than 200 words.

6.Ethics in publications on RNA and Nanomedicine
This journal considers research and publication misconduct and plagiarism as a serious breach of ethics in science and personal behavior. The journal will follow the general guidelines of Federal Research Misconduct Policy (https://ori.hhs.gov/federal-research-misconduct-policy#:~:text=Plagiarism%20is%20the%20appropriation%20of,error%20or%20differences%20of%20opinion.&text=The%20allegation%20be%20proven%20by%20a%20preponderance%20of%20evidence), also in refer to the NIH regulation.

7.Permission of previously published data
If any data pr material has been published previously, the inclusion of written permissions from the copyright holder is necessary.  It is the author's responsibility to obtain permission (or payment if needed).

8. Human and animal rights
If the manuscript involves animal or human data or subjects, it is the author's responsibility to obtain appropriate paperwork for the approval of the use of animal and human subjects before doing the experiment and before submitting the manuscript.

9. Declaration of the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in writing the manuscript
When authors use generative AI or and AI-assisted method in preparing the manuscript,  authors should only use these AI  technologies to check grammar, and spelling, and improve the readability of the language in the manuscript. This journal will not encourage the author to use AI to prepare any section of the manuscript. If any section is prepared by AI, the author should include a statement to disclose their use of AI in manuscript preparation, since the current policy in the use AI for manuscript preparation is not very well defined by the public, the authors are ultimately responsible and accountable for the contents of the manuscript that was prepared by AI.

10. Implication of Author Submission

Submission of a manuscript to RNA and Nanomedicine implies that the content in the manuscript has not been published previously. Exceptions are abstracts in conferences, and academic thesis due to degree requirements. The authors declare that the manuscript is not under consideration for publication elsewhere except it is rejected by this journal. If the manuscript is accepted, the major contain and subject or the similar result(s) of this manuscript will not be published elsewhere in any language, or any electronic methods without the prior written consent of this RNA and Nanomedicine’s copyright holder. The accepted manuscript may be checked by Crossref Similarity Check or other duplicate-checking software. Each manuscript should not have a similarity of more than 18%.

11. Author contributions
Each manuscript should include a section of the Author's contributions to the manuscript. The role can be some but not necessarily all of the following:  Conceptualization; Data collection, Data analysis and validation; Funding acquisition; Experimental design; Methodology; Project management and supervision; Resources and instrumentation; Software use or design; Writing of original draft;  Manuscript modification. 

12. Authorship policy
The corresponding author should ensure that all listed authors meet the Authorship and Contribution criteria of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors detailed at  https://www.icmje.org/recommendations/browse/roles-and-responsibilities/defining-the-role-of-authors-and-contributors.html.  These criteria describe each author:
1. Made substantial contributions to conception and design, or acquisition of data, or analysis and interpretation of data;
2. drafted the manuscript or revised the draft critically for important parts of the manuscript's content;

3. approved the submitted manuscript and agreed with the subsequent submitted revisions.

All authors will receive a notice of the manuscript submission. If any author does not agree with the submitted manuscript, the author should contact the editorial office right away after receiving the notice by Email. 

13. Changes to authorship
Any change of authorship after manuscript submission should have the agreement of all original authors by signature and approved by the  Editor. If the change is requested after the manuscript has already been published, any approved requests will be in the form of a corrigendum.

14.Suggesting reviewers
You might suggest names and institutional e-mail addresses of up to five potential reviewers. But you should avoid the conflict of interest.

You should not suggest reviewers from the group of your friends, previous co-authors, or collaborators during the last three years. The journal editorial office will not invite reviewers who have a potential conflict of interest with any author. You should not include any of the members of the RNA and Nanomedicine editorial board.

15.Manuscript preparation

Title
The title should be concise and informative, and avoid abbreviations and formulae. Omit the words such as “New”; and “Novel,” and should describe the goal, the concept, or new findings other than the approach or method, except it is in the category of TECHNOLOGY, METHOD, AND COMMERCIALIZATION.   The wording of “Research on”, “Study on”, “Analysis for”, “testing of” “Investigations of,” and “Observations of” should be avoided.
The corresponding author. 

Please make as “Please send correspondence to name at Email”.

Change of address and current address.

 If an author has moved after the work in the manuscript was completed, 'Current address' should be indicated as foot note. The address where the author did the work must be retained as the affiliation.

Abstract
The abstract should be brief, including why, how, and what, that is, why you carried out this research, how you carried out the research, and what is the major finding and conclusion. The abstract is an independent and stand-alone short article as a summary of the entire manuscript.  

Keywords
Immediately after the abstract, please provide up to seven keywords for indexing purposes. The keywords should not be too broad, too general (common), and should not be multiple concepts of plural terms. The phases in the title will not need to state as keywords.

Abbreviations
Provide a list of abbreviations defined at the bottom of the first page.  Only those Abbreviationsthat are not standard in the field are listed.  

Structure of text
For Letter Communications and Original Research Articles, the text should include the headings. See Types of Articles

Acknowledgments
The acknowledgments will include contributors who did not meet the criteria for authorship. Do not include funding, conflict of interest, or other disclosures in this Acknowledgment; these must appear in separate sections.

Conflict of interest
Each article should include a section of Conflict of Interest. Authors should  acknowledge all funding sources that supported this work. The author should disclose any existing, potential or perceived Conflict of Interest with any commercial associations of current and within the last five years as defined by NIH or general academic institutes.

Funding sources
Using the standard way to comply with the funder's requirements. For example: This work was supported by the National Institutes of Health grant numbers XYZ etc.

Figure Artwork

Figures must have a minimum resolution of 300ppi. Each figure should be designed in the consideration of 1) parallel, 2) symmetry, 3) contrast, and 4) alignment.  The size relationship between drawings and words should be “the words will be as large as possible while the drawing will be as small as it can be visible. 

Figure captions
Each figure will include a Figure Legend with a Caption. A caption is a summary of the entire figure. The legend should not include results, but only the explanation of the drawings and the words in the figures to let the reader understand what the symbols, colors, and abbreviations in the figures mean. That is to facilitate the reader's understanding of what each part of the figure means.  The results and findings will be in be described in the test, but not in the figure legends.

References

Reference with an order of Author, Title, Year, Journal, Volume, and Pages. For example, “Anderson D., May Y, and Shu G. Treat with a Drug MN5. 2023, Therapy Journal, 2898: 315-223”. If more than five authors, then only the first and the last three will be listed as Anderson D et al and Shu G. In the reference list, they will be listed following the alphabetical order of the author's name.

Citation in text with a superscript number close to the word.
For example, “Cite references²³.”

Reference links to the web citation indexing.
Online links to the sources cited are important for reference. To allow the links to abstracting and indexing services, such as PubMed and Scopus, please provided a DOI number to serve as a permanent link to the electronic article. An example, following the Pubmed style. doi: 10.1038/s41565-017-0012-z. Epub 2017 Dec 11.PMID: 29230043.  

Supplementary material
Supplementary material will be published exactly as the author provided. Please accept all tracked changes and switch off the 'Track Changes' option in Microsoft Office files to avoid the appearance of the published version.

16. Editing policy and the reviewing process. Except for the first two years, all manuscripts will be subjected to first screening by the three editors (editor in chief, executive editor, managing editor) to determine whether they will be sent out for peer review.  At least two reviewers although in general three reviewers while the editor can consider recruiting more reviewers up to six.  Acceptance will be considered only with the majority (more than 50%) acceptance of the peer reviewer process.  Reviewers will recommend either: 1) acceptance as it is; 2) major revision; 3) minor revision; 4) rejection; or 5) recommendation for transfer to other journals such as the journals by the partner publisher(s).  If finally, results that only two reviewers are involved, and one accepts and one rejects, at least one more reviewer will be recruited for a new cycle of review, while the editor(s) can decide. If one accepts and one major revision, the manuscript will be resubmitted for the additional cycle of review by the reviewer who recommends major revision.   For minor revision by the reviewer, the manuscript will be sent to the author for revision, and the recommendation will be relied on by the editor or associate editor.