Small Formatting Requirements: Complete Author Guide

Treat Small formatting as an editorial-readiness check, not a production chore. If the page limit, TOC image, figure resolution, Data Availability Statement, and Supporting Information are already clean before upload, the editor can focus on whether the nanoscience claim deserves review. If those pieces are loose, the submission starts by signaling that the evidence package is not yet under control.

Small measures length in published pages, following the Wiley convention. Your submitted manuscript will be longer than the final typeset version, so you need to estimate the final page count.

The page count includes everything: text, figures, tables, and references. This means figure-heavy papers have less room for text. A 10-page Full Paper with 8 large figures might only accommodate 4,000-5,000 words of text.

Communications are Small's signature format. At 4 published pages, they're designed for compact, high-impact findings. The Communication format doesn't have a separate abstract. The opening paragraph functions as both introduction and abstract. Database services extract this paragraph for indexing, so write it to convey the full story in 3-5 sentences.

Estimating page count: One published page in Small holds approximately 750-800 words of text (no figures) or one large figure plus 200-300 words. Use Wiley's two-column template for an accurate preview. Don't rely on your double-spaced single-column manuscript to estimate final length; it'll be misleading.

The page limits are enforced at the proof stage. If your paper typesets to 10.5 pages for a Full Paper or 4.5 pages for a Communication, you'll need to make cuts after acceptance. It's much better to stay within the limit from the start.

The abstract format depends on the article type.

Full Papers:

• Word limit: 200 words
• Structure: Unstructured (single paragraph)
• Citations: Not allowed
• Keywords: 3-7 required, listed below the abstract

Communications:

• No separate abstract
• Opening paragraph (3-5 sentences) serves as abstract
• Keywords: 3-7 required

For Full Papers, the 200-word abstract should cover the problem, approach, main result, and significance. Small covers nanoscience broadly, so make the abstract accessible to non-specialists in your subfield. A researcher working on nanoparticle drug delivery should be able to understand the abstract of a paper on nanoscale mechanical resonators.

Keywords: Between 3 and 7 keywords are required. Choose specific terms that help with indexing. "Nanoparticles" alone is too broad; "gold nanorod photothermal therapy" is specific and useful.

Figures drive Small papers. Electron microscopy images, spectral data, device performance curves, and schematic illustrations are central to almost every publication.

Figure specifications:

TOC image (mandatory):

• Dimensions: approximately 5.5 cm wide x 5.0 cm high (portrait) or 11.5 cm wide x 2.5 cm high (banner)
• Resolution: 300 dpi minimum
• Format: TIFF or EPS
• Must include a text description (50 words maximum)
• Should represent the key finding visually

The TOC image is your paper's calling card. When readers browse Small's table of contents, the TOC image is what determines whether they click through. Design a purpose-built image that conveys the concept at a glance. Don't simply crop a figure from the paper; create something specific for the TOC.

Nanoscale image conventions:

• Include scale bars on all microscopy images
• State the microscopy technique (SEM, TEM, AFM, STM) in the caption
• For particle size distributions, include the mean and standard deviation
• For crystal structure images, indicate crystallographic directions

Table formatting:

• Tables should have headers for every column
• Horizontal rules only (top, below header, bottom)
• Editable format, not images
• Tables count toward the page limit

Small uses Wiley's numbered reference style, identical to Advanced Materials and other Wiley-VCH titles.

In-text citations: Superscript numbers in square brackets, e.g., [1], [2,3], [4-7]. Numbered sequentially by order of first appearance.

Reference list format:

[1] A.B. Author, C.D. Author, E.F. Author, J. Abbrev. Name Year, Volume, Pages.

Key formatting details:

• Author initials before surname, closed up (A.B. Author, no spaces between initials)
• First three authors listed; four or more authors, use et al.
• Journal name abbreviated per ISO 4, in italics
• Year after journal name, no parentheses
• Volume number, page range
• No DOIs in standard format
• Book format: A. B. Author, Title, Publisher, City, Year

Communications typically cite 20-30 references. Full Papers cite 40-60. There's no formal cap, but an excessive reference list eats into your page budget.

The Wiley reference style places the year after the journal name (not in parentheses), which is different from Elsevier and Nature styles. If you're converting from another format, watch for this detail.

Small calls its supplementary content "Supporting Information" (SI), following Wiley convention.

What goes in SI:

• Detailed experimental procedures
• Additional characterization data (XRD, DLS, TGA, etc.)
• Extended microscopy images
• Video files (in situ experiments, nanoparticle dynamics)
• Computational details

SI requirements:

• Submitted as a single PDF
• Videos as separate files
• Self-contained with its own numbering (Figure S1, Table S1)
• Must begin with the article title, author names, and SI table of contents
• Every SI item referenced in the main text

For Communications (4-page limit), the SI carries most of the experimental detail. A 4-page Communication with 15-20 pages of SI is normal. Reviewers expect detailed SI and will check it carefully.

These are the details that regular Small authors know:

Page limits are on published pages. This is the most critical distinction. Your 20-page double-spaced manuscript might format to 8 published pages. Use the two-column template to estimate accurately.

Communications don't have abstracts. The opening paragraph serves as the abstract. This paragraph appears in database listings and search results. Don't bury the key finding in the middle of a lengthy introduction.

TOC image is mandatory. You can't submit without one. Prepare it as part of your manuscript development process, not as a last-minute addition.

Color is free. Both online and print publication include color at no charge. Use color freely to make your data clear.

SI header is required. The Supporting Information PDF must start with a header containing the article title, all author names, and a table of contents listing SI figures and tables.

Wiley production edits your manuscript. Wiley's copyediting team makes changes during production. Review your proofs carefully, especially figure quality, which can degrade during Wiley's production pipeline.

Communications need a justification. Submit a brief statement explaining why the Communication format is appropriate rather than a Full Paper. This goes in the cover letter.

Dual-format initial submission. For the first submission, Small accepts a single merged PDF with all text, figures, and SI. At revision, they'll want separate files.

Data Availability Statement required. Wiley now requires a Data Availability Statement on all submissions. Include a brief statement describing where the data supporting your results can be found (repository URL and accession number) or state that data are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request. This goes at the end of the manuscript, before the references.

These cause delays at Small:

1. TOC image dimensions. Portrait format (~5.5 cm wide x 5.0 cm high) or banner format (~11.5 cm wide x 2.5 cm high). Many authors confuse width and height; incorrectly oriented images get returned.

1. Keyword count. 3 to 7 keywords are required. Outside that range the submission system flags the entry.

1. Page limit violations. Discovered at the proof stage, requiring cuts after acceptance. Use the two-column template to check before submission.

1. SI header missing. The Supporting Information document needs the article title and author names at the top. This is a Wiley requirement that's easy to forget.

1. Communication length overrun. 4 published pages means 4 pages. At 4.5 pages, you'll be asked to cut during production.

In our pre-submission review work with manuscripts targeting Small, four patterns generate the most consistent desk-rejection and revision outcomes.

TOC image with inverted dimensions. The Small author guidelines specify the TOC graphic as approximately 5.5 cm wide x 5.0 cm high (portrait) or 11.5 cm wide x 2.5 cm high (banner). Many authors submit a square or landscape-oriented image using the old ~5.5 x 12 cm specification that circulated from earlier guidelines. The editorial office returns non-compliant TOC images before review. Check your image dimensions explicitly in your image software before uploading; do not rely on visual estimation.

Communication format without cover letter justification. The Small author guidelines require a brief statement in the cover letter explaining why the Communication format is appropriate rather than a Full Paper. Papers submitted as Communications without this justification are flagged. The explanation should be specific: what makes the finding compact and high-impact enough to stand in 4 pages rather than 10? "The finding is novel and important" is not sufficient. "The central result is a single mechanistic discovery that is fully demonstrated in three figures" is.

Communication running over 4 typeset pages. The 4-page limit for Communications is enforced at the proof stage, after acceptance. Authors who submit a manuscript that typesets to 4.5 pages receive a request to cut content during production, which delays publication and forces difficult decisions about what to remove. Use Wiley's two-column template before submission to estimate your typeset length accurately. If you are consistently at 4.3-4.5 pages in the template, restructure before submitting rather than gambling that production will absorb the difference.

Missing or incomplete Data Availability Statement. Wiley has required a Data Availability Statement on all submissions since 2024. Papers submitted without one are returned for revision before the editorial office processes them. The statement should specify the repository (Zenodo, Figshare, institutional repository) and accession number or DOI for any datasets that underlie the figures. "Data available from the corresponding author on request" is technically acceptable but increasingly disfavored by reviewers.

A Small formatting and readiness check evaluates TOC image dimensions, Communication word count, Data Availability Statement, and structural completeness against journal-specific standards before you submit.

In our pre-submission review work on Small-targeted manuscripts, three patterns consistently predict formatting desk-screen failure at Small (Wiley). The patterns below are the same ones the journal's handling editors and outside reviewers flag at first-pass triage.

Scope-fit ambiguity in the abstract. Small editors move fastest on manuscripts whose contribution is obviously aligned with nanoscale science. The named failure pattern: subdiscipline-bounded papers without broader nano/micro-impact framing extend revision rounds. Check whether your abstract reads to Small's scope

Methods package incomplete for the journal's reviewer pool. Small reviewers expect specific methodological detail. Characterization without state-of-the-art benchmark comparison extends reviewer consultation. Check if your methods package is reviewer-complete

Reference-list and clean-citation failure mode. Editorial team at Small (Wiley) screens reference lists for retracted-paper inclusion. Check whether your reference list is clean against Crossref + Retraction Watch

Manusights submission-corpus signal for Small (Wiley). Of the manuscripts our team screened before submission to Small and peer venues in 2025, the editorial-culture mismatch most consistent across the cohort is small editors emphasize cross-subdiscipline impact at the nano/micro scale; subdiscipline-bounded papers extend revision rounds. In our analysis of anonymized Small-targeted submissions,