Understanding the behavior of rotating materials and structures on small scales is crucial for many scientific and engineering fields, and such studies play an important role in this regard. This paper aims to propose a novel paradigm for analyzing the vibrational characteristics of thermoelastic nanobeams with diverse physical attributes. The incorporation of size effects in the structural and thermal constitutive relationships involves the consideration of nonlocal elasticity theory (NET) and the modified couple stress (MCS) model, together with the utilization of the Euler–Bernoulli assumptions for thin beams. The work also involves the development of a new non-Fourier thermoelasticity model that incorporates the Moore–Gibson–Thompson (MGT) equation. Furthermore, it was taken into account that the thermal conductivity of the flexible materials is not consistent but rather changes with temperature. Periodic pulse heating was applied to rotating nanobeams, and the behavior of the nanobeams was investigated with respect to thermal, rotational, and length-scale effects. To demonstrate the impact of the distinctive characteristics of the MCS and MGT thermoelastic models on the physical fields, a range of numerical data are presented. The study also investigated the propagation characteristics of thermo-mechanical waves, taking into account aspects such as thermal relaxation time and the influence of temperature change on physical properties. Based on the observed results, including the size impact in the structural and thermal equations can lead to significant disparities when compared to conventional models. The inclusion of the length-scale component in the MCS theory, which increases the rigidity and hardiness of the nanobeam structure, may help to explain the observed effect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]