International audiencehis paper models and investigates the resonance frequency shift induced by the adsorption phenomena for an adatoms-nanobeam system including the small scale effect as well as rotary inertia and shear distortion effects. The Lennard-Jones (6–12) type potential is used to determine the adsorption-induced energy owing van der Waals (vdW) interaction mechanism between adatom-adatom and adatom-substrate. The small scale effect is introduced by using Eringen's nonlocal elasticity theory while the explicit expressions of inertia moment and shear force are derived from the standard Timoshenko beam equations in which the residual stress effect is accounted as an additive axial load. Numerical results showed that the resonance frequency shift is depended on each of the adsorption density, mode number and small scale effects. Thus, numerical results are discussed in detail for a proper analysis of dynamic vibration behavior of adatoms-nanobeam systems which are of interest in the development of mass sensing devices