Nature Communications

Contents

Nature Communications is a peer-reviewed, open-access scientific journal that publishes research across the natural sciences, engineering, and related interdisciplinary fields. The journal was launched by Nature's publisher Springer Nature and rapidly became prominent alongside journals such as Science, Cell, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, and The Lancet for high-impact multidisciplinary research. Articles in the journal often appear alongside work from institutions including Harvard University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, University of Oxford, Stanford University, and Max Planck Society.

History

Nature Communications was announced by Nature's publisher Springer Nature in 2010 during a period of expansion in scholarly publishing that included launches by publishers like Elsevier, Wiley, and PLOS. Early editorial leadership drew on editors with backgrounds from Nature, Nature Medicine, and Nature Materials, and the journal expanded its editorial board to include scientists affiliated with California Institute of Technology, University of Cambridge, University of Tokyo, ETH Zurich, and Imperial College London. The journal's growth paralleled broader movements such as the development of open access initiatives and policy changes influenced by funders like the Wellcome Trust, European Research Council, and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. Over time, Nature Communications introduced article types and editorial policies responding to debates involving figures and organizations like Peter Suber, Björk, Bo-Christer, cOAlition S, and Plan S.

Nature Communications covers original research across areas represented by institutions and fields commonly associated with Harvard University, California Institute of Technology, Max Planck Society, National Institutes of Health, and European Molecular Biology Laboratory. The journal publishes studies in disciplines represented in leading journals such as Nature Physics, Nature Chemistry, Nature Biotechnology, Nature Neuroscience, and Nature Climate Change, and it features work from laboratories led by investigators linked to awards like the Nobel Prize, Lasker Award, Breakthrough Prize, and Royal Society medals. Content types include full research articles, methods papers, reviews, and commentaries that often cite datasets from repositories and collaborations with organizations such as Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, CERN, NASA, European Space Agency, and NASA.

Editorial decisions are managed by an in-house office associated with Springer Nature and an international editorial board composed of researchers appointed from universities such as University of Oxford, Stanford University, University of California, Berkeley, Peking University, and University of Melbourne. Peer review involves external referees drawn from research communities including members of American Association for the Advancement of Science, Royal Society, National Academy of Sciences (United States), and editorial standards often reference guidelines developed by organizations like the Committee on Publication Ethics and publishers such as Elsevier and Wiley. The process has included innovations such as transparent peer review and portable peer review arrangements used in discussions alongside journals like eLife, PLOS Biology, and The BMJ.

From its inception, Nature Communications adopted an open-access publishing model under the umbrella of Springer Nature's policies and aligned with mandates promoted by funders including the Wellcome Trust, European Research Council, and national agencies like the UK Research and Innovation and National Institutes of Health. Licensing options typically reference Creative Commons frameworks used across publishers such as PLOS, Frontiers, and MDPI; authors commonly select licenses comparable to CC BY. Article processing charges and waivers have been subject to discussion in policy forums involving stakeholders like cOAlition S, the Association of American Universities, and university libraries at University of California and Yale University.

Nature Communications has been cited in policy documents, media outlets, and academic discourse alongside high-profile publications from organizations such as World Health Organization, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, and governments including United Kingdom and United States. The journal's impact factor and citation metrics are compared by institutions like Clarivate, Scopus, and bibliometric analyses featuring scholars from University of Leiden and University of Zurich. Reception has involved debate among stakeholders such as librarians at the American Library Association, editorial committees at Royal Society journals, and advocacy groups like SPARC regarding open access, peer review, and publishing costs.

Nature Communications is indexed in major bibliographic and abstracting services including Science Citation Index, Scopus, PubMed Central, MEDLINE, and specialist databases used by researchers at National Institutes of Health, European Molecular Biology Laboratory, NASA, and national libraries such as the British Library and Library of Congress. The journal's indexing status is tracked by organizations like Clarivate Analytics, Elsevier, and bibliometric units at Leiden University and University of California, San Diego.

Category:Scientific journals