PNAS

PNAS
source
Title	Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Abbreviation	PNAS
Discipline	Multidisciplinary science
Editor	See Organization and Leadership
Publisher	National Academy of Sciences (United States)
Country	United States
Firstdate	1915
Frequency	Weekly
Openaccess	Hybrid
Impact	See Abstracting, Indexing, and Impact

PNAS is a peer-reviewed, multidisciplinary scientific journal published by the United States National Academy of Sciences. It covers research across the biological, physical, and social sciences and publishes original research articles, reviews, commentaries, and proceedings of Academy-sponsored activities. The journal has played a role in communicating influential work from members of the Academy and from researchers worldwide.

History

PNAS was established in 1915 following discussions among members of the National Academy of Sciences (United States). Early volumes appeared during the administrations of Presidents Woodrow Wilson and Thomas Edison served as an active member of the Academy; the journal's creation paralleled developments in American research institutions such as Johns Hopkins University, Harvard University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and University of Chicago. In the interwar period, contributors included scientists affiliated with Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, and Carnegie Institution for Science. During and after World War II, PNAS reflected the expansion of research at Los Alamos National Laboratory, Bell Laboratories, and Salk Institute for Biological Studies. The journal evolved through editorial reforms under leaders connected to institutions like California Institute of Technology, Stanford University, and University of California, Berkeley, adapting peer review and publication practices during the rise of large-scale projects such as Manhattan Project-era collaborations and Cold War-era programs at National Institutes of Health and National Science Foundation.

Scope and Editorial Policy

The journal's scope spans contributions from investigators at institutions including Columbia University, Yale University, University of Oxford, University of Cambridge, Max Planck Society, ETH Zurich, and Karolinska Institutet. Editorial policy emphasizes original research, with article types informed by Academy activities such as symposia and member-initiated contributions. PNAS historically published proceedings of meetings associated with Academy members, drawing submissions from individuals linked to Royal Society, American Association for the Advancement of Science, and professional societies such as American Chemical Society, Biophysical Society, and Ecological Society of America. Peer review procedures have been revised to involve external referees from laboratories like Broad Institute, Salk Institute, Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, and university departments at Princeton University and University of California, San Diego.

Publication and Access Model

PNAS appears on a weekly schedule and offers a hybrid access model allowing immediate open access under author-paid options while maintaining subscription-based access for institutional and individual subscribers, including libraries tied to Library of Congress, British Library, Bibliothèque nationale de France, and university consortia. The publication workflow integrates manuscript submission platforms used by researchers at University of Michigan, University of Washington, University of Toronto, and research centers such as National Institutes of Health and Howard Hughes Medical Institute. The journal's production has adapted to digital distribution through platforms employed by large publishers and indexing services relied upon by scholars at Imperial College London and Peking University.

Abstracting, Indexing, and Impact

PNAS is indexed in major databases used by investigators from PubMed Central, Web of Science, Scopus, and Google Scholar. Its citation metrics have been tracked alongside journals like Nature (journal), Science (journal), Cell (journal), The Lancet, and JAMA. Bibliometric analyses have compared its impact factor, cited half-life, and h-index with outlets connected to Proceedings of the Royal Society, EMBO Journal, and New England Journal of Medicine. Institutions and funding agencies, including National Science Foundation, National Institutes of Health, European Research Council, and Wellcome Trust, consider PNAS publications in assessments of productivity and influence.

Notable Papers and Controversies

PNAS has published landmark papers by researchers associated with Albert Einstein-era physics legacies at Institute for Advanced Study, molecular biology advances from laboratories at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, and evolutionary studies from groups at University of Chicago and University of California, Los Angeles. Notable contributions include influential reports on topics studied by teams at Salk Institute for Biological Studies, Whitehead Institute, Broad Institute, and work related to Human Genome Project participants. The journal has also been subject to controversies over editorial policy, peer review, and publication ethics involving cases that attracted scrutiny from organizations such as Committee on Publication Ethics, leading to reforms similar to debates that affected other venues like The Lancet and Science (journal). Debates have involved authorship disputes, replication concerns highlighted by contributors from Reproducibility Project, and corrections or retractions following inquiries by institutions such as Harvard University, University of Cambridge, and Stanford University.

Organization and Leadership

PNAS is published under the aegis of the National Academy of Sciences (United States), with governance involving elected officers and an editorial board composed of academy members and external editors affiliated with institutions such as Princeton University, Columbia University, Yale University, University of California, Berkeley, University of Oxford, École Normale Supérieure, and Max Planck Society. Leadership roles have been occupied by scientists who also hold positions in organizations like American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Royal Society, and funding bodies including National Institutes of Health and National Science Foundation. The editorial office coordinates with publishing staff experienced in journal management and with committees that liaise with academic societies such as American Association for the Advancement of Science and specialist groups in fields represented on the journal's pages.

Category:Scientific journals