Science Advances

Science Advances
Title	Science Advances
Discipline	Multidisciplinary science
Language	English
Publisher	American Association for the Advancement of Science
Country	United States
History	2015–present
Frequency	Continuous
Issn	2375-2548

Science Advances

Science Advances is a peer-reviewed, open-access, multidisciplinary scientific journal published by the American Association for the Advancement of Science. The journal publishes original research across the natural sciences, engineering, and related interdisciplinary areas, and it operates alongside the association's flagship titles such as Science (journal). Science Advances aims to accelerate dissemination of findings by combining traditional scholarly standards with modern digital publishing practices used by outlets like Nature (journal), Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, and Cell (journal). The title attracts submissions from researchers affiliated with institutions including Harvard University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Stanford University, and national laboratories such as Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.

Overview

Science Advances covers experimental, theoretical, and computational work spanning fields represented in organizations like the American Chemical Society, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Geological Society of America, and American Physical Society. The journal publishes articles, reviews, perspectives, and policy-relevant commentaries by authors from universities such as University of Oxford, University of Cambridge, University of California, Berkeley, and research centers including Max Planck Society and CNRS. Editorial emphasis is placed on methodological rigor, reproducibility, and the potential for broad scientific and societal impact, aligning with initiatives endorsed by bodies like the National Science Foundation and Howard Hughes Medical Institute.

History and Development

Launched in 2015 by the American Association for the Advancement of Science as part of a wave of new open-access venues that included titles from PLOS and Frontiers Media, the journal emerged amid shifts exemplified by policies from funders such as the Wellcome Trust and the European Research Council toward open dissemination. Early editorial leadership recruited experienced editors from outlets including Science (journal), Nature (journal), and Cell (journal), while partnering with publishers, societies, and university presses for distribution. Over its initial years the journal expanded article types and subject coverage, hosting special collections tied to conferences like AAAS Annual Meeting and thematic collaborations with societies such as the Society for Neuroscience and the American Geophysical Union.

Editorial Structure and Policies

The editorial board comprises scientists affiliated with institutions including Princeton University, Columbia University, Johns Hopkins University, University of Tokyo, and Peking University. Handling editors and section editors oversee peer review, drawing on reviewer pools connected to professional societies such as the Royal Society and American Association for the Advancement of Science fellowship networks. Policies emphasize conflict-of-interest disclosures consistent with standards from organizations like the Committee on Publication Ethics and data-sharing expectations echoing mandates from the National Institutes of Health and the European Commission. The journal implements double-anonymous or single-anonymous peer review options, editorial triage modeled after procedures at Nature Communications and Science Translational Medicine, and criteria for image integrity similar to guidelines from the Office of Research Integrity.

Publication Model and Access

Operating as an open-access journal, Science Advances publishes under licenses compatible with those used by Creative Commons and follows article processing charge models comparable to those of PNAS and Nature Communications. The platform supports continuous online publication, integration with indexing services maintained by Clarivate Analytics and Scopus (Elsevier), and metadata workflows interoperable with repositories such as PubMed Central and institutional archives at the Digital Public Library of America. Author services include preprint-friendly policies that acknowledge postings on servers like bioRxiv and arXiv. The journal’s digital infrastructure supports supplementary datasets hosted in community repositories such as Dryad and Figshare.

Abstracting and Indexing

Science Advances is abstracted and indexed across major citation and discovery services including Web of Science, Scopus (Elsevier), and PubMed, and participates in aggregation efforts by providers like CrossRef and Google Scholar. Its metadata feeds contribute to institutional dashboards at universities including Yale University and University of Michigan and inform bibliometric analyses used by funders such as the Wellcome Trust and NIH. Abstracting also extends to discipline-specific databases maintained by societies such as the American Chemical Society’s indexing and repositories like the Astrophysics Data System for astronomy-related articles.

Reception and Impact

The journal's citation metrics and altmetric attention place it among notable multidisciplinary outlets founded in the 2010s, drawing comparisons to titles such as Nature Communications, Scientific Reports, and PLOS ONE. Its impact has been evaluated in studies by bibliometric researchers at institutions like Leiden University and University College London, and it has been discussed in media outlets including The New York Times, The Washington Post, and Nature (magazine). Debates about open-access business models, article processing charges, and editorial selectivity that involve stakeholders like the Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition have also referenced the journal as a case study.

Notable Articles and Special Issues

Science Advances has published influential papers authored by researchers affiliated with Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Caltech, University of Chicago, and international groups from ETH Zurich and Imperial College London. Topics have ranged from climate reconstructions linked to work by IPCC authors to biomedical advances in fields represented by American Society for Microbiology members, and materials science breakthroughs connected to conferences like MRS Meeting. Special issues and collections have been organized around themes such as climate change science, pandemic response, and quantum materials, often coordinated with meetings like the AAAS Annual Meeting and symposia sponsored by the Royal Society.

Category:Academic journals