Scientific Reports

Scientific Reports
Title	Scientific Reports
Discipline	Multidisciplinary science
Abbreviation	Sci. Rep.
Publisher	Nature Portfolio
Country	United Kingdom
History	2011–present
Frequency	Continuous
License	Various open licenses

Scientific Reports is a peer-reviewed, open-access, multidisciplinary scientific journal published by Nature Portfolio. Launched in 2011, it aims to provide a venue for technically sound research across the natural and clinical sciences, social sciences, and engineering. The journal emphasises broad accessibility and rapid dissemination, with a publishing model that separates editorial evaluation of methodological soundness from assessments of perceived importance.

History

The journal was established in 2011 by Nature Publishing Group as part of an expansion of Nature (journal)'s publishing portfolio during a period of rapid growth in open-access publishing alongside outlets such as PLOS ONE and Frontiers. Early editorial development drew on practices used by legacy titles like Scientific American's associated publications and the operational infrastructure of Nature Research journals. Its creation paralleled debates about publishing models exemplified by controversies around subscription models at institutions such as Harvard University and policy shifts by funders including the National Institutes of Health and the European Commission. Over the 2010s the title expanded its subject sections, adopted continuous online publication similar to Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences and integrated article-level metrics inspired by platforms like Altmetric (company).

Editorial Structure and Policies

Editorial oversight is provided by professional editors affiliated with Nature Portfolio and by an international board of academic editors drawn from institutions such as Massachusetts Institute of Technology, University of Cambridge, University of Tokyo, Max Planck Society institutes and the University of California, Berkeley. Peer review is coordinated through a single-blind or double-blind workflow decided by editors, and reviewers are typically researchers from universities like Stanford University, Imperial College London, Peking University and national laboratories including Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. Policies on data availability and research integrity align with requirements from funders such as the Wellcome Trust and guidelines from organisations like the Committee on Publication Ethics. The publisher enforces conflict-of-interest declarations and plagiarism screening using tools similar to those employed by Crossref-member journals.

Scope and Content

The journal accepts submissions across life sciences, physical sciences, earth sciences, engineering and clinical research, encompassing work from researchers at institutions like Johns Hopkins University, University of Oxford, Seoul National University, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne and the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Typical article types include original research articles, technical reports, data descriptors, and methodological papers that provide reproducible results. Content frequently intersects with disciplines represented at conferences such as the American Association for the Advancement of Science annual meeting, the American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting, and thematic collections connected to initiatives by organisations like UNESCO and World Health Organization.

Publication Process and Metrics

Manuscripts undergo an initial editorial assessment for methodological soundness before peer review, a process parallel to practices at eLife and Nature Communications. Accepted papers are published online with article-level metrics including citation counts tracked by Web of Science, Scopus (Elsevier), and alternative metrics provided by services such as Altmetric (company) and Dimensions (digital science). The journal's article processing charges and open licensing policies reflect broader shifts in funder mandates exemplified by Plan S from a consortium led by organisations including Wellcome Trust and the European Research Council. Impact indicators for the journal are debated in the context of indicators like the Journal Impact Factor and citation distributions observed across multidisciplinary venues.

Reception and Criticism

Reception among researchers has been mixed: proponents cite accessibility and rapid publication compared to subscription titles like The Lancet and Science (journal), while critics raise concerns echoed in discussions at meetings of bodies such as the Royal Society and the American Chemical Society about editorial threshold and quality control. Critics point to debates over replication and reproducibility highlighted by work from groups at Center for Open Science and controversies around editorial practices that surfaced in coverage by outlets such as Retraction Watch and commentary in Nature (journal). Defenders emphasise large-scale contributions to data sharing and open science initiatives championed by institutions like Wellcome Trust and funders including the National Science Foundation.

Notable Articles and Impact

The journal has published high-citation studies from researchers at organisations such as CERN, NASA, European Space Agency, Scripps Research, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory and multiple national academies. Notable topics have included large observational datasets in climate science influenced by work from NOAA, biodiversity surveys linked to Smithsonian Institution collections, methodological advances in genomics emerging from labs at Broad Institute and translational studies with clinical data from hospitals like Mayo Clinic. Several articles have driven policy discussions in international fora including Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change reports and have been cited in technical assessments by agencies such as Food and Agriculture Organization and the World Health Organization. The journal's broad scope has facilitated cross-disciplinary citations among scholars at Princeton University, University of Toronto, National University of Singapore, ETH Zurich and other leading research centres.

Category:Academic journals