Last Updated on August 21, 2026 by Dr. Bhagat
Updated August 2026. Nature Communications has a 2025 Journal Impact Factor of 18.1, reported in the 2026 Journal Citation Reports cycle. It is a Q1 Multidisciplinary Sciences journal indexed in SCIE. This guide combines the corrected 2017–2025 JIF history with current citation metrics, open-access terms, editorial timing and submission-fit guidance.
Nature Communications metrics at a glance
| 2025 Journal Impact Factor | 18.1 |
| Five-year Journal Impact Factor | 18.9 |
| JCR category / quartile | Multidisciplinary Sciences / Q1 |
| Web of Science edition | Science Citation Index Expanded (SCIE) |
| Total citations in 2025 JCR data | 1,166,083 |
| Immediacy Index | 3.8 |
| Eigenfactor Score | 1.64865 |
| Article Influence Score | 5.590 |
| SNIP | 3.422 |
| SJR | 4.904 |
| Median first editorial decision | 9 days |
| Median submission to acceptance | 242 days |
| Publishing model | Fully open access |
| Current APC | £5,490 / US$7,350 / €6,150, before applicable taxes |
| Online ISSN | 2041-1723 |
The publisher reports these citation and speed metrics on the official journal pages. JIF, SNIP, SJR and Eigenfactor describe different aspects of journal-level citation activity and should not be combined into a single quality score.
What is the Nature Communications Impact Factor for 2025?
The Nature Communications Journal Impact Factor for 2025 is 18.1, with a five-year JIF of 18.9. The result belongs to the 2025 citation year and appears in the 2026 JCR release cycle. It is a journal-level average and does not mean that every article receives 18 citations.
Nature Communications Impact Factor history, 2017–2025
| Impact Factor year | Journal Impact Factor |
|---|---|
| 2017 | 12.353 |
| 2018 | 11.878 |
| 2019 | 12.121 |
| 2020 | 14.919 |
| 2021 | 17.694 |
| 2022 | 16.6 |
| 2023 | 14.7 |
| 2024 | 15.7 |
| 2025 | 18.1 |
The JIF rose during 2020–2021, declined in 2022–2023, then increased to 15.7 in 2024 and 18.1 in 2025. Citation windows, article mix and field-wide conditions can influence annual changes, so this trend should not be treated as a forecast.
About Nature Communications
Nature Communications is a multidisciplinary, fully open-access Nature Portfolio journal. It publishes significant advances across the biological, health, physical, chemical, Earth, environmental and social sciences. A strong submission should offer a clear advance for specialists and be supported by evidence that matches the breadth of the central claim.
- Biological and biomedical sciences
- Physics, chemistry and materials science
- Earth, environmental and climate sciences
- Engineering, energy and technology
- Neuroscience, behaviour and social science
- Interdisciplinary and methods-led research with broad specialist relevance
Q1 status and indexing
Nature Communications is Q1 in Multidisciplinary Sciences and indexed in SCIE. Its online ISSN is 2041-1723. Quartile status is specific to the JCR category and is not a universal comparison across every discipline.
Open access and APC
Nature Communications is fully open access. Nature Portfolio currently lists an APC of £5,490, US$7,350 or €6,150, before taxes. Institutional open-access agreements, funder arrangements and approved waivers may change the amount an author pays.
Authors should verify the fee, licence and funding eligibility on the official page before submission. The APC is associated with publication after acceptance and does not substitute for editorial selection or peer review.
Editorial and review timeline
The official journal-metrics page reports a median of 9 days to the first editorial decision and 242 days from submission to acceptance. The first measure includes both editorial rejection and the decision to start external review. The longer acceptance interval can include reviewer rounds and time spent by authors revising the manuscript.
These medians describe past journal-level processing and are not promises for an individual paper. Manuscript complexity, reviewer availability, data checks and the extent of revision all influence timing.
Article types and editorial fit
The journal publishes original research and selected review, perspective, comment and correspondence formats. Authors should choose the format from the current guide rather than adapting a manuscript to an outdated word or figure limit.
- Define the advance and the audience it serves.
- Show that claims are supported by appropriate controls, statistics and independent evidence.
- Explain why the study matters beyond a narrow dataset or model.
- Provide transparent methods, ethics information, data availability and code access.
- Check field-specific reporting standards and repository requirements.
How to prepare a submission
- Read the current aims and scope and compare the manuscript with recent papers in the same field.
- Prepare a concise title, abstract and cover letter that state the central advance without exaggeration.
- Make methods and statistical reporting sufficient for expert assessment and reproducibility.
- Deposit sequence, structure, omics or other community data in appropriate repositories.
- Disclose related manuscripts, preprints, competing interests, funding and author contributions.
- Verify the current open-access fee, licence and institutional agreement.
Acceptance rate
The official public journal-metrics page does not provide a dependable current acceptance-rate percentage. This guide therefore does not repeat third-party estimates as fact. Editorial fit, evidential strength and the scale of the advance are more useful indicators than an unofficial percentage.
Frequently asked questions
What is the latest Nature Communications Impact Factor?
The 2025 JIF is 18.1 in the 2026 JCR release.
Is Nature Communications Q1?
Yes, it is Q1 in Multidisciplinary Sciences.
Is Nature Communications open access?
Yes. All research articles are published open access.
Is it the same journal as Nature?
No. Nature Communications and Nature are separate journals with different editorial criteria, metrics and ISSNs.
Sources and data notes
- Official journal metrics
- Official aims and scope
- Official open-access fees and funding
- Official submission information
- Clarivate Journal Citation Reports
Data checked: 22 August 2026. Fees, policies and processing times can change; verify them on the official site before submission.
