Nature Communications

ISSN 2041-1723 · Nature Portfolio · United Kingdom · active 1970–2026

Metrics

Scimago quartile (2025)
Q1
Cites per paper (2y)
17.8
SJR
4.904
h-index
755

“Cites per paper” is a two-year cited-by rate computed from OpenAlex. It is not a Clarivate Journal Impact Factor — we neither compute nor license that metric (how the two differ). Citation rates differ enormously between fields, so compare within a discipline. What the other figures mean: journal quartile, SJR, h-index and article processing charge.

Data as of 18 October 2026 (venue index build).

Scimago Journal Rank 2025

In the Scimago Journal Rank 2025 edition, Nature Communications is Q1 in all 4 of its subject categories.

Scimago 2025 quartile and rank of Nature Communications in each subject category
Subject categoryQuartileRank in category
MultidisciplinaryQ1#3 of 222
Physics and Astronomy (miscellaneous)Q1#8 of 320
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology (miscellaneous)Q1#10 of 347
Chemistry (miscellaneous)Q1#14 of 530
Cites per document (2 years, Scopus)
16.60
Documents indexed in 2025 (Scopus)
11,528

The quartile is the one Scimago prints for each category. Rank is the journal's position by SJR among the journals Scimago lists in that category (#1 is the highest); “—” means we hold no rank consistent with that quartile. The document count is what Scopus indexed that year, which can be lower than a journal's full output. Source: SCImago Journal Rank 2025 edition, from Scopus data (scimagojr.com, CC BY-NC).

Nature Communications is Q1 in all 4 of its Scimago subject categories (2025 edition; best category Multidisciplinary: Q1, #3 of 222), with SJR 4.904 (Scimago) and an h-index of 755 (OpenAlex). Listed in DOAJ, Scopus, Web of Science, PubMed.

Is this the right journal for your paper?

The AI Journal Finder ranks the best-matched journals for your paper’s topic — with tier, open access, citation rate and predatory flags. Free to start.

Try the Journal Finder →

Responding time

Submission to acceptance
240 days (median)
Estimated from our library (968 papers)
Acceptance to publication
14 days (median)
Estimated from our library (17 papers)
Submission to publication
275 days (median)
Estimated from our library (17 papers)

Turnaround figures are indicative, not a guarantee: DOAJ values are self-reported by the journal (average weeks, submission to publication); library estimates are medians of the received/accepted dates printed in papers we hold. Editorial times vary by article type and season — confirm on the journal’s own site.

Indexing & access

Indexed in
DOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
Access status:
gold. Where this comes from publisher-level signals rather than works-level data it is a heuristic — confirm on the journal’s own site, especially regarding any article processing charge.
Article processing charge
Article processing charge (APC): €6,150 per accepted article (DOAJ). Fee waivers are available.

Official journal site →

Scope

rnaproteinsynthesismechanismsmolecularbiologysplicingmodificationscancercrisprgeneticengineering

Frequently asked

Is Nature Communications a predatory journal?

Our screening does not flag Nature Communications. That is not a guarantee of quality — it means the venue is not on Beall's archive (frozen since 2017) and does not match our name-pattern heuristic. It is listed in DOAJ, Scopus, Web of Science, PubMed, which is a positive signal.

Is Nature Communications indexed in Scopus or Web of Science?

Per our venue index, Nature Communications appears in: DOAJ, Scopus, Web of Science, PubMed. Index membership changes over time — confirm on the index's own site before relying on it.

What is the impact factor of Nature Communications?

Papers in Nature Communications are cited about 17.8 times each within two years of publication, and Scimago places it in Q1, with an h-index of 755. Those are the open equivalents: the Clarivate Journal Impact Factor is a proprietary metric we neither compute nor license, so we show the two-year citation rate and Scimago quartile instead — they answer the same question of how heavily the journal is cited. A citation rate is a property of a field as much as of a journal.

What Scimago quartile is Nature Communications (Q1, Q2, Q3, or Q4)?

In the Scimago Journal Rank 2025 edition, Nature Communications is Q1 in all 4 of its subject categories. By category: Multidisciplinary: Q1, #3 of 222; Physics and Astronomy (miscellaneous): Q1, #8 of 320; Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology (miscellaneous): Q1, #10 of 347; Chemistry (miscellaneous): Q1, #14 of 530. Quartiles split the journals in a subject category into four equal groups by SJR, so Q1 is the most-cited quarter and Q4 the least; Nature Communications is cited about 17.8 times per paper over two years, with an h-index of 755.

What is the Web of Science (JCR) quartile of Nature Communications?

The Web of Science quartile comes from Clarivate's Journal Citation Reports (JCR), a proprietary product we neither license nor compute — so we cannot state a JCR quartile for Nature Communications. The open equivalent is its Scimago quartile, Q1, derived from Scopus citation data. Because JCR ranks against Web of Science and Scimago against Scopus, the two can differ, so check Clarivate's site directly if you need the JCR quartile specifically.

Is Nature Communications open access?

Our index records its access status as "gold". Where this is derived from publisher-level signals rather than works-level data it is a heuristic, so confirm on the journal's own site — particularly if an article processing charge matters to you.

What is the article processing charge (APC) to publish in Nature Communications?

Article processing charge (APC): €6,150 per accepted article (DOAJ). Fee waivers are available. The exact charge can vary by article type and any fee waiver, so confirm the current amount on the journal's own site.

How long does Nature Communications take to publish a paper?

Submission to acceptance for Nature Communications takes about 240 days (median) — Estimated from our library (n=968 papers). Treat it as indicative rather than a guarantee: editorial times vary by article type, reviewer availability and season, and a self-reported figure is the journal's own. We do not hold a peer-review acceptance rate for Nature Communications.

Ready to submit? Tools for your next paper

How Pre-Check worksHow AI Review works

Compare the category — Honest roundups of the AI research tools, ours listed alongside the alternatives.

Similar venues

Compare it with its peers: Ranked Molecular Biology journals — ranked by Scimago quartile and cites per paper, predatory venues excluded.

Command palette

Jump anywhere, run any action.