Nature Photonics

ISSN 1749-4885 · Nature Portfolio · United Kingdom · active 2006–2026

Metrics

Scimago quartile (2025)
Q1
Cites per paper (2y)
25.4
SJR
12.491
h-index
461

“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 25 October 2026 (venue index build).

Scimago Journal Rank 2025

In the Scimago Journal Rank 2025 edition, Nature Photonics is Q1 in all 2 of its subject categories.

Scimago 2025 quartile and rank of Nature Photonics in each subject category
Subject categoryQuartileRank in category
Atomic and Molecular Physics, and OpticsQ1#2 of 229
Electronic, Optical and Magnetic MaterialsQ1#3 of 279
Cites per document (2 years, Scopus)
23.83
Documents indexed in 2025 (Scopus)
251

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 Photonics is Q1 in all 2 of its Scimago subject categories (2025 edition; best category Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics: Q1, #2 of 229), with SJR 12.491 (Scimago) and an h-index of 461 (OpenAlex). Listed in Scopus, Web of Science, PubMed.

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Responding time

Submission to acceptance
226 days (median)
Estimated from our library (13 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
ScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
Access status:
hybrid. 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.

Official journal site →

Scope

photonicopticaldeviceselectricalelectronicengineeringadvancedfiberlaseratomicmolecularphysics

Frequently asked

Is Nature Photonics a predatory journal?

Our screening does not flag Nature Photonics. 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 Scopus, Web of Science, PubMed, which is a positive signal.

Is Nature Photonics indexed in Scopus or Web of Science?

Per our venue index, Nature Photonics appears in: 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 Photonics?

Papers in Nature Photonics are cited about 25.4 times each within two years of publication, and Scimago places it in Q1, with an h-index of 461. 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 Photonics (Q1, Q2, Q3, or Q4)?

In the Scimago Journal Rank 2025 edition, Nature Photonics is Q1 in all 2 of its subject categories. By category: Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics: Q1, #2 of 229; Electronic, Optical and Magnetic Materials: Q1, #3 of 279. 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 Photonics is cited about 25.4 times per paper over two years, with an h-index of 461.

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

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 Photonics. 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 Photonics open access?

Our index records its access status as "hybrid". 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.

How long does Nature Photonics take to publish a paper?

Submission to acceptance for Nature Photonics takes about 226 days (median) — Estimated from our library (n=13 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 Photonics.

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