Journal Metrics
This page provides information on peer review performance and citation metrics for the Nature Portfolio journals. Data are collected annually for full calendar years. Click here to download our quick reference guide to journal metrics.
Nature Portfolio is a signatory of San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment (see here for more information about our endorsement). We believe that Impact Factor is just one of a number of metrics that can be used to evaluate a journal, and a small number of highly cited papers can have a disproportionate effect on the mean number of citations per paper.
On this page
2023 Peer Review Metrics
Submission to first editorial decision: the median time (in days) from when a submission is received to when a first editorial decision about whether the paper was sent out for formal review or not is sent to the authors.
Submission to Accept: the median time (in days) from the published submission date to the final editorial acceptance date.
2022 Journal Metrics
On this page you will find a suite of citation-based metrics for Nature Portfolio journals, produced by Clarivate Analytics. Brief definitions for each of the metrics used to measure the influence of our journals are included below the tables. Article-level metrics are also available on each article page, allowing readers to track the reach of individual papers.
Commentaries on Impact Factors and their use and misuse can be found in our editorials and other content, going back for many years, links to a sample of which are provided at the end of the page.
For recently launched journals, metrics are calculated from available citation data. If a metric uses multiple years of data, new journals may have partial metrics.
While the metrics presented here are not intended to be a definitive list, we hope that they will prove to be informative. The page is updated on an annual basis.
| Multidisciplinary journals | 2-year Impact Factor | 5-year Impact Factor | Immediacy index | Eigenfactor® score | Article Influence Score |
| Nature | 64.8 | 60.9 | 13.7 | 1.10309 | 26.4 |
| Nature Communications | 16.6 | 17.0 | 3.2 | 1.40879 | 5.8 |
| Scientific Reports | 4.6 | 4.9 | 0.9 | 1.05873 | 1.1 |
| Scientific Data | 9.8 | 10.8 | 0.9 | 0.04464 | 3.3 |
| Nature research journals | 2-year Impact Factor | 5-year Impact Factor | Immediacy index | Eigenfactor® score | Article Influence Score |
| Nature Astronomy | 14.1 | 13.2 | 3.4 | 0.03088 | 5.7 |
| Nature Biomedical Engineering | 28.1 | 29.3 | 5.2 | 0.0351 | 9.1 |
| Nature Biotechnology | 46.9 | 59.1 | 8.5 | 0.15070 | 27.4 |
| Nature Cancer | 22.7 | 22.7 | 4.5 | 0.01624 | 10.9 |
| Nature Catalysis | 37.8 | 46.2 | 8.7 | 0.05571 | 14.9 |
| Nature Cell Biology | 21.3 | 26.6 | 4.7 | 0.05678 | 10.7 |
| Nature Chemical Biology | 14.8 | 15.6 | 2.7 | 0.04395 | 6.4 |
| Nature Chemistry | 21.8 | 23.3 | 4.4 | 0.05658 | 8.6 |
| Nature Climate Change | 30.7 | 31.4 | 5.5 | 0.06819 | 11.2 |
| Nature Computational Science | 11.3 | 11.3 | 2.5 | 0.00241 | 4.2 |
| Nature Ecology & Evolution | 16.8 | 16.9 | 3.2 | 0.05673 | 6.7 |
| Nature Electronics | 34.3 | 38.6 | 7.1 | 0.03307 | 13.0 |
| Nature Energy | 56.7 | 63.9 | 9.2 | 0.09284 | 20.1 |
| Nature Food | 23.2 | 23.2 | 4.2 | 0.00966 | 6.2 |
| Nature Genetics | 30.8 | 37.4 | 6.9 | 0.14740 | 19.4 |
| Nature Geoscience | 18.3 | 19.6 | 3.7 | 0.04664 | 7.5 |
| Nature Human Behaviour | 29.9 | 23.8 | 3.8 | 0.05276 | 10.5 |
| Nature Immunology | 30.5 | 29.6 | 10.9 | 0.07154 | 12.4 |
| Nature Machine Intelligence | 23.8 | 27.2 | 2.8 | 0.01895 | 9.0 |
| Nature Materials | 41.2 | 45.8 | 8.0 | 0.11816 | 15.5 |
| Nature Medicine | 82.9 | 69.4 | 21.3 | 0.23615 | 27.8 |
| Nature Metabolism | 20.8 | 20.9 | 3.7 | 0.02267 | 8.1 |
| Nature Methods | 48.0 | 51.3 | 6.3 | 0.18857 | 28.8 |
| Nature Microbiology | 28.3 | 22.9 | 5.1 | 0.06382 | 8.7 |
| Nature Nanotechnology | 38.3 | 39.9 | 8.0 | 0.08880 | 12.8 |
| Nature Neuroscience | 25.0 | 27.7 | 5.0 | 0.10436 | 13.8 |
| Nature Photonics | 34.9 | 38.2 | 6.5 | 0.06604 | 13.4 |
| Nature Physics | 19.5 | 20.9 | 5.1 | 0.08655 | 10.2 |
| Nature Plants | 18.0 | 18.6 | 3.2 | 0.03208 | 5.9 |
| Nature Protocols | 14.8 | 16.9 | 3.1 | 0.04942 | 6.8 |
| Nature Structural and Molecular Biology | 16.8 | 14.5 | 3.0 | 0.04040 | 7.6 |
| Nature Sustainability | 27.6 | 29.2 | 4.3 | 0.03457 | 8.3 |
| Nature reviews journals | 2-year Impact Factor | 5-year Impact Factor | Immediacy index | Eigenfactor® score | Article Influence Score |
| Nature Reviews Cancer | 78.5 | 80.3 | 13.1 | 005156 | 24.1 |
| Nature Reviews Cardiology | 49.6 | 45.7 | 6.7 | 0.03054 | 13.5 |
| Nature Reviews Chemistry | 36.3 | 42.1 | 7.2 | 0.02731 | 13.7 |
| Nature Reviews Clinical Oncology | 78.8 | 82.7 | 11.2 | 0.04818 | 24.1 |
| Nature Reviews Disease Primers | 81.5 | 94.8 | 6.3 | 0.05025 | 27.3 |
| Nature Reviews Drug Discovery | 120.1 | 111.5 | 22.6 | 0.05284 | 31.5 |
| Nature Reviews Earth & Environment | 42.1 | 42.1 | 11.2 | 0.01162 | 13.9 |
| Nature Reviews Endocrinology | 40.5 | 50.2 | 6.8 | 0.02829 | 13.4 |
| Nature Reviews Gastroenterology & Hepatology | 65.1 | 67.5 | 5.3 | 0.03881 | 17.8 |
| Nature Reviews Genetics | 42.7 | 53.1 | 8.5 | 0.05256 | 23.8 |
| Nature Reviews Immunology | 100.3 | 85.4 | 14.4 | 0.07444 | 28.9 |
| Nature Reviews Materials | 83.5 | 90.2 | 13.6 | 0.06089 | 26.6 |
| Nature Reviews Methods Primers | 39.8 | 39.8 | 5.9 | 0.00534 | 14.8 |
| Nature Reviews Microbiology | 88.1 | 79.1 | 14.1 | 0.05734 | 23.1 |
| Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology | 112.7 | 111.7 | 12.4 | 0.08361 | 39.7 |
| Nature Reviews Nephrology | 41.5 | 41.8 | 4.3 | 0.02334 | 11.4 |
| Nature Reviews Neurology | 38.1 | 44.3 | 5.8 | 0.02824 | 13.3 |
| Nature Reviews Neuroscience | 34.7 | 44.1 | 5.0 | 0.03829 | 17.3 |
| Nature Reviews Physics | 38.5 | 40.5 | 6.1 | 0.02067 | 16.9 |
| Nature Reviews Rheumatology | 33.7 | 29.1 | 5.2 | 0.01785 | 8.2 |
| Nature Reviews Urology | 15.3 | 16.6 | 2.1 | 0.00847 | 4.3 |
| Communications Journals | 2-year Impact Factor | 5-year Impact Factor | Immediacy index | Eigenfactor® score | Article Influence Score |
| Communications Biology | 5.9 | 6.3 | 1.1 | 0.05103 | 2.2 |
| Communications Chemistry | 5.9 | 6.3 | 1.3 | 0.00780 | 1.7 |
| Communications Earth & Environment | 7.9 | 7.9 | 1.4 | 0.00750 | 2.9 |
| Communications Materials | 7.8 | 7.8 | 1.1 | 0.00366 | 2.0 |
| Communications Physics | 5.5 | 6.1 | 1.2 | 0.01445 | 2.3 |
| npj Series | 2-year Impact Factor | 5-year Impact Factor | Immediacy index | Eigenfactor® score | Article Influence Score |
| npj 2D Materials and Applications | 9.7 | 11.0 | 1.6 | 0.00676 | 3.0 |
| npj Aging | 5.0 | 6.2 | 0.0 | 0.00109 | 1.7 |
| npj Biofilms & Microbiomes | 9.2 | 9.4 | 1.5 | 0.00463 | 2.2 |
| npj Breast Cancer | 5.9 | 6.5 | 1.3 | 0.00691 | 2.3 |
| npj Clean Water | 11.4 | 13.7 | 1.6 | 0.00241 | 2.1 |
| npj Climate and Atmospheric Science | 9.0 | 10.2 | 1.9 | 0.00626 | 3.6 |
| npj Computational Materials | 9.7 | 12.3 | 2.0 | 0.01900 | 3.3 |
| npj Digital Medicine | 15.2 | 15.2 | 1.9 | 0.01842 | 4.6 |
| npj Flexible Electronics | 14.6 | 14.1 | 2.3 | 0.00342 | 3.0 |
| npj Genomic Medicine | 5.3 | 6.0 | 0.9 | 0.00523 | 2.4 |
| npj Materials Degradation | 5.1 | 7.5 | 2.1 | 0.00251 | 1.5 |
| npj Microgravity | 5.1 | 4.9 | 0.7 | 0.00158 | 1.1 |
| npj Parkinson's Disease | 8.7 | 9.1 | 1.4 | 0.00516 | 2.3 |
| npj Precision Oncology | 7.9 | 9.0 | 1.3 | 0.00505 | 2.5 |
| npj Primary Care Respiratory Medicine | 3.1 | 3.2 | 0.5 | 0.00208 | 1.0 |
| npj Quantum Information | 7.6 | 9.1 | 1.4 | 0.01541 | 3.5 |
| npj Quantum Materials | 5.7 | 6.3 | 2.0 | 0.00823 | 2.4 |
| npj Regenerative Medicine | 7.2 | 9.2 | 1.1 | 0.00340 | 2.2 |
| npj Science of Food | 6.4 | 8.3 | 1.8 | 0.00108 | 1.3 |
| npj Science of Learning | 4.2 | 5.4 | 0.7 | 0.00175 | 1.8 |
| npj Systems Biology and Applications | 4.0 | 4.3 | 0.6 | 0.00245 | 1.4 |
| npj Vaccines | 9.2 | 8.5 | 1.6 | 0.00954 | 2.8 |
| Other Nature Portfolio journals | 2-year Impact Factor | 5-year Impact Factor | Immediacy index | Eigenfactor® score | Article Influence Score |
| Lab Animal | 6.9 | 10.0 | 1.6 | 0.00107 | 2.8 |
| NPG Asia Materials | 9.7 | 10.5 | 1.8 | 0.00886 | 2.2 |
Definitions
2-year Impact Factor:
The Journal Impact Factor is defined as all citations to the journal in the current JCR year to items published in the previous two years, divided by the total number of scholarly items (these comprise articles, reviews, and proceedings papers) published in the journal in the previous two years. (Courtesy of Clarivate Analytics)
5-year Impact Factor:
The 5-year journal Impact Factor, available from 2007 onward, is the average number of times articles from the journal published in the past five years have been cited in the JCR year. It is calculated by dividing the number of citations in the JCR year by the total number of articles published in the five previous years. (Courtesy of Clarivate Analytics)
Immediacy index:
The Immediacy Index is the average number of times an article is cited in the year it is published. The journal Immediacy Index indicates how quickly articles in a journal are cited. (Courtesy of Clarivate Analytics)
Eigenfactor® Score:
The Eigenfactor Score calculation is based on the number of times articles from the journal published in the past five years have been cited in the JCR year, but it also considers which journals have contributed these citations so that highly cited journals will influence the network more than lesser cited journals. References from one article in a journal to another article from the same journal are removed, so that Eigenfactor Scores are not influenced by journal self-citation. (Courtesy of Clarivate Analytics)
Article Influence Score:
The Article Influence Score determines the average influence of a journal's articles over the first five years after publication. It is calculated by multiplying the Eigenfactor Score by 0.01 and dividing by the number of articles in the journal, normalized as a fraction of all articles in all publications. This measure is roughly analogous to the 5-Year Journal Impact Factor in that it is a ratio of a journal's citation influence to the size of the journal's article contribution over a period of five years. (Courtesy of Clarivate Analytics)
Editorials and other content
- Nature and the Nature journals are diversifying their presentation of performance indicators. Nature. Time to remodel the journal impact factor, July 2016
- The journal impact factor is a much-criticized yet still-used number. As with any metric, it should not be used uncritically and without an understanding of what it measures. Nature Methods. On Impact, August 2015.
- Use these ten principles to guide research evaluation, urge Diana Hicks, Paul Wouters and colleagues. Nature. Bibliometrics: The Leiden Manifesto for research metrics, 22 April 2015.
- The San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment (DORA), an initiative spearheaded by the American Society for Cell Biology, aims to reform research assessment. Nature Cell Biology. Ending the tyranny of the impact factor, January 2014.
- In deciding how to judge the impact of research, evaluators must take into account the effects of emphasizing particular measures — and be open about their methods. Nature. The maze of impact metrics, 17 October 2013.
- As the journal's first impact factor is released, it is time to reflect on journal metrics and how Nature Climate Change has been making its mark. Nature Climate Change. Having an impact, July 2013.
- Citation analyses can condense scholarly output into numbers, but they do not live up to peer review in the evaluation of scientists. Online usage statistics and commenting could soon enable a more refined assessment of scientific impact. Nature Materials. Measuring impact, July 2011.
- The classic impact factor is outmoded. Is there an alternative for assessing both a researcher's productivity and a journal's quality? Nature Immunology. Ball and chain, October 2010.
- Nature Metrics special, June 2010. The value of scientific output is often measured, to rank one nation against another, allocate funds between universities, or even grant or deny tenure. Scientometricians have devised a multitude of 'metrics' to help in these rankings. Do they work? Are they fair? Are they over-used? Nature investigates.
- Transparency, education and communication are key to ensuring that appropriate metrics are used to measure individual scientific achievement. Nature. Assessing Assessment, 17 June 2010.
- Research assessment rests too heavily on the inflated status of the impact factor. Nature. Not-so-deep impact, 23 June 2005.
