Publication Guide
Nature Portfolio is the flagship journal family of Springer Nature - roughly 180 titles built around Nature, the multidisciplinary journal founded in 1869 and still the most cited science journal in the world. The family spans the Nature-branded research journals (Nature Medicine, Nature Genetics, Nature Materials, Nature Energy and 30+ others), the Nature Reviews series, the fully open-access Nature Communications and Communications titles, the npj (Nature Partner Journals) series, and Scientific Reports, one of the largest journals in the world by article volume.
The lineage matters for authors: Nature Publishing Group became part of Springer Nature in the 2015 merger, operated as Nature Research from 2016, and was rebranded Nature Portfolio in 2021. Editorially it remains a distinct operation headquartered in London, with professional full-time editors on the Nature-branded titles - a key difference from most academic-editor journals. This guide covers how to pick the right Nature Portfolio venue, what open access costs, how peer review works, and how to submit.
Which Nature Portfolio journal fits your paper?
| You're most likely to... | Choose this route |
|---|---|
| Have a major advance of broad interdisciplinary interest | Nature - the flagship. Acceptance rate is in the single digits; professional editors triage before review. |
| Have a strong disciplinary advance | A Nature-branded research journal (Nature Medicine, Nature Genetics, Nature Materials, Nature Energy, etc.) - field-leading impact, similar selectivity within the discipline. |
| Want selective Gold OA with wide visibility | Nature Communications - fully open access, multidisciplinary, selective but broader than Nature-branded titles. APC ~$7,350. |
| Want an affordable, sound-science OA venue | Scientific Reports - judged on rigor rather than perceived significance; APC ~$2,850. |
| Want a specialist OA title with Nature editorial standards | A Communications journal (Communications Biology, Communications Physics...) or an npj partner journal run with a society or institution. |
| Are writing an authoritative review | Nature Reviews titles - almost entirely commissioned; send a presubmission proposal rather than a manuscript. |
What Nature Portfolio publishes
- Nature - multidisciplinary flagship, publishing the ~8% of submissions judged to be the most significant advances across all of science.
- Nature-branded research journals - 30+ discipline leaders, from Nature Medicine and Nature Biotechnology to Nature Nanotechnology and Nature Human Behaviour.
- Nature Reviews - commissioned review titles in the life, physical, clinical and social sciences.
- Nature Communications and the Communications series - fully open-access research titles (~30 fully-OA titles across the family).
- npj series - fully-OA partner journals co-published with societies and research institutions (npj Digital Medicine, npj Vaccines...).
- Scientific Reports - the mega-journal: multidisciplinary, fully OA, criteria-based review.
Open access and APCs
Nature Portfolio offers Gold OA on its fully open-access titles, hybrid OA on Nature and the Nature-branded research journals (available since 2021), and Green self-archiving of the accepted manuscript with a 6-month embargo on subscription articles. Default OA licence is CC BY. Springer Nature transformative (Read & Publish) agreements increasingly cover Nature-branded APCs - check the ESAC registry or your library.
APCs from the 2026 price list (USD, before tax); prices are revised annually, so always confirm on the journal's fees page:
| Title tier | APC | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| Nature + Nature-branded research journals (hybrid OA option) | ~$12,850 | Nature, Nature Medicine, Nature Genetics, Nature Materials |
| Nature Communications | ~$7,350 | Nature Communications |
| Communications series | ~7,000 | Communications Biology, Communications Physics |
| npj partner journals | ~5,000 (varies by title) | npj Digital Medicine, npj Vaccines |
| Scientific Reports | ~$2,850 | Scientific Reports |
No APC is charged for subscription-route articles in Nature-branded journals. Waivers and discounts apply for authors in Research4Life countries.
Peer review
- Model: single-anonymized by default; double-anonymized available at most Nature-branded titles on request; several titles offer transparent peer review (published reviewer reports).
- Editors: Nature-branded journals use full-time professional editors who decide what goes to review - most rejections happen at this triage stage, usually within 1-2 weeks.
- Timelines: Nature-branded titles typically take 3-6 months to a post-review decision; Nature Communications 2-4 months; Scientific Reports is usually fastest at 4-8 weeks.
- Transfers: a manuscript declined at one Nature Portfolio title can be transferred, with reviews, to a sister journal via the transfer desk.
How to submit
- Pick the journal - be realistic about the significance claim; the transfer cascade means starting high costs time, not reviews.
- Read the journal's Guide for Authors - formatting is relaxed at first submission, but length and figure limits are enforced at revision.
- Prepare your manuscript - Nature journals use the Nature numbered (superscript) citation style; SciSpace templates match each title's format.
- Submit via the journal's platform - Nature Portfolio titles use Editorial Manager or Snapp, Springer Nature's newer submission system; the journal homepage links the right one.
- Respond to triage or review - if declined with reviews, consider the suggested transfer to a sister title.
Ethics and integrity
Nature Portfolio operates under Springer Nature's research-integrity framework: COPE-aligned retraction and correction practice, mandatory competing-interest and funding declarations, ORCID support, and the strictest tier of Springer Nature's data-availability policy - many titles require data-availability statements and deposition of key datasets. Image-integrity screening and reporting-summary checklists apply at Nature-branded life-science titles.
