PNAS - the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America - is one of the world's most-cited multidisciplinary journals. It is published by the National Academy of Sciences (NAS), a non-profit society of distinguished scholars chartered by the US Congress in 1863; the journal itself has appeared continuously since 1915. PNAS publishes original research across the physical, biological, and social sciences, and is known for its rigorous editorial-board model in which every paper is handled by an NAS member editor.

Since 2022 the Academy also publishes PNAS Nexus, a fully open-access, broad-scope sibling journal produced in partnership with Oxford University Press. This guide covers both venues: which one fits your paper, what publication actually costs in 2026, how the unusual submission tracks work, and how to prepare a compliant manuscript.

• PNAS - the multidisciplinary flagship, publishing roughly 3,300 research articles per year across biological, physical, and social sciences, plus front-matter commentary, perspectives, and colloquium papers. Ranked Q1 in Multidisciplinary Sciences with a 2025 Journal Impact Factor of about 9.5.
• PNAS Nexus - launched in 2022 as the Academy's fully open-access journal, edited independently of PNAS and published with Oxford University Press. It welcomes rigorous work of narrower scope than PNAS requires, including applied and interdisciplinary research.
• The Academy also issues Biographical Memoirs of its members, a historical series rather than a research journal.

PNAS is not a fully open-access journal: it operates a delayed-open-access model with an optional immediate-OA upgrade. Every PNAS research article is deposited in PubMed Central and becomes free to read 6 months after publication; authors who pay the immediate-OA fee make the paper free (with a CC BY license option) from day one. PNAS Nexus is fully open access. Figures below are from the 2026 price list (USD); PNAS revises charges periodically, so check the current publication-charges page before submitting.

Additional length-based charges can apply to long articles. Waivers are available for authors with demonstrated financial need. PNAS also has a small number of institutional agreements - the University of California agreement (through December 2026) reduces the immediate-OA fee for UC authors, and a Jisc Publish-and-Read deal covers corresponding authors at participating UK institutions for 2026-2027. Ask your library before paying an APC out of pocket.

• Direct Submission - the standard route, used for the large majority of PNAS papers. An NAS member editor evaluates the paper, and most submissions are declined at initial screening; those sent out receive single-anonymized review, typically from 2-3 referees. Median time to first decision is around 2 months for papers that go to review, with desk decisions much faster.
• Contributed Track - unique to PNAS: NAS members may contribute a limited number of their own research papers per year, obtaining reviews from qualified referees they select, while the PNAS Editorial Office administers the review process and enforces standards. Contributed papers are labeled as such on publication. The track is periodically debated in the community, and PNAS has repeatedly tightened its rules rather than abolished it.
• PNAS Nexus - conventional editor-managed single-anonymized review with its own editorial board.

1. Choose the venue and article type. Confirm your paper's fit against the PNAS purpose-and-scope statement, or consider PNAS Nexus for solid work of narrower reach.
2. Prepare the manuscript. PNAS uses a numbered citation style; SciSpace hosts PNAS templates that match the journal's formatting requirements for abstracts, significance statements, figures, and references. A Significance Statement (~120 words, general-reader level) is required for research articles.
3. Submit via PNAS Central. All submissions go through the journal's own eJournalPress-based portal at pnascentral.org; PNAS Nexus submissions go through its Oxford-hosted system.
4. Respond to the editorial decision. Desk decisions arrive quickly; if reviewed, expect a first decision in roughly 2 months and plan revisions against the referee reports.

The National Academy of Sciences is a member of COPE, OASPA, and STM, and PNAS follows COPE guidance on corrections, retractions, and authorship disputes. PNAS enforces data-availability requirements - datasets and code must be deposited in approved repositories before publication - and requires competing-interest declarations from authors and editors, including on Contributed-track papers.