Cell Discovery

Cell Discovery is an open access journal co-sponsored by the Center for Excellence in Molecular Cell Science of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (China) and the Chinese Society for Cell Biology, and published by Springer Nature. It was founded in 2015, appears in continuous publication, and carries only the electronic ISSN 2056-5968, with a 2025 impact factor of 16.9 and a stable first-tier CAS ranking in biologyCell Discovery（细胞发现）是中国科学院分子细胞科学卓越创新中心（中国）与中国细胞生物学学会共同主办、由 Springer Nature 出版的开放获取学术期刊，2015 年创刊，采用连续出版方式，仅使用电子国际标准刊号 2056-5968，2025 年影响因子为 16.9，在中科院分区中稳居生物学一区。

The Cell in the title refers to the discipline of cell biology itself, and the journal is not the same publication as Cell, the flagship general journal issued by Cell Press of the Elsevier group. The two differ in ownership, publishing system and readership刊名中的 Cell 指向细胞生物学这门学科本身，与 Elsevier 集团旗下 Cell Press 出版的旗舰综合刊 Cell 并非同一本刊物，二者在主办方、出版体系与读者群上均不相同，需加以区分。^[1]

Scope

• The journal is positioned as a comprehensive open access platform in molecular and cell biology, soliciting original work from scientists worldwide and making every article freely available under a Creative Commons licence without reader charges期刊定位为分子与细胞生物学领域的综合性开放获取平台，面向全球科学家征集原创成果，全文以知识共享署名许可协议免费获取，不设读者付费门槛。

• The stated scope covers cell growth and differentiation, apoptosis, signal transduction, stem cell biology, development, immunology, neuroscience, plant cell biology, chromatin modulation, epigenetics and transcription官方选题范围覆盖细胞生长与分化、细胞凋亡、信号转导、干细胞生物学、发育生物学、免疫学、神经科学、植物细胞生物学、染色质调控、表观遗传学与转录等主题。

• Article types include original research articles, reviews, comments and letters. The journal combines pre-screening by scientific editors with peer review in a two-stage process, and the median time from submission to a first editorial decision is only about seven days论文体裁包括原创研究论文、综述、评论与通讯，期刊实行科学编辑预审与同行评审相结合的双审机制，投稿至首次编辑决定的中位时长仅约七天。

• Original research additionally covers RNA biology, structural and molecular biology, cancer biology and metabolism, immunity and molecular pathogenesis, omics and systems biology, and synthetic biology接收的原创研究论文类型进一步涵盖 RNA 生物学、结构与分子生物学、肿瘤生物学与代谢、免疫与分子发病机制、组学与系统生物学以及合成生物学等方向。

• The journal is notable for an international body of authors and a broad span of basic life sciences. It belongs to the Springer Nature family of molecular cell biology journals and is indexed in the Science Citation Index Expanded, PubMed Central and the Directory of Open Access Journals期刊以国际作者群体和广泛的基础生命科学覆盖面为特色，隶属于 Springer Nature 的分子细胞生物学系列期刊，并被科学引文索引扩展版、医学文献数据库与开放获取期刊目录等收录。

Together these subjects define the boundary of the journal. Its underlying logic is to place causal evidence at the molecular level and observable changes in cellular phenotype within a single argument, rather than merely cataloguing phenomena. The spread of multi-omics tools and live-cell imaging allows mechanistic work at the cellular level to be validated along several dimensions within one experimental system, which is a major reason for the rapid rise in the journal's influence since its founding上述选题范围共同勾勒出该刊的边界，其核心逻辑是把分子机制层面的因果证据与细胞表型的可观测变化放在同一篇稿件中论证，而非仅仅罗列现象。多组学工具与活细胞成像的普及，使细胞层面的机制研究能够在同一套实验体系中完成多维度的验证，这也是该刊影响力自创刊以来快速上升的重要原因。

History

• 2015: The journal launched as a sister journal to Cell Research. Li Dangsheng was responsible for setting it up and served as founding editor-in-chief, making it one of the earliest comprehensive open access titles in the domestic life sciences2015 年： 期刊正式上线，作为 Cell Research 的姊妹刊创刊，由李党生负责筹办并出任创刊主编，成为国内生命科学领域较早的综合性开放获取刊物。

• 2017: It received its first impact factor in its second year and entered international citation indexing, and continued to climb in influence in the following years to reach first-tier CAS ranking in biology and Q1 in the JCR2017 年： 创刊次年即获得首个影响因子并进入国际引文数据库收录，此后数年间影响力持续攀升，成为中科院分区生物学一区与 JCR 一区期刊。

• 2021: Li Dangsheng formally took the position of editor-in-chief of both Cell Research and this journal, and the impact factor entered a period of rapid growth2021 年： 李党生正式担任 Cell Research 与本刊两刊主编，期刊影响因子进入快速上升通道。

• 2025: Editorial leadership changed hands, with Lin Li taking over as editor-in-chief, Chenqi Xu becoming executive chief editor and Gang Pei moving to editor emeritus, while the two journals continue to share a single editorial management structure2025 年： 主编团队完成交接，李林接任主编、许琛琦出任执行主编、裴钢转任荣誉主编，两刊共用同一套编辑管理体系。

Editors

The current editor-in-chief is Dr Lin Li, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences who also edits Cell Research and has a long-standing interest in the molecular mechanisms of the Wnt signalling pathway. The executive chief editor is Dr Chenqi Xu, deputy director of the Center for Excellence in Molecular Cell Science, a leading expert in T cell immune response and immunotherapy现任主编为中国科学院院士李林研究员，其同时担任姊妹刊 Cell Research 的主编，长期研究 Wnt 信号通路的分子机制；执行主编为中心副主任许琛琦研究员，专长于 T 细胞免疫应答与免疫治疗。

• Dr Lin Li is a principal investigator at the Center for Excellence in Molecular Cell Science of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (China) and also editor-in-chief of Cell Research, and is responsible for the overall academic direction and the selection of manuscripts李林，博士，中国科学院分子细胞科学卓越创新中心（中国）首席研究员，中国科学院院士，同时兼任 Cell Research 主编，负责期刊的整体学术方向与选稿。

• Dr Chenqi Xu is deputy director and principal investigator at the Center and serves as executive chief editor, responsible for journal promotion, organisation of the Cell Research Symposium and team management许琛琦，博士，中心副主任与首席研究员，执行主编，负责期刊推广、Cell Research 学术会议的筹办与编辑团队管理。

• The scientific editors are Lei Cheng, Fangfang Hu, Wencong Lyu, Yurong Wang, Xiao Wei and Jiajun Xu, all based at the Center, and they handle pre-screening and scientific editing of submissions科学编辑团队包括 Lei Cheng、Fangfang Hu、Wencong Lyu、Yurong Wang、Xiao Wei 与 Jiajun Xu，均供职于中心，承担稿件的形式审查与专业编辑工作。

• Editor emeritus is Academician Gang Pei, one of the founders of the Center. International editorial board members come from institutions including the University of Utah, Tsinghua University, Zhejiang University and the Netherlands Cancer Institute. The complete list is available on the journal website荣誉主编为裴钢院士，中心的创办者之一；国际编委成员来自犹他大学、清华大学、浙江大学、荷兰癌症研究所等机构，完整名单见期刊官网。^[2]