Nature Communications
Nature Communications (commonly abbreviated as ''Nat. Commun.') is a fully open-access journal in the Nature Portfolio covering all areas of the natural sciences. Open access was built into the journal from its 2010 launch, and its 2025 impact factor is 18.1.Nature Communications（常用缩写 Nat. Commun.）是 Nature Portfolio 旗下覆盖全部自然科学领域的独立开放获取期刊，2010 年创刊即以完全开放获取为立刊前提，2025 年影响因子为 18.1。[1]
Scope
- Founding premise: the journal was launched not to compete with existing Nature-branded titles but to publish rigorous, comprehensive articles of major significance for experts in every field, and to give researchers whose work has no dedicated Nature-branded journal, or who want a broader readership, somewhere to publish.立刊宗旨： 创刊目的不是与既有 Nature 品牌期刊竞争，而是发表对各领域专家都具有意义的严谨、全面并代表某一领域重大进展的论文，同时为在品牌期刊中没有对口刊物、或希望把成果呈交给更广泛读者的研究者提供选择。
- Disciplinary focus: a multidisciplinary journal spanning the natural sciences, publishing across physics, chemistry, earth sciences, medicine and biology. It exists to fill the gap for high-quality interdisciplinary research, few outlets having been able to publish genuinely multidisciplinary work at the time.学科定位： 为跨学科的综合性自然科学刊物，刊发物理、化学、地球科学、医学与生物学等领域的成果，定位是填补高质量跨学科研究的发表缺口，当年真正能刊发多学科研究的期刊屈指可数。
- Breadth of coverage: the journal draws its remit from research fields rather than the boundaries of scientific disciplines, with more than twenty specialist teams handling submissions, including quantum, atomic, molecular and optical physics, condensed matter physics, astronomy and earth sciences, applied physics, materials science and physical chemistry, molecular and organic chemistry, energy materials, biotechnology, cell and developmental biology, immunology, neuroscience, microbiology and infectious disease, translational and clinical research, global and public health, and environmental social sciences.学科跨度： 定位不以科学学科的边界为界，而以研究领域为界，并设有量子与原子分子及光学物理、凝聚态物理、天文学与地球科学、应用物理、材料科学与物理化学、有机分子化学、能源材料、生物技术、细胞与发育生物学、免疫学、神经科学、微生物与感染性疾病、转化与临床研究、全球与公共健康、环境社会科学等二十余个专业团队分头处理稿件。
- Article types: original research articles are the backbone of the journal, alongside reviews, Comments and Matters Arising. To keep decisions prompt the editors do not consider presubmission enquiries and instead encourage authors to submit the full manuscript.体裁： 以原创研究论文为主，另设综述、评论与 Matters Arising 等体裁；为保证决定及时，编辑部不受理投稿前查询，而是鼓励作者直接提交完整稿件。
- Open access: the journal is fully open access, with all content published under a Creative Commons Attribution licence and freely available to readers without a subscription. Authors may deposit the final published version immediately after publication in institutional repositories or other free public servers.开放获取： 属完全开放获取模式，全部内容以知识共享署名类许可协议发布，读者无需订阅即可免费获取；作者可在发表后立即将定稿版本存入机构知识库或其他免费公共服务器。
History
- 2010: founded by the Nature Publishing Group as its first online-only multidisciplinary journal, offering both a traditional subscription route and an open-access option, with Lesley Anson as founding Editor-in-Chief.2010年： 由 Nature 出版集团创办，是该集团首本纯在线出版的跨学科期刊，创刊时同时提供传统订阅与开放获取两种发表选项，主编由 Lesley Anson 担任。
- Editorial succession: after the founding Editor-in-Chief came Joerg Heber and then Magdalena Skipper, who later rose to become Editor-in-Chief of Nature itself. Elisa De Ranieri returned to the journal as Editor-in-Chief in 2019.主编沿革： 创刊主编之后先后由 Joerg Heber 与 Magdalena Skipper 接任，Magdalena Skipper 后来升任《Nature》主编，Elisa De Ranieri 于 2019 年回任本刊主编。
- October 2014: from this point the journal accepted only submissions from authors willing to pay an article-processing charge, making open access the sole route to publication.2014年10月： 自此只接收作者愿意支付文章处理费的投稿，开放获取成为唯一的发表路径。
- Late 2015 to January 2016: until the end of 2015 part of the published content remained available to subscribers only, and in January 2016 all content became freely accessible, completing the transition to full open access.2015年底至2016年1月： 到 2015 年底仍有部分已发表内容仅向订户开放，2016 年 1 月全部内容转为免费开放，本刊就此完成向完全开放获取的过渡。
- From 2017: the journal began offering a preprint deposition service as part of submission, and announced that year the creation of Communications-branded sibling journals. Communications Biology, Communications Chemistry, Communications Physics, Communications Materials, Communications Earth & Environment, Communications Medicine, Communications Engineering and Communications Psychology have since appeared, charging lower publication fees to reflect their more specialist remits, and manuscripts rejected by Nature Publishing Group titles can transfer to this family together with their reviewer reports through an automated transfer service.2017年起： 期刊在投稿流程中提供预印本存缴服务，同年宣布设立 Communications 系列子刊，其后陆续有 Communications Biology、Communications Chemistry、Communications Physics、Communications Materials、Communications Earth and Environment、Communications Medicine、Communications Engineering 与 Communications Psychology 等刊问世，发表费用低于本刊，被 Nature 出版集团退稿的稿件可连同评审意见经自动转交流程转投该系列。
Editors
- Current structure: the journal no longer has a single Editor-in-Chief. Four Editorial Directors each oversee a major area, namely health and clinical sciences, biological sciences, chemistry and biotechnology, and physics and earth sciences, with manuscripts handled across offices in London, Berlin, New York and Shanghai.现行结构： 本刊现不设单一主编，而由四位编辑总监分管四大板块，分别是健康与临床科学、生物科学、化学与生物技术、物理与地球科学，稿件在伦敦、柏林、纽约与上海四地办公室之间流转处理。
- Current directors: the four Editorial Directors are Nathalie Le Bot, Stéphane Larochelle, Enda Bergin and Prabhjot Saini. Larochelle is based in New York, Enda Bergin launched Nature Catalysis and served as its Editor-in-Chief for three years, and Prabhjot Saini led the bio and organic chemistry team from 2017 to 2022.现任总监： 现任四位总监为Nathalie Le Bot、Stéphane Larochelle、Enda Bergin 与 Prabhjot Saini。其中 Larochelle 常驻纽约，Enda Bergin 曾创办《Nature Catalysis》并任主编三年，Prabhjot Saini 于 2017 至 2022 年间领导过生物与有机化学团队。
- International composition: the editorial team is spread across Shanghai, Berlin, London and other locations, and its members come from mathematics, theoretical physics, materials science, chemistry, molecular biology, public health and epidemiology backgrounds. Senior, associate and assistant editors, together with a cross-journal editorial team supporting the Nature-branded titles, help run the process.团队国际构成： 编辑队伍分布在上海、柏林、伦敦等地，各团队成员的学术出身横跨数学、理论物理、材料、化学、分子生物、公共卫生与流行病学等方向，另有资深编辑与助理编辑团队以及支撑 Nature 品牌刊物的跨刊编辑组协助处理流程。
- Submission system: manuscripts are submitted through the online manuscript tracking system, screened within the relevant specialist team and then sent for peer review, with editorial administration and editorial assistant roles at head office and in the regional offices keeping the workflow moving.投稿系统： 稿件通过在线稿件追踪系统提交，各专业团队按学科分工初审后交同行评审，期刊总部与各地办公室均设有编辑行政与助理编辑岗位负责流程运转。[2]