Nature Communications is an online-only, multidisciplinary journal dedicated to publishing high-quality research in all areas of the biological, physical and chemical sciences. Papers published by the journal represent important advances of significance to specialists within each field. The scope of the journal reflects Nature Publishing Group’s core strengths in the biological, chemical and physical sciences. In addition, Nature Communications encourages submissions in fields that aren’t represented by a dedicated Nature research journal; for example developmental biology, plant science, microbiology, ecology and evolution, palaeontology, astronomy and high-energy physics. The editors particularly welcome submissions from cross-disciplinary fields, including biophysics, physical chemistry, environmental science and mathematical biology, although no area is excluded from consideration. In all cases, papers published in Nature Communications will be of high quality, without necessarily having the scientific reach of papers published in Nature and the Nature research journals.

Nature Communications is committed to providing an efficient service for both authors and readers. A streamlined peer-review system, together with the support of an editorial advisory panel, allows a team of independent editors to make rapid and fair publication decisions. Prompt dissemination of accepted papers to Nature Publishing Group’s wide readership and beyond is achieved through a programme of continuous online publication. Published manuscripts are enhanced by innovative web technologies, including interactive browsing and efficient data- and text-mining.

Authors can choose to publish their work either via the traditional subscription access route, or to make their paper open access through payment of an Article Processing Charge.

Readership: All researchers from the biological, chemical and physical sciences.