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About article types
The Nature journals publish several different types of articles about science and medicine. Broadly speaking, these can be divided into articles reporting original scientific research; those reviewing scientific research; scientific journalism (news); opinion about science-related matters; articles about science history; and articles about the interface of science and culture.
This page describes these article types.
Original research (submissions welcomed)
In Nature journals, original research is published either as an Article, Letter, Brief Communication or Technical Report.
Nature does not publish the Brief Communication or Technical Report format. In Nature, there are fewer Articles published per week (typically around 3) than there are Letters (typically around 17). Some, but not all, Articles and Letters are published online before they appear in the print edition of the journal (AOP, or Advance Online Publication). The Nature provides detailed information about these categories.
In the Nature monthly journals, research is published as Articles, all of which are published online ahead of the print editions. Some, but not all of the monthly journals publish research in Letter, Brief Communication or Technical Report format. Each journal describes the content type it publishes in its own guide to authors.
Reviewing research (suggestions welcomed)
Articles in the Nature journals that review the scientific literature are called Reviews. Nature and the Nature Reviews journals also publish Progress (highly topical short reviews that each take a maximum of 4 pages of the journal) and Analysis (review-based articles containing meta-analysis of existing data), as well as Insights (themed collections of reviews). Some of the Nature journals publish Perspectives and Historical Perspectives. All these articles are peer-reviewed. See each journal's guide to authors for further information.
The Nature journals also publish News and Views: short, accessible articles focused on one scientific advance independent of the author's own research. They are almost always commissioned by the editors, but suggestions can be made. News and Views articles generally describe a published research report but sometimes take the form of scientific meeting reports. News and Views articles are personal views by specialists in the discipline, and are not usually peer-reviewed. See each journal's guide to authors for more details.
Authors wishing to submit suggestions or synopses for articles in any of these categories should first read the relevant part of the guide to authors on website of the journal to which they wish to submit. Some Nature journals do not accept unsolicited suggestions for some of these article types, so it saves authors time if they first check the editorial criteria of the journal before approaching the editors.
News and journalism (commission only)
Nature has an extensive, lively and informative news service, in the form of a News section, weekly News Features, Business News, Special Reports and a daily online science news service called Of the monthly Nature journals, Nature Medicine and Nature Biotechnology have thriving news sections, which include stories on Nature Reviews Drug Discovery and Nature Reviews Microbiology publish News and Analysis. None of these news sections considers unsolicted articles; all are commissioned by the news editors and are written by professional journalists.
Nature contains a weekly magazine at the end of the print section called , a multi-faceted career resource which as well as news related to scientific jobs, recruitment and careers, includes many other features. Suggestions for articles are welcomed.
Opinion and comment
Nature and most of the Nature research journals publish Editorials: opinion articles written by the editors about topical issues of the day concerning science, particularly its interface with wider society. Because these articles represent the voice of the journal, they are unsigned. Sometimes, these Editorials announce and describe a new or amended editorial policy. These policy announcements are collected in the relevant parts of the of the authors & referees @ npg website. Contributions are not considered for Editorials.
Opinion by readers is published in the form of Correspondence (submissions welcomed), if short, or Commentary, if more rounded and complete (one-paragraph synopses welcomed). Not all the Nature journals publish Commentary or Correspondence, so potential authors are advised to read guide to authors before submitting.
Readers' technical comments on scientific research published in the Nature journals are not published in the opinion sections, but must be submitted to the journal for formal peer review (see the relevant journal's guide to authors for details).
Increasingly, Nature Publishing Group is publishing informal opinion in the form of reader comments on its blogs (weblogs). An is available.
Science and Culture (commission only)
Nature and many of the Nature research journals publish Books and Arts reviews, and, together with the Reviews journals, publish Essays on various aspects of science in the wider world.
