Nature Communications is an open access, multidisciplinary journal dedicated to publishing high-quality research in all areas of the biological, physical, chemical and Earth 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 strength in the natural sciences, and includes areas in which Nature research journals serve to publish the most outstanding community-focused research papers. In addition, Nature Communications encourages submissions in fields that aren''''''''t represented by a dedicated Nature research journal; for example developmental biology, plant sciences, microbiology, ecology and evolution, palaeontology and astronomy. The editors particularly welcome submissions from cross-disciplinary fields, including biophysics, bioengineering, chemical physics and environmental science, although no area is excluded from consideration. In all cases, papers published inNature 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.Nature Communications is editorially independent, and its editors will make their own decisions independently of the other Nature journals. It is for authors alone to decide where to submit their manuscripts. Nature will continue to publish the most significant advances in science and the Nature research journals will publish landmark papers of interest to their specific communities. Nature Communications will publish high-quality papers from all areas of science that represent important advances within specific scientific disciplines, but that might not necessarily have the scientific reach of papers published in Nature and the Nature research journals. For papers that could satisfy the scope of more than one Nature journal, the choice of which journal to submit to first lies with the authors.If a paper is rejected from one Nature journal, the authors can use an automated manuscript transfer service to submit the paper to Nature Communications via a link sent to them by the editor handling the manuscript. Authors should note that referees'''''''''''''''' comments (including any confidential comments to the editor) and identities are transferred to the editor of the second journal along with the manuscript. The journal editors will take the previous reviews into account when making their decision, although in some cases the editors may choose to take advice from additional referees. Alternatively, authors may choose to request a fresh review, in which case they should not use the automated transfer link, and the editors will evaluate the paper without reference to the previous review process. Nature Communications differs from other Nature journals in that editors occasionally seek advice from members of an Editorial Advisory Panel in deciding whether to review manuscripts. Further information about the Editorial Advisory Panel can be found in the Guide to Authors.

《自然通訊》是一本開放獲取的多學(xué)科期刊，致力于出版生物、物理、化學(xué)和地球科學(xué)所有領(lǐng)域的高質(zhì)量研究。該雜志發(fā)表的論文代表了對每個領(lǐng)域的專家都具有重要意義的重要進(jìn)展。該期刊的范圍反映了自然出版集團(tuán)在自然科學(xué)領(lǐng)域的核心實(shí)力，包括自然研究期刊服務(wù)于發(fā)表最杰出的以社區(qū)為重點(diǎn)的研究論文的領(lǐng)域。此外，《自然通訊》鼓勵在沒有專門的《自然研究雜志》代表的領(lǐng)域提交論文;例如發(fā)育生物學(xué)、植物科學(xué)、微生物學(xué)、生態(tài)學(xué)和進(jìn)化、古生物學(xué)和天文學(xué)。編輯們特別歡迎來自跨學(xué)科領(lǐng)域的投稿，包括生物物理學(xué)、生物工程、化學(xué)物理學(xué)和環(huán)境科學(xué)，盡管沒有任何領(lǐng)域被排除在外。在所有情況下，發(fā)表在《自然通訊》上的論文都將是高質(zhì)量的，不一定具有發(fā)表在《自然》和《自然研究期刊》上的論文的科學(xué)范圍。自然傳播致力于為作者和讀者提供高效的服務(wù)。一個精簡的同行評審系統(tǒng)，加上編輯顧問小組的支持，允許獨(dú)立的編輯團(tuán)隊(duì)做出快速和公平的出版決策。透過持續(xù)的網(wǎng)上出版計(jì)劃，可迅速向《自然》出版集團(tuán)的廣大讀者及其他人士發(fā)放已獲接納的論文。創(chuàng)新的web技術(shù)，包括交互式瀏覽和高效的數(shù)據(jù)和文本挖掘，增強(qiáng)了出版的手稿。《自然通訊》是獨(dú)立于編輯的，其編輯將獨(dú)立于其他《自然》雜志作出自己的決定。只有作者才能決定在何處提交他們的手稿。《自然》雜志將繼續(xù)發(fā)表科學(xué)上最重要的進(jìn)展，《自然》研究期刊將發(fā)表其特定社區(qū)感興趣的具有里程碑意義的論文。《自然通訊》將發(fā)表來自各個科學(xué)領(lǐng)域的高質(zhì)量論文，這些論文代表了特定科學(xué)學(xué)科的重要進(jìn)展，但不一定具有發(fā)表在《自然》和《自然研究期刊》上的論文的科學(xué)影響力。對于能夠同時滿足多個自然期刊的論文，先提交哪一種期刊由作者選擇。如果一篇論文被《自然》雜志拒絕發(fā)表，作者可以使用自動稿件傳輸服務(wù)，通過編輯發(fā)送給他們的鏈接將論文提交給《自然》通訊。作者應(yīng)注意，審稿人的“”“”“”“”“”評論(包括對編輯的任何保密評論)和身份將隨稿件一起移交給第二期刊的編輯。期刊編輯在做決定時將考慮先前的評論，盡管在某些情況下，編輯可能會選擇聽取其他審稿人的意見。或者，作者可以選擇請求一個新的評審，在這種情況下，他們不應(yīng)該使用自動轉(zhuǎn)換鏈接，編輯將在不參考以前的評審過程的情況下評估文章。《自然通訊》與其他《自然》雜志的不同之處在于，編輯在決定是否審閱稿件時，偶爾會征求編輯顧問小組成員的意見。有關(guān)編輯咨詢小組的進(jìn)一步信息可在作者指南中找到。