Aims and scope of journal
Mission
Sample issue
Editors and contact information
Relationship to other nature journals
Editorial and publishing policies
Impact factor
Abbreviation
ISSN and EISSN
Further editorial information
The entire guide for authors and referees is available in PDF format.
AIMS AND SCOPE OF JOURNAL
Nature Cell Biology publishes papers of the highest quality from all areas of cell biology,
encouraging those that shed light on the molecular mechanisms responsible for fundamental cell biological processes.
The journal's scope is broad and includes the following areas (not listed in order of preference):
- Membrane traffic and protein sorting
- Cell adhesion and migration
- Signal transduction
- Proteolysis
- Apoptosis
- Organisation of the nucleus and nuclear transport
- Developmental biology
- Cell cycle and cell growth
- Cytoskeletal dynamics and molecular motor function
- Transcription and chromatin
- DNA replication and repair
- Cellular mechanisms of neurobiology, immunology and human disease (provided that the primary focus is on general processes of cell biology)
- Microbiology
- Plant cell biology
- Stem cells
MISSION
Our aim is to publish high-impact research relevant to a broad range of cell biologists.
Manuscripts selected for publication in this journal will have to contain data of exceptional
quality that provides a striking conceptual advance and an in-depth understanding of the processes under study.
We place a high priority on maintaining an open, active dialogue with the community, and encourage you to contact
the editors
SAMPLE ISSUE
Free online access to the November 2004 issue of Nature Cell Biology
(Volume 6, Number 11).
EDITORS AND CONTACT INFORMATION
Like the other Nature titles, Nature Cell Biology has no external editorial board.
Instead, all editorial decisions are made by a team of full-time professional editors. Information
about the scientific background of the editors may be found here.
A full list of journal staff appears on the masthead.
RELATIONSHIP TO OTHER NATURE JOURNALS
Nature Cell Biology is editorially independent; its editors make their own decisions,
independent of the other Nature journals. If a paper is rejected from one Nature journal, the
authors can use an automated manuscript transfer service to submit the paper to another Nature
journal 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. In that case, 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 or alternative 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.
Click here for details of the manuscript transfer service, and for links to NPG journals and subject areas.
A general explanation of the relationships between Nature titles can be found
here.
EDITORIAL AND PUBLISHING POLICIES
The Nature journals, including Nature Cell Biology, share a number of common policies including the following:
Relationship between Nature journals
Licence agreement and author copyright
Embargo policy and press releases
Use of experimental animals and human subjects
Competing financial interests
Availability of materials and data
Guide for digital images
Gene nomenclature
Security concerns
Refutations and complaints
Corrections
IMPACT FACTOR
The 2005 impact factor for Nature Cell Biology is 19.717, according to ISI Journal Citation Reports.
The 2005 impact factor represents the aggregate number of citations in 2005 of papers published in 2003 and 2004, divided by the total number of papers published over this period. A more detailed explanation of impact factors appears on the
ISI web site.
Further information can be obtained from our Editorials in the
November 2002, August 2003 and October 2005 issues of Nature Cell Biology.
ABBREVIATION
The correct abbreviation for abstracting and indexing purposes is Nat. Cell Biol.
ISSN AND EISSN
The international standard serial number (ISSN) for Nature Cell Biology is 1465-7392, and
the electronic international standard serial number (EISSN) is 1476-4679.
FURTHER EDITORIAL INFORMATION
Please see the following editorials for more information on various aspects of journal policy.
November 2002 'Microarray data standards'
Jan 2003 'The name game'
Jan 2003 'A new section for a new year'
Jan 2003 'Picture this'
March 2003 'Evolving NCB'
June 2003 'Whither RNAi?'
July 2003 'Editorial procedure reviewed'
August 2003 'Making Impact'
September 2003 'Molecular Biology, Cell Biology and NCB'
November 2003 'NCB geography/democracy'
December 2003 'Developing open access'
January 2004 'Value added'
April 2004 'Gel slicing and dicing: a recipe for disaster'
June 2004 'Nothing to declare?'
January 2005 'Journal transfer made easy'
March 2005 'Policy update'
November 2005 'Policy matters, policies that matter'
February 2006 'Beautification and fraud'
March 2006 'Appreciating data: warts, wrinkles and all'
May 2006 'Sharing science'
June 2006 'Reproducing data; Nothing to hide'
August 2006 'Agreeing to disagree'
The entire guide to authors and referees is available in
PDF format.
