Aims and scope of journal
Sample issue
Editorial process
Editors and contact information
Relationship to other nature journals
Editorial and publishing policies
Impact factor
Editorial blogs
Abbreviation
ISSN and EISSN
Further editorial information
The guide for authors and the editorial policies, including the guide for referees, are available in PDF format.
AIMS AND SCOPE OF JOURNAL
Nature Immunology is a multidisciplinary journal that publishes papers of the highest quality and significance in all areas of immunology. Priority is given to work that provides fundamental insight into the workings of the immune system. Areas covered include, but are not limited to, innate immunity and inflammation; development; immune receptors, signaling and apoptosis; antigen presentation; gene regulation and recombination; cellular and systemic immunity; vaccines; immune tolerance; autoimmunity and tumor immunology, microbial immunopathology; and transplantation.
Nature Immunology places its highest priority on fair and rapid review and speedy publication. Decisions on whether to send a manuscript out for peer review are normally made within two working days of receipt and decisions about publication are typically made within two days of receipt of the referees' reports.
In addition to publishing significant original research, Nature Immunology also publishes commentary, News and Views, brief research notes, historical perspectives, correspondence from readers and reviews of the literature, thus serving as the major conduit of top-quality information for the immunology community.
SAMPLE ISSUE
Free online access to the November 2006 issue of Nature Immunology.
EDITORIAL PROCESS
Presubmission inquiries may be made via our online submission system before a manuscript is submitted, but they are not required. Editors can give the authors a rapid judgment of whether a particular paper is likely to be of interest, but cannot promise that the paper will be reviewed until they have received the entire manuscript as a regular submission.
The overview of the journal's manuscript decision process includes submission, editorial decision on whether the paper should be reviewed, peer review, decisions after review, revision, acceptance in principle, final submission and acceptance, proofs, advance online publication, and print publication. Before submitting a paper, authors should consult our editorial policies as well as technical tips for using our online submission system.
Please also consult our general guide for manuscript preparation and submission, which includes information on article formats, journal style, and figure preparation tips. Note that procedures for presubmission inquiries, initial submission, revision, and final submission are slightly different, so please consult the directions before proceeding to the online submission system.
Journals in the Nature family no longer take copyright on the primary research articles we publish. Instead we ask authors to sign a license for us to publish their work. US government employees sign a different license.
EDITORS AND CONTACT INFORMATION
Like the other Nature titles, Nature Immunology has no external editorial board. Instead, all editorial decisions are made by a team of full-time professional editors. For information on their research backgrounds and scientific interests, see About the Editors.
A full list of journal staff appears on the masthead.
RELATIONSHIP TO OTHER NATURE JOURNALS
Nature Immunology is editorially independent, and 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.
More details are available on the manuscript transfer service and on the relationships between Nature titles.
EDITORIAL AND PUBLISHING POLICIES
Please see authors & referees @ npg for detailed information about author and referee services and publication policies at the Nature family of journals. These journals, including Nature Immunology, share a number of common policies including the following:
License agreement and author copyright
Embargo policy and press releases
Use of experimental animals and human subjects
Competing financial interests
Availability of materials and data
Digital image integrity and standards
Security concerns
Refutations, complaints and corrections
Duplicate publication
Confidentiality and pre-publicity
Plagiarism and fabrication
IMPACT FACTOR
The 2007 impact factor for Nature Immunology is 26.218, according to the Thomson Reuters Journal Citation Reports. This places Nature Immunology third out of 119 journals in the field of immunology, and first among primary research journals in this field.
The 2007 impact factor represents the number of citations in 2007 to papers published in 2005 and 2006, divided by the total number of papers published in 2005 and 2006. A more detailed explanation of impact factors appears on the ISI web site. For more information on the interpretation and use of impact factors, see the Editorial in the August 2003 issue of Nature Immunology.
EDITORIAL BLOGS
We encourage community participation in all Nature journal blogs. Nautilus is a blog for authors and aspiring authors of Nature Publishing Group journals. Peer-to-Peer is a blog for reviewers and is about peer review. Other Nature Publishing Group blogs can be found on the blog index page.
ABBREVIATION
The correct abbreviation for abstracting and indexing purposes is Nat. Immunol.
ISSN AND EISSN
The international standard serial number (ISSN) for Nature Immunology is 1529-2908, and the electronic international standard serial number (EISSN) is 1529-2916.
FURTHER EDITORIAL INFORMATION
Please see the following editorials for more information on various aspects of journal policy.
Journal goals (July 2000)
Peer review (April 2001)
Competing financial interests (October 2001)
Advance online publication (November 2001)
Electronic submission (June 2002)
Sharing of materials (December 2002)
Microarray policy (February 2003)
Publishing and bioterrorism (March 2003)
Summer dreams (August 2003)
Immunology. All of it. (July 2005)
Under review (August 2006)
A matter of trust (October 2006)
Spot checks (March 2007)
The guide for authors and the editorial policies, including the guide for referees, are available in PDF format.
