PRESS RELEASE FROM NATURE PUBLISHING GROUP
25 June 2009

Contact: Grace Baynes
Corporate Public Relations, Nature Publishing Group
T:+44 (0)20 7014 4063
g.baynes@nature.com

Nature maintains its position as the number one weekly science journal, with a new Impact Factor of 31.434. Thomson Reuters has just published the new Impact Factors in the 2008 Journal Citation Report (JCR), Science Edition. Nature Publishing Group (NPG) publishes 16 of the top 50 journals in the JCR, twice as many as any other scientific publisher.

Up from 28.751 last year, the new Impact Factor places Nature ahead of Science (28.103) and Cell (31.253), according to the 2008 JCR. Nature also has the highest Eigenfactor, an alternative measure of journal impact, of all 6598 journals included in the 2008 JCR.

The latest JCR brings good news for some of NPG's youngest journals - with Nature Photonics and The ISME Journal both receiving excellent first Impact Factors.

Nature Photonics, with a first Impact Factor of 24.982, has the highest debut Impact Factor of the 353 new journals listed in the 2008 JCR. The journal ranks first in both the Optics and Physics, Applied categories. Launched in 2007, Nature Photonics joins a portfolio of physical science Nature research journals that lead their fields.

The Nature family of journals continues its reputation for high impact. Seven of the Nature research journals are ranked first in one or more category in the 2008 JCR. The clinical Nature Reviews journals all improved their Impact Factors this year, while the seven life science Nature Review journals remain the number one monthly review journals in their respective categories. Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology now has the fourth highest Impact Factor (35.423) of all 6598 journals in the 2008 JCR.

NPG's academic and society journals performed well, with 16 journals in the top ten in their respective categories. Highlights include Molecular Systems Biology with an improved Impact Factor of 12.243. An open access journal, published in association with the European Molecular Biology Organization, Molecular Systems Biology ranks 10 in the Biochemistry and Molecular Biology category. Kidney International also improved its Impact Factor, up 1.496 to 6.418, and now ranks 3rd out of 57 journals in the Urology and Nephrology category.

A first Impact Factor for The ISME Journal of 5.029, places the journal in the top 10% of all journals in the 2008 JCR. Published on behalf of the International Society for Microbial Ecology (ISME), The ISME Journal ranks 10 of 124 journals in the Ecology category.

In a separate indicator of excellence, Nature was last week named 'journal of the century' by the BioMedical & Life Sciences Division (DBIO) of the Special Libraries Association (SLA). Voted for by DBIO's 686 members, the award was given to celebrate SLA's Centennial and recognizes the most influential journal of the last 100 years (1909-2009).

-ENDS-

Notes for Editors

All Impact Factors are taken from the 2008 Journal Citation Report, Science Edition (Thomson Reuters, 2009).

Thomson Reuters provide information about how Impact Factors are calculated here:scientific.thomson.com/free/essays/journalcitationreports/impactfactor/ and more detail on the Journal Citation Report here: scientific.thomsonreuters.com/products/jcr/

Related announcements:

Launch of Nature Photonics (December 2006): www.nature.com/press_releases/Nature_Photonics_launches.pdf

About Nature Publishing Group (NPG)

Nature Publishing Group (NPG) is a publisher of high impact scientific and medical information in print and online. NPG publishes journals, online databases and services across the life, physical, chemical and applied sciences and clinical medicine.

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