Submitting to the PNAS portfolio

PNAS and PNAS Nexus

The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) publishes the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) as well as its open access sibling journal PNAS Nexus. PNAS was established in 1914 and is one of the world’s most-cited and comprehensive multidisciplinary scientific journals.  PNAS Nexus was established in 2022 and is the first new multidisciplinary, broad research journal launched by the NAS in over a century.

If you submit to PNAS and the editor declines to publish your manuscript, you may be offered a special opportunity to be considered for publication within the PNAS portfolio. When communicating a decision on your manuscript, the PNAS editor may suggest that your submission is more suitable for PNAS Nexus and recommend that you transfer your submission via a streamlined, hassle-free process within the submission system.

Differences between the two journals

While PNAS and PNAS Nexus are complementary sibling journals, there are some differences to consider when selecting which journal to submit to first.

Scope and editorial board

Both PNAS and PNAS Nexus publish high-quality research that spans all branches of the Biological, Physical, and Social Sciences. However, whereas the PNAS is edited solely by members of the National Academy of Sciences (the NAS), PNAS Nexus editors consist of members from all three U.S. national academies—the NAS, the National Academy of Engineering (NAE), and the National Academy of Medicine (NAM). As such, PNAS Nexus particularly reflects the convergence of disciplines across the sciences, engineering, and medicine, and thrives on publishing innovative, interdisciplinary work from researchers worldwide.

Article types and formats

Both journals publish Research Reports and Brief Reports. However, PNAS Nexus allows for the submission of unsolicited Perspectives and Reviews, whereas PNAS only considers invited Perspectives. As part of its open research mission, PNAS Nexus accepts Registered Reports—a form of empirical article in which the methods and proposed analyses are preregistered and reviewed prior to research being conducted. Letters to the Editor and Commentaries are currently only available at PNAS.

To ensure that articles are readable and citable as quickly as possible, PNAS Nexus posts a version of the accepted peer-reviewed manuscript prior to copyediting within 48 hours of copyright license signature. This is replaced by the version of record when the article publishes directly in an open issue, typically within 3 weeks.

Open access and indexing

All PNAS articles are free to read within 6 months of publication, without a subscription, and PNAS automatically deposits the version of record in PubMed Central (PMC) for the authors. Authors who choose the journal’s immediate open access option will have their articles made freely available immediately upon publication. Meanwhile, as a gold open access journal, PNAS Nexus makes all articles freely and publicly available to read immediately upon publication. Like PNAS, all PNAS Nexus articles are also automatically deposited to PubMed Central.

Both journals are indexed by Web of Science—within the Social Sciences Citation Index and the Science Citation Index-Expanded for PNAS and within the Emerging Sources Citation Index (ESCI) for PNAS Nexus. With its 2023 acceptance into ESCI, PNAS Nexus anticipates receiving its first Impact Factor in Summer 2024.

Submission transfers

Benefits of submission transfer

• Your choice: It is entirely your decision whether to accept an editor’s transfer offer; your submission will never be transferred to PNAS Nexus without your permission.
• Streamlined submission: Your manuscript and its associated metadata is seamlessly transferred to PNAS Nexus, reducing the amount of administrative effort and time typically required to resubmit to another journal.
• Rapid route to publication: Any previous reviews of your PNAS submission will be transferred to PNAS Nexus alongside your manuscript, potentially reducing the number of reviews required at PNAS Nexus and time to decision.
• Alleviate reviewer fatigue: Because any previous PNAS reviews (and reviewer identities) will transfer alongside your manuscript, PNAS Nexus may make a decision informed by previous feedback, or invite the same reviewers to consider your revision. This allows PNAS Nexus to build upon the valuable assessment already conducted when possible, rather than starting anew.

Transfer process

If you accept the transfer offer, the following will be transferred to PNAS Nexus on your behalf:

• Author information
• Manuscript information
• Manuscript files
• Decision letter
• Reviewer reports (as applicable)

Then, you complete the submission at PNAS Nexus. You are encouraged to upload a revised manuscript and a point-by-point response to any reviewer feedback, which could help expedite review at PNAS Nexus. However, it is important to note that a transfer recommendation is not a guarantee of acceptance at PNAS Nexus; the PNAS Nexus Editorial Board operates independently of PNAS and will assess your transferred submission against its own criteria.

Learn more

Visit PNAS Nexus to learn more about what makes the journal unique.