Nature Portfolio: 2025 peer review metrics
2025 Peer Review Metrics table; journal-name row. 2025 calendar year.
Open official sourceOpen data · 2026 edition
How long journals take to accept a paper, what they report about acceptance and decision times, and what they require at submission. Every figure is sourced and tagged, and every layer downloads as CSV and JSON.
Updated September 25, 20262026 editionCC BY 4.0DOI 10.5281/zenodo.23001076DownloadsCodebookMethodChangelogCite
What is in it
| Layer | What it holds | Evidence | Download |
|---|---|---|---|
| Journal acceptance times2026 edition, method v2 | Median days from submission to acceptance, with 25th and 75th percentiles, articles measured, acceptance to publication, deposit rate and PubMed coverage, for 108 journals. | Measured | CSV · JSON |
| Publisher-reported metrics2026.09.24-reported1 | 17 acceptance rates, shares sent for review and decision times for 6 journals, each with its statistic, period, caveat and source. | Publisher-reported | CSV · JSON |
| Publisher metric ledger2026.09.11-evidence1 | 4 publisher metric observations across 2 journals, each with its definition, population, period and source. 32 more, from Nature Portfolio and JAMA Network pages, are cited in the table below but not included in the download. | Publisher-reported | CSV · JSONBoth layers in one file |
| Submission requirements2026.09.11-requirements1 | 10 article-type requirements across 3 journals: word, abstract, figure and reference limits, with the source section. 22 more, from Nature Portfolio and JAMA Network pages, are cited in the table below but not included in the download. | Publisher-reported |
Downloads carry no estimates. A CSV opens with lines starting with #: title, version, licence, citation and a field-by-field codebook. Most spreadsheet and statistics tools skip them as comments. Earlier download links keep working; the changelog records what changed in them.
Layer 1 · Measured
Across 108 journals, the typical journal took a median of 147 days from submission to acceptance for research articles published in 2024-2025; half of the journals had medians between 98 and 215 days.
Submission to acceptance (median days), research articles published in 2024-2025, measured from PubMed history dates; includes author revision time; not time to first decision; not an acceptance rate. The full table, with sorting, filtering and a row for each journal, is on peer review timelines by journal.
Layer 2 · Publisher-reported
| Journal | Metric | Value | Period and caveat | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PLOS Biology | Acceptance rate | 11% Publisher-reported | 2025 calendar year. Denominator not specified on the metrics page. PLOS describes the acceptance rate as an average percentage. | PLOS (Public Library of Science) |
| PLOS Biology | First decision, paths not separated | 48 days (median) Publisher-reported | 2025 calendar year. PLOS first-decision dataset; review-path inclusion not specified. | PLOS (Public Library of Science) |
| PLOS Pathogens | Acceptance rate | 22% Publisher-reported | 2025 calendar year. Denominator not specified on the metrics page. PLOS describes the acceptance rate as an average percentage. | PLOS (Public Library of Science) |
| PLOS Pathogens | First decision, paths not separated | 22 days (median) Publisher-reported | 2025 calendar year. PLOS first-decision dataset; review-path inclusion not specified. | PLOS (Public Library of Science) |
| Journal of Clinical Investigation | Acceptance rate | 9.5% Publisher-reported | June 1, 2025 to May 31, 2026. First submissions: Research, Clinical Research and Public Health, Research Letter, Letter to the Editor. Manuscripts accepted in the year divided by manuscripts submitted in the same year; not the same cohort. | American Society for Clinical Investigation (JCI, JCI Insight) |
| Journal of Clinical Investigation | Sent for peer review | 23.1% Publisher-reported | June 1, 2025 to May 31, 2026. First submissions: Research, Clinical Research and Public Health, Research Letter, Letter to the Editor. The page calls this the review rate: manuscripts undergoing peer review in the year divided by manuscripts submitted in the same year; not the same cohort. | American Society for Clinical Investigation (JCI, JCI Insight) |
| Journal of Clinical Investigation | First decision without peer review | 5.4 days (mean) Publisher-reported | June 1, 2025 to May 31, 2026. First submissions editorially rejected without peer review. | American Society for Clinical Investigation (JCI, JCI Insight) |
| Journal of Clinical Investigation | First decision with peer review | 35 days (mean) Publisher-reported | June 1, 2025 to May 31, 2026. First submissions decided after peer review. | American Society for Clinical Investigation (JCI, JCI Insight) |
| Journal of Clinical Investigation | Submission to acceptance | 279.3 days (mean) Publisher-reported | June 1, 2025 to May 31, 2026. Accepted manuscripts, first submission to notification of acceptance. | American Society for Clinical Investigation (JCI, JCI Insight) |
| JCI Insight | Acceptance rate | 20.2% Publisher-reported | June 1, 2025 to May 31, 2026. First submissions, including transfers from the JCI: Research, Clinical Research and Public Health, Physician-Scientist Development, Research Letter, Letter to the Editor. Manuscripts accepted in the year divided by manuscripts submitted in the same year; not the same cohort. | American Society for Clinical Investigation (JCI, JCI Insight) |
| JCI Insight | Sent for peer review | 26% Publisher-reported | June 1, 2025 to May 31, 2026. First submissions, including transfers from the JCI: Research, Clinical Research and Public Health, Physician-Scientist Development, Research Letter, Letter to the Editor. The page calls this the review rate: manuscripts undergoing peer review in the year divided by manuscripts submitted in the same year; not the same cohort. | American Society for Clinical Investigation (JCI, JCI Insight) |
| JCI Insight | First decision without peer review | 2 days (mean) Publisher-reported | June 1, 2025 to May 31, 2026. First submissions editorially rejected without peer review. | American Society for Clinical Investigation (JCI, JCI Insight) |
| JCI Insight | First decision with peer review | 35.9 days (mean) Publisher-reported | June 1, 2025 to May 31, 2026. First submissions decided after peer review. | American Society for Clinical Investigation (JCI, JCI Insight) |
| JCI Insight | Submission to acceptance | 246.3 days (mean) Publisher-reported | June 1, 2025 to May 31, 2026. Accepted manuscripts, first submission to notification of acceptance. | American Society for Clinical Investigation (JCI, JCI Insight) |
| eLife | Sent for peer review | 35% Publisher-reported | 2025 calendar year. Submissions received in 2025. eLife reports 1,013 of 2,853 submissions sent for review and states the proportion as 35%; the two counts give 35.5%. | eLife Sciences Publications |
| eLife | First decision without peer review | 8 days (median) Publisher-reported | 2025 calendar year. Submissions not selected for peer review. | eLife Sciences Publications |
| Journal of Immunology | First decision, paths not separated | 35 days (mean) Publisher-reported | 2025 calendar year. Submissions to The Journal of Immunology; review-path inclusion not specified. | The American Association of Immunologists (The Journal of Immunology) |
Sources are limited to PLOS (Public Library of Science), American Society for Clinical Investigation (JCI, JCI Insight), eLife Sciences Publications, The American Association of Immunologists (The Journal of Immunology): publishers whose reuse terms were read and permit it. 25 other publishers were not collected because their terms forbid it, could not be read, or their pages blocked the request. A share sent for review is not an acceptance rate, and a mean is not a median.
Layer 3 · Publisher metric ledger
Sources checked 2026-09-11. Exported rows preserve definitions and limitations.
| Journal | Observation and definition | Population and period | Evidence |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nature | 8 days. Editorial screening decision (median).Definition and limitsReceipt to the editorial decision about sending a manuscript for review or not. Not a desk-rejection-only measure. Two different decision paths. The screening median is not a desk-rejection-only median; submission-to-acceptance describes accepted papers, not all submissions. No first decision after external review or acceptance rate is given in this table. | Submissions assessed for whether to send to formal review. 2025 calendar year. | Nature Portfolio: 2025 peer review metrics. Checked 2026-09-11. |
| Nature | 321 days. Submission to acceptance (median).Definition and limitsPublished submission date to final acceptance. Includes intervening steps and excludes unsuccessful submissions. Two different decision paths. The screening median is not a desk-rejection-only median; submission-to-acceptance describes accepted papers, not all submissions. No first decision after external review or acceptance rate is given in this table. | Accepted manuscripts. 2025 calendar year. | Nature Portfolio: 2025 peer review metrics. Checked 2026-09-11. |
| Nature Medicine | 4 days. Editorial screening decision (median).Definition and limitsReceipt to the editorial decision about sending a manuscript for review or not. Not a desk-rejection-only measure. Two different decision paths. The screening median is not a desk-rejection-only median; submission-to-acceptance describes accepted papers, not all submissions. No first decision after external review or acceptance rate is given in this table. | Submissions assessed for whether to send to formal review. 2025 calendar year. | Nature Portfolio: 2025 peer review metrics. Checked 2026-09-11. |
| Nature Medicine | 117 days. Submission to acceptance (median).Definition and limitsPublished submission date to final acceptance. Includes intervening steps and excludes unsuccessful submissions. Two different decision paths. The screening median is not a desk-rejection-only median; submission-to-acceptance describes accepted papers, not all submissions. No first decision after external review or acceptance rate is given in this table. | Accepted manuscripts. 2025 calendar year. | Nature Portfolio: 2025 peer review metrics. Checked 2026-09-11. |
| Nature Communications | 9 days. Editorial screening decision (median).Definition and limitsReceipt to the editorial decision about sending a manuscript for review or not. Not a desk-rejection-only measure. Two different decision paths. The screening median is not a desk-rejection-only median; submission-to-acceptance describes accepted papers, not all submissions. No first decision after external review or acceptance rate is given in this table. | Submissions assessed for whether to send to formal review. 2025 calendar year. | Nature Portfolio: 2025 peer review metrics. Checked 2026-09-11. |
| Nature Communications | 242 days. Submission to acceptance (median).Definition and limitsPublished submission date to final acceptance. Includes intervening steps and excludes unsuccessful submissions. Two different decision paths. The screening median is not a desk-rejection-only median; submission-to-acceptance describes accepted papers, not all submissions. No first decision after external review or acceptance rate is given in this table. | Accepted manuscripts. 2025 calendar year. | Nature Portfolio: 2025 peer review metrics. Checked 2026-09-11. |
| Nature Biotechnology | 4 days. Editorial screening decision (median).Definition and limitsReceipt to the editorial decision about sending a manuscript for review or not. Not a desk-rejection-only measure. Two different decision paths. The screening median is not a desk-rejection-only median; submission-to-acceptance describes accepted papers, not all submissions. No first decision after external review or acceptance rate is given in this table. | Submissions assessed for whether to send to formal review. 2025 calendar year. | Nature Portfolio: 2025 peer review metrics. Checked 2026-09-11. |
| Nature Biotechnology | 185 days. Submission to acceptance (median).Definition and limitsPublished submission date to final acceptance. Includes intervening steps and excludes unsuccessful submissions. Two different decision paths. The screening median is not a desk-rejection-only median; submission-to-acceptance describes accepted papers, not all submissions. No first decision after external review or acceptance rate is given in this table. | Accepted manuscripts. 2025 calendar year. | Nature Portfolio: 2025 peer review metrics. Checked 2026-09-11. |
| Nature Methods | 10 days. Editorial screening decision (median).Definition and limitsReceipt to the editorial decision about sending a manuscript for review or not. Not a desk-rejection-only measure. Two different decision paths. The screening median is not a desk-rejection-only median; submission-to-acceptance describes accepted papers, not all submissions. No first decision after external review or acceptance rate is given in this table. | Submissions assessed for whether to send to formal review. 2025 calendar year. | Nature Portfolio: 2025 peer review metrics. Checked 2026-09-11. |
| Nature Methods | 276 days. Submission to acceptance (median).Definition and limitsPublished submission date to final acceptance. Includes intervening steps and excludes unsuccessful submissions. Two different decision paths. The screening median is not a desk-rejection-only median; submission-to-acceptance describes accepted papers, not all submissions. No first decision after external review or acceptance rate is given in this table. | Accepted manuscripts. 2025 calendar year. | Nature Portfolio: 2025 peer review metrics. Checked 2026-09-11. |
| Nature Genetics | 11 days. Editorial screening decision (median).Definition and limitsReceipt to the editorial decision about sending a manuscript for review or not. Not a desk-rejection-only measure. Two different decision paths. The screening median is not a desk-rejection-only median; submission-to-acceptance describes accepted papers, not all submissions. No first decision after external review or acceptance rate is given in this table. | Submissions assessed for whether to send to formal review. 2025 calendar year. | Nature Portfolio: 2025 peer review metrics. Checked 2026-09-11. |
| Nature Genetics | 322 days. Submission to acceptance (median).Definition and limitsPublished submission date to final acceptance. Includes intervening steps and excludes unsuccessful submissions. Two different decision paths. The screening median is not a desk-rejection-only median; submission-to-acceptance describes accepted papers, not all submissions. No first decision after external review or acceptance rate is given in this table. | Accepted manuscripts. 2025 calendar year. | Nature Portfolio: 2025 peer review metrics. Checked 2026-09-11. |
| Nature Immunology | 5 days. Editorial screening decision (median).Definition and limitsReceipt to the editorial decision about sending a manuscript for review or not. Not a desk-rejection-only measure. Two different decision paths. The screening median is not a desk-rejection-only median; submission-to-acceptance describes accepted papers, not all submissions. No first decision after external review or acceptance rate is given in this table. | Submissions assessed for whether to send to formal review. 2025 calendar year. | Nature Portfolio: 2025 peer review metrics. Checked 2026-09-11. |
| Nature Immunology | 180 days. Submission to acceptance (median).Definition and limitsPublished submission date to final acceptance. Includes intervening steps and excludes unsuccessful submissions. Two different decision paths. The screening median is not a desk-rejection-only median; submission-to-acceptance describes accepted papers, not all submissions. No first decision after external review or acceptance rate is given in this table. | Accepted manuscripts. 2025 calendar year. | Nature Portfolio: 2025 peer review metrics. Checked 2026-09-11. |
| Nature Chemical Biology | 11 days. Editorial screening decision (median).Definition and limitsReceipt to the editorial decision about sending a manuscript for review or not. Not a desk-rejection-only measure. Two different decision paths. The screening median is not a desk-rejection-only median; submission-to-acceptance describes accepted papers, not all submissions. No first decision after external review or acceptance rate is given in this table. | Submissions assessed for whether to send to formal review. 2025 calendar year. | Nature Portfolio: 2025 peer review metrics. Checked 2026-09-11. |
| Nature Chemical Biology | 258 days. Submission to acceptance (median).Definition and limitsPublished submission date to final acceptance. Includes intervening steps and excludes unsuccessful submissions. Two different decision paths. The screening median is not a desk-rejection-only median; submission-to-acceptance describes accepted papers, not all submissions. No first decision after external review or acceptance rate is given in this table. | Accepted manuscripts. 2025 calendar year. | Nature Portfolio: 2025 peer review metrics. Checked 2026-09-11. |
| Nature Neuroscience | 9 days. Editorial screening decision (median).Definition and limitsReceipt to the editorial decision about sending a manuscript for review or not. Not a desk-rejection-only measure. Two different decision paths. The screening median is not a desk-rejection-only median; submission-to-acceptance describes accepted papers, not all submissions. No first decision after external review or acceptance rate is given in this table. | Submissions assessed for whether to send to formal review. 2025 calendar year. | Nature Portfolio: 2025 peer review metrics. Checked 2026-09-11. |
| Nature Neuroscience | 399 days. Submission to acceptance (median).Definition and limitsPublished submission date to final acceptance. Includes intervening steps and excludes unsuccessful submissions. Two different decision paths. The screening median is not a desk-rejection-only median; submission-to-acceptance describes accepted papers, not all submissions. No first decision after external review or acceptance rate is given in this table. | Accepted manuscripts. 2025 calendar year. | Nature Portfolio: 2025 peer review metrics. Checked 2026-09-11. |
| Nature Structural & Molecular Biology | 8 days. Editorial screening decision (median).Definition and limitsReceipt to the editorial decision about sending a manuscript for review or not. Not a desk-rejection-only measure. Two different decision paths. The screening median is not a desk-rejection-only median; submission-to-acceptance describes accepted papers, not all submissions. No first decision after external review or acceptance rate is given in this table. | Submissions assessed for whether to send to formal review. 2025 calendar year. | Nature Portfolio: 2025 peer review metrics. Checked 2026-09-11. |
| Nature Structural & Molecular Biology | 198 days. Submission to acceptance (median).Definition and limitsPublished submission date to final acceptance. Includes intervening steps and excludes unsuccessful submissions. Two different decision paths. The screening median is not a desk-rejection-only median; submission-to-acceptance describes accepted papers, not all submissions. No first decision after external review or acceptance rate is given in this table. | Accepted manuscripts. 2025 calendar year. | Nature Portfolio: 2025 peer review metrics. Checked 2026-09-11. |
| Scientific Reports | 12 days. Editorial screening decision (median).Definition and limitsReceipt to the editorial decision about sending a manuscript for review or not. Not a desk-rejection-only measure. Two different decision paths. The screening median is not a desk-rejection-only median; submission-to-acceptance describes accepted papers, not all submissions. No first decision after external review or acceptance rate is given in this table. | Submissions assessed for whether to send to formal review. 2025 calendar year. | Nature Portfolio: 2025 peer review metrics. Checked 2026-09-11. |
| Scientific Reports | 138 days. Submission to acceptance (median).Definition and limitsPublished submission date to final acceptance. Includes intervening steps and excludes unsuccessful submissions. Two different decision paths. The screening median is not a desk-rejection-only median; submission-to-acceptance describes accepted papers, not all submissions. No first decision after external review or acceptance rate is given in this table. | Accepted manuscripts. 2025 calendar year. | Nature Portfolio: 2025 peer review metrics. Checked 2026-09-11. |
| JAMA | 4%. Acceptance rate (publisher-reported percentage).Definition and limitsA journal-level percentage, not a forecast for an individual manuscript. Compare only with a compatible article set, period and denominator. The page describes annual submissions but does not identify their calendar year. Research-only acceptance and all-submission acceptance use different article sets. | Research manuscripts received. Reporting period not stated; page updated July 2026. | JAMA: author information. Checked 2026-09-11. |
| JAMA | 10%. Acceptance rate (publisher-reported percentage).Definition and limitsA journal-level percentage, not a forecast for an individual manuscript. Compare only with a compatible article set, period and denominator. The page describes annual submissions but does not identify their calendar year. Research-only acceptance and all-submission acceptance use different article sets. | All submissions. Reporting period not stated; page updated July 2026. | JAMA: author information. Checked 2026-09-11. |
| JAMA | 2 days. First decision without peer review (median).Definition and limitsReceipt to the first decision for the path without external peer review. The page describes annual submissions but does not identify their calendar year. Research-only acceptance and all-submission acceptance use different article sets. | Submissions decided without external peer review. Reporting period not stated; page updated July 2026. | JAMA: author information. Checked 2026-09-11. |
| JAMA | 24 days. First decision with peer review (median).Definition and limitsReceipt to the first decision on the reviewed path, including time before reviews are returned. The page describes annual submissions but does not identify their calendar year. Research-only acceptance and all-submission acceptance use different article sets. | Submissions receiving external peer review. Reporting period not stated; page updated July 2026. | JAMA: author information. Checked 2026-09-11. |
| JAMA Oncology | 8%. Acceptance rate (publisher-reported percentage).Definition and limitsA journal-level percentage, not a forecast for an individual manuscript. Compare only with a compatible article set, period and denominator. The publisher identifies all submissions for the rate but does not state a reporting year or cohort calculation on this page. | All submissions. Reporting period not stated; page updated July 2026. | JAMA Oncology: author information. Checked 2026-09-11. |
| JAMA Oncology | 3 days. First decision without peer review (median).Definition and limitsReceipt to the first decision for the path without external peer review. The publisher identifies all submissions for the rate but does not state a reporting year or cohort calculation on this page. | Submissions decided without external peer review. Reporting period not stated; page updated July 2026. | JAMA Oncology: author information. Checked 2026-09-11. |
| JAMA Oncology | 32 days. First decision with peer review (median).Definition and limitsReceipt to the first decision on the reviewed path, including time before reviews are returned. The publisher identifies all submissions for the rate but does not state a reporting year or cohort calculation on this page. | Submissions receiving external peer review. Reporting period not stated; page updated July 2026. | JAMA Oncology: author information. Checked 2026-09-11. |
| JAMA Cardiology | 8%. Acceptance rate (publisher-reported percentage).Definition and limitsA journal-level percentage, not a forecast for an individual manuscript. Compare only with a compatible article set, period and denominator. The publisher identifies all submissions for the rate but does not state a reporting year or cohort calculation on this page. | All submissions. Reporting period not stated; page updated July 2026. | JAMA Cardiology: author information. Checked 2026-09-11. |
| JAMA Cardiology | 5 days. First decision without peer review (median).Definition and limitsReceipt to the first decision for the path without external peer review. The publisher identifies all submissions for the rate but does not state a reporting year or cohort calculation on this page. | Submissions decided without external peer review. Reporting period not stated; page updated July 2026. | JAMA Cardiology: author information. Checked 2026-09-11. |
| JAMA Cardiology | 37 days. First decision with peer review (median).Definition and limitsReceipt to the first decision on the reviewed path, including time before reviews are returned. The publisher identifies all submissions for the rate but does not state a reporting year or cohort calculation on this page. | Submissions receiving external peer review. Reporting period not stated; page updated July 2026. | JAMA Cardiology: author information. Checked 2026-09-11. |
| PLOS ONE | 26%. Acceptance rate (publisher-reported percentage).Definition and limitsA journal-level percentage, not a forecast for an individual manuscript. Compare only with a compatible article set, period and denominator. PLOS labels timings as medians and rates as average percentages. This page does not define the rate denominator or restrict first decision to externally reviewed submissions. Do not substitute the older 2023 journal-information table. | Denominator not specified on the metrics page. 2025 calendar year. | PLOS: 2025 publication metrics. Checked 2026-09-11. |
| PLOS ONE | 32 days. First decision, paths not separated (median).Definition and limitsThe publisher's overall first-decision metric. Do not relabel it as time after peer review. PLOS labels timings as medians and rates as average percentages. This page does not define the rate denominator or restrict first decision to externally reviewed submissions. Do not substitute the older 2023 journal-information table. | Publisher's first-decision dataset; review-path inclusion not specified. 2025 calendar year. | PLOS: 2025 publication metrics. Checked 2026-09-11. |
| PLOS Medicine | 4%. Acceptance rate (publisher-reported percentage).Definition and limitsA journal-level percentage, not a forecast for an individual manuscript. Compare only with a compatible article set, period and denominator. PLOS labels timings as medians and rates as average percentages. This page does not define the rate denominator or restrict first decision to externally reviewed submissions. Do not substitute the older 2023 journal-information table. | Denominator not specified on the metrics page. 2025 calendar year. | PLOS: 2025 publication metrics. Checked 2026-09-11. |
| PLOS Medicine | 67 days. First decision, paths not separated (median).Definition and limitsThe publisher's overall first-decision metric. Do not relabel it as time after peer review. PLOS labels timings as medians and rates as average percentages. This page does not define the rate denominator or restrict first decision to externally reviewed submissions. Do not substitute the older 2023 journal-information table. | Publisher's first-decision dataset; review-path inclusion not specified. 2025 calendar year. | PLOS: 2025 publication metrics. Checked 2026-09-11. |
Compare only matching definitions and populations. Screening time is not desk-rejection time. Submission-to-acceptance time describes accepted manuscripts, not all submissions.
Layer 4 · Submission requirements
A purposive reference set checked 2026-09-11. This is not a complete submission checklist.
| Journal | Article type | Requirement | Rule strength | Publisher evidence |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nature | Article | Main text: About 2,500 words for 6 pages or 4,300 for 8 pages | layout guidance | Nature formatting guide · checked 2026-09-11Definition and limitsArticles; Text. Summary paragraph plus body; final print length is editorially determined. Stage: Publication formatting; initial submission is a separate step. Effective date not established by this observation. |
| Nature | Article | Abstract: Ideally at most 200 words; referenced summary paragraph | recommendation | Nature formatting guide · checked 2026-09-11Definition and limitsArticles. Not a conventional unreferenced abstract. Stage: Publication formatting; initial submission is a separate step. Effective date not established by this observation. |
| Nature | Article | Figures and tables: 4 modest items with 6 pages; 5 or 6 with 8 pages | layout guidance | Nature formatting guide · checked 2026-09-11Definition and limitsArticles; Text. Figure size competes with text space. These are examples, not a universal cap. Stage: Publication formatting; initial submission is a separate step. Effective date not established by this observation. |
| Nature | Article | References: Typically up to 50 main-text references | recommendation | Nature formatting guide · checked 2026-09-11Definition and limitsReferences. Additional Methods and Supplementary Information references excluded. Stage: Publication formatting; initial submission is a separate step. Effective date not established by this observation. |
| Nature Communications | Article | Main text: Ideally at most 5,000 words | recommendation | Nature Communications: Article · checked 2026-09-11Definition and limitsArticle. Excludes abstract, Methods, references and figure legends. Stage: General formatting guidance; flexible initial submission. Effective date not established by this observation. |
| Nature Communications | Article | Abstract: At most 200 words; no references | limit | Nature Communications: Article · checked 2026-09-11Definition and limitsArticle. Applies to Article abstract. Stage: General formatting guidance; flexible initial submission. Effective date not established by this observation. |
| Nature Communications | Article | Figures and tables: Up to 10 figures and tables combined | conditional limit | Nature Communications: Article · checked 2026-09-11Definition and limitsArticle. For text under 2,000 words: no more than 4. Match display count to length. Stage: General formatting guidance; flexible initial submission. Effective date not established by this observation. |
| Nature Communications | Article | References: No more than 70 as a guide | recommendation | Nature Communications: Article · checked 2026-09-11Definition and limitsArticle. Not labeled an absolute limit. Stage: General formatting guidance; flexible initial submission. Effective date not established by this observation. |
| Scientific Reports | Article | Main text: 4,500 words recommended | recommendation | Scientific Reports submission guidelines · checked 2026-09-11Definition and limitsFormat of articles. Excludes abstract, Methods, references and legends; guide says most word/page limits are not strict. Stage: Article preparation; checklist distinguishes mandatory limits. Effective date not established by this observation. |
| Scientific Reports | Article | Abstract: At most 200 words; unstructured | limit | Scientific Reports submission guidelines · checked 2026-09-11Definition and limitsFormat of articles; Abstract. No references or figures. Stage: Article preparation; checklist distinguishes mandatory limits. Effective date not established by this observation. |
| Scientific Reports | Article | Figures and tables: At most 8 figures and tables combined | limit | Scientific Reports submission guidelines · checked 2026-09-11Definition and limitsManuscript. For text of 2,000 words or less, 4 or fewer is suggested. Stage: Article preparation; checklist distinguishes mandatory limits. Effective date not established by this observation. |
| Scientific Reports | Article | References: 60 references; not strictly enforced | recommendation | Scientific Reports submission guidelines · checked 2026-09-11Definition and limitsManuscript. Do not recast as an absolute cap. Stage: Article preparation; checklist distinguishes mandatory limits. Effective date not established by this observation. |
| Scientific Reports | Article | Supporting material: Submit alongside manuscript; separate files | procedure | Scientific Reports submission guidelines · checked 2026-09-11Definition and limitsSupplementary Information. Reviewed with the paper; not edited, typeset or proofed by the journal. Stage: Article preparation; checklist distinguishes mandatory limits. Effective date not established by this observation. |
| PLOS ONE | Research Article | Main text: No word-count restriction | explicitly unrestricted | PLOS ONE submission guidelines · checked 2026-09-11Definition and limitsStyle and Format: Length. Concise presentation is encouraged; abstract has a separate limit. Stage: Manuscript submission. Effective date not established by this observation. |
| PLOS ONE | Research Article | Abstract: At most 300 words | limit | PLOS ONE submission guidelines · checked 2026-09-11Definition and limitsAbstract. No citations; follow any study-specific requirements. Stage: Manuscript submission. Effective date not established by this observation. |
| PLOS ONE | Research Article | Figures and tables: No restriction on number of figures | explicitly unrestricted | PLOS ONE submission guidelines · checked 2026-09-11Definition and limitsStyle and Format: Length. The cited statement names figures, not an independent table allowance. Stage: Manuscript submission. Effective date not established by this observation. |
| PLOS ONE | Research Article | Supporting material: No restriction on amount of supporting information | explicitly unrestricted | PLOS ONE submission guidelines · checked 2026-09-11Definition and limitsStyle and Format: Length. File preparation instructions still apply. Stage: Manuscript submission. Effective date not established by this observation. |
| PLOS Medicine | Research Article | Main text: No word-count restriction | explicitly unrestricted | PLOS Medicine submission guidelines · checked 2026-09-11Definition and limitsStyle and Format: Length. The journal encourages concise reporting. Stage: Manuscript preparation; format-free initial submission available. Effective date not established by this observation. |
| PLOS Medicine | Research Article | Abstract: 300 words preferred; maximum 500 | conditional limit | PLOS Medicine submission guidelines · checked 2026-09-11Definition and limitsAbstract. Structured: Background; Methods and Findings; Conclusions. Stage: Manuscript preparation; format-free initial submission available. Effective date not established by this observation. |
| PLOS Medicine | Research Article | Figures and tables: No restriction on number of figures | explicitly unrestricted | PLOS Medicine submission guidelines · checked 2026-09-11Definition and limitsStyle and Format: Length. The source does not separately state a table cap here. Stage: Manuscript preparation; format-free initial submission available. Effective date not established by this observation. |
| PLOS Medicine | Research Article | Supporting material: No restriction on amount of supporting information | explicitly unrestricted | PLOS Medicine submission guidelines · checked 2026-09-11Definition and limitsStyle and Format: Length. Other submission and file requirements still apply. Stage: Manuscript preparation; format-free initial submission available. Effective date not established by this observation. |
| The BMJ | Research | Main text: No fixed word-count limit | explicitly unrestricted | The BMJ: Article types and preparation · checked 2026-09-11Definition and limitsResearch: Word count and style. Reported main-text count excludes abstract, references, tables, boxes and figures. Methods are not excluded by this definition. Stage: Research article preparation. Effective date not established by this observation. |
| The BMJ | Research | Abstract: 250 to 300 words; up to 400 for CONSORT or PRISMA abstracts | conditional guidance | The BMJ: Article types and preparation · checked 2026-09-11Definition and limitsResearch: Structured abstract. Structured; use the study-appropriate headings. Stage: Research article preparation. Effective date not established by this observation. |
| JAMA | Original Investigation: cohort study | Main text: At most 3,000 words | limit | JAMA Instructions for Authors · checked 2026-09-11Definition and limitsOriginal Investigation; Cohort Study. Excludes abstract, tables, figures, acknowledgments, references and online-only material, not Methods. Stage: Manuscript preparation. Effective date not established by this observation. |
| JAMA | Original Investigation: cohort study | Abstract: At most 350 words; structured | limit | JAMA Instructions for Authors · checked 2026-09-11Definition and limitsAbstracts for Reports of Original Data. Use headings for reports of original data. Stage: Manuscript preparation. Effective date not established by this observation. |
| JAMA | Original Investigation: cohort study | Figures and tables: At most 5 tables and figures combined | limit | JAMA Instructions for Authors · checked 2026-09-11Definition and limitsCohort Study. Article-type requirement. Stage: Manuscript preparation. Effective date not established by this observation. |
| JAMA | Original Investigation: cohort study | References: 50 to 75 references | published range | JAMA Instructions for Authors · checked 2026-09-11Definition and limitsCohort Study. Preserve the publisher's range; do not invent a 35-reference cap. Stage: Manuscript preparation. Effective date not established by this observation. |
| Nature Genetics | Article | Main text: At most 4,000 words | limit | Nature Genetics Content Types · checked 2026-09-11Definition and limitsArticle: Format. Excludes abstract, Methods, references and figure legends. Stage: Article preparation. Effective date not established by this observation. |
| Nature Genetics | Article | Abstract: At most 150 words; unreferenced | limit | Nature Genetics Content Types · checked 2026-09-11Definition and limitsArticle: Format. For Article, not Letter or Brief Communication. Stage: Article preparation. Effective date not established by this observation. |
| Nature Genetics | Article | Figures and tables: At most 8 figures and tables combined | limit | Nature Genetics Content Types · checked 2026-09-11Definition and limitsArticle: Format. Article-specific allowance. Stage: Article preparation. Effective date not established by this observation. |
| Nature Genetics | Article | References: Typically up to 50 | recommendation | Nature Genetics Content Types · checked 2026-09-11Definition and limitsArticle: Format. Publisher describes this as a guideline. Stage: Article preparation. Effective date not established by this observation. |
| Nature Genetics | Article | Supporting material: May accompany the article | procedure | Nature Genetics Content Types · checked 2026-09-11Definition and limitsArticle: Format. Check separate preparation instructions. Stage: Article preparation. Effective date not established by this observation. |
A recommendation is not a hard limit. An explicit absence of a restriction is not a missing field. Recheck the live source for the exact article type and submission stage.
Codebook
Columns of the acceptance-times CSV, in order. JSON rows carry the same values, with each interval nested as { median, p25, p75, n }.
slugjournalissneissnnlm_idpublisherfieldreceived_to_accepted_median_daysreceived_to_accepted_p25_daysreceived_to_accepted_p75_daysreceived_to_accepted_naccepted_to_published_median_daysaccepted_to_published_p25_daysaccepted_to_published_p75_daysaccepted_to_published_ndeposit_ratepubmed_coveragepubmed_coverage_rawpubmed_coverage_basisresearch_records_in_windowsampled_research_recordsflagsdivergence_checkedevidenceeditionmethod_versionlicenseColumns of the reported-metrics CSV, in order. JSON observations use the same values in camelCase.
idjournal_slugjournalmetriclabelvalueunitstatisticpopulationdenominator_countreporting_perioddefinitionnotepublishersource_titlesource_urlsource_locationpage_last_updatedobserved_onlimitationevidencedataset_versionlicenseColumns of the complete ledger CSV. Record Type says which layer a row belongs to; fields that do not apply to a layer are blank.
Record TypeClaim IDJournal SlugJournalArticle TypeSubmission StageObservationValueUnitStatistic or StrengthPopulation or ScopeDefinitionReporting PeriodSource TitleSource URLSource LocationObserved OnLimitation or ConditionDataset VersionLicenseColumns of the submission-requirement export on the submission specifications page and in the requirements table above.
Claim IDJournal SlugJournalArticle TypeSubmission StageRequirementValueRule StrengthScope and ConditionsSource TitleSource URLSource SectionObserved OnEffective FromDataset VersionLicenseMethod
Changelog
Requirement figures from Nature Portfolio and JAMA Network pages (22 observations for 5 journals) now remain on the pages as linked citations only. They are no longer in the complete ledger, the submission-specifications download, its evidence brief or its embeddable view. The workbook, the timeline brief and the acceptance-rate note were regenerated with worked examples from PLOS, the JCI and eLife only, and the two embeddable metric views now show PLOS, JCI, JCI Insight and eLife figures.
Removed 32 publisher figures from the downloadable data (the complete ledger, the timeline and acceptance-rate downloads, the table exports and the two embeddable views): 22 sourced from Nature Portfolio pages, whose terms restrict compiling their content into a database, and 10 sourced from JAMA Network pages, whose terms could not be read. The figures remain cited, with links, on the pages that use them.
The PubMed layer returns with 108 journals. It replaces the July 2026 v1 harvest, which counted letters and other non-research items and sampled only the most recently added records. v2 keeps research articles only, samples across every month of 2024 and 2025, gates each journal on PubMed coverage and date deposit, and was validated on 20 journals.
17 acceptance rates, shares sent for review and decision times for 6 journals, each transcribed from a publisher whose reuse terms were read and permit it.
The v1 PubMed measurements came out of the downloads until the method could be fixed.
36 publisher metric observations and 32 submission requirements, each with its source. The historical 57-journal directory, impact factors and estimated rates are not distributed.
The next edition of the acceptance times is planned for September 2027.
How to cite
Manusights (2026). Journal acceptance times from PubMed history dates, 2026 edition (Version 2026.1) [Data set]. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.23001076
The measured acceptance times and the 2014-2015 comparison are archived with a DOI; cite this for those figures. The formats below cite the whole dataset.
Manusights (2026). Journal outcomes dataset, 2026 edition [Data set]. 2026 edition: acceptance times method v2; reported metrics 2026.09.24-reported1; ledger 2026.09.25-evidence4. CC BY 4.0. https://manusights.com/resources/journal-intelligence
@misc{manusights_journal_outcomes_2026,
author = {{Manusights}},
title = {Journal outcomes dataset, 2026 edition},
year = {2026},
version = {2026 edition: acceptance times method v2; reported metrics 2026.09.24-reported1; ledger 2026.09.25-evidence4},
publisher = {Manusights},
howpublished = {\url{https://manusights.com/resources/journal-intelligence}},
note = {Data set. Licensed CC BY 4.0}
}TY - DATA AU - Manusights TI - Journal outcomes dataset, 2026 edition PY - 2026 DA - 2026/09/25 ET - 2026 edition: acceptance times method v2; reported metrics 2026.09.24-reported1; ledger 2026.09.25-evidence4 PB - Manusights UR - https://manusights.com/resources/journal-intelligence N1 - Licensed CC BY 4.0 ER -
Licence and sources
The compilation is licensed CC BY 4.0: copy, adapt and redistribute it with attribution to Manusights. The acceptance times are computed from PubMed history dates, which are public NCBI records, and Crossref metadata. Publisher figures and requirements are facts transcribed with a link to their source; the source pages remain under their publishers' terms.
2025 Peer Review Metrics table; journal-name row. 2025 calendar year.
Open official sourceEditorial Information; Prompt Decisions and Rapid Publication Timelines. Reporting period not stated; page updated July 2026.
Open official sourcePrompt Decisions and Rapid Publication Timelines. Reporting period not stated; page updated July 2026.
Open official sourcePrompt Decisions and Rapid Publication Timelines. Reporting period not stated; page updated July 2026.
Open official sourceJournal and article-level metrics; named journal panel and footnote. 2025 calendar year.
Open official sourceEvidence boundary. Publisher instructions control. Metrics are descriptive observations, not manuscript-level forecasts. Requirement observations do not cover every article type, policy, file, declaration, reporting guideline, or submission-system prompt.
Original Manusights compilation: CC BY 4.0. Third-party source material remains under its original terms. No publisher endorsement is implied. Report a correction or review the maintenance policy.
Workbook and complete ledger
Use the workbook for a journal-choice discussion or download all 14 publisher metric and requirement observations with their source conditions. No login is required.
Use the ledger
A number is decision support only after it survives a definition check. The workbook turns these checks into a record a lab, librarian, or writing center can reuse.
Name the journal, exact article type, audience, and contribution model. This dataset does not determine fit.
Keep editorial screening, first decision, reviewed decision, and final acceptance distinct.
Check whether the denominator is all submissions, research manuscripts, accepted manuscripts, or an unstated publisher dataset.
Record the reporting period separately from the date Manusights checked the source.
Preserve whether an instruction is a limit, recommendation, example, procedure, or explicit lack of restriction.
Do not fill a coverage gap with an estimate, a search snippet, or a remembered policy.
Prepared by the Manusights editorial team. Publisher and institutional instructions take precedence.
Cite this resource
Free to use and cite, with attribution. See the reuse policy for what you may republish.