Nature Publishing Group

Nature Publishing Group

Type	Subsidiary
Headquarters	London
Industry	Publishing
Products	Scientific journals, databases, services

Nature Publishing Group (NPG) is a British publisher of scientific journals, magazines, databases, and services across the life, physical, chemical, and applied sciences. It is a part of Springer Nature, a global research, educational, and professional publisher. NPG is best known for its flagship publication, Nature, a prestigious weekly multidisciplinary journal first published in 1869.

History

Nature Publishing Group was originally founded as a standalone entity, but it has undergone several changes in ownership and has expanded through acquisitions of other publishers and the launch of new scientific publications. In 2015, NPG became part of Springer Nature after the merger of Springer Science+Business Media and the majority of Macmillan Science and Education, which was the parent company of NPG.

Publications

NPG publishes journals, online databases, and services across the science, technical, and medical fields. The group has expanded to include a number of journals that are highly regarded in their respective fields, including Nature Genetics, Nature Medicine, Nature Biotechnology, and Nature Methods. Each journal aims to provide the scientific community with timely research, reviews, and news related to its specific field.

Services

Apart from journals, NPG also provides several scientific services, including Nature Research Editing Service and Nature Index, which tracks the affiliations of high-quality scientific articles. These services aim to support the scientific community in publishing and tracking research output.

Impact

The publications from Nature Publishing Group are widely respected for their editorial excellence and integrity. Nature and its sister journals often have high impact factors, reflecting the importance and relevance of the research they publish. This has established NPG as a leader in scientific publishing, influencing research trends and policies worldwide.

Controversies

Like many publishers, NPG has faced criticism regarding its pricing and access policies, particularly in relation to journal subscription costs, which some in the academic community view as prohibitively high. This has contributed to the broader debate on open access and the future of scientific publishing.

See Also

• Scientific publishing
• Open access (publishing)
• Academic journal
• Impact factor