Nature Cell Biology

About Nature Cell Biology

Nature Cell Biology: Journal Overview

Nature Cell Biology is a monthly journal published by Springer Nature (Nature Portfolio), headquartered in London, United Kingdom, that publishes high-quality research from all areas of cell biology. It is widely regarded as one of the leading specialist journals in the field, recognised for combining the editorial rigour of the Nature Portfolio with a remit that spans the full breadth of modern cell biology — from fundamental mechanisms of cellular organisation to disease-relevant and translational studies. According to the journal's official journal information page, its deliberately broad scope "ensures that work published reaches the widest possible audience" (source: nature.com/ncb/about, accessed October 2026).

Nature Cell Biology's standing is reflected in its citation metrics. According to the journal's official metrics page, its Journal Impact Factor is 22.7 (2025), with a 5-year Journal Impact Factor of 23.0 (2025) (source: nature.com/ncb/journal-impact, accessed October 2026). These figures place it among the most-cited journals dedicated specifically to cell biology. The journal's speed metrics are also published on the same page: a median of 8 days from submission to first editorial decision, and a median of 260 days from submission to acceptance (2025 figures).

Like its sister journals in the Nature Portfolio, Nature Cell Biology operates an editorial model built around full-time professional editors rather than an external editorial board of academics. The journal states that "all editorial decisions are made by a team of full-time professional editors" — each with a research background in cell biology or a closely related discipline — who handle manuscripts from submission through decision (source: nature.com/ncb/about). The current Chief Editor is Christina Kary, PhD, who has led the journal since 2019 (source: nature.com/ncb/about-the-editors).

The journal is published in hybrid form: authors of primary research articles can choose either the traditional subscription route or immediate gold open access on payment of an article processing charge. The official gold open access APC for Nature Cell Biology is £9,390 / $12,850 / €10,850 — though readers should verify the current figure on the journal's official publishing-options page, as APCs change over time (source: nature.com/ncb/submission-guidelines/publishing-options, accessed October 2026).

History of Nature Cell Biology

Nature Cell Biology was launched in 1999, entering a scientific landscape the journal's own anniversary editorial describes vividly: the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine that year had gone to Günter Blobel, "a distinguished cell biologist", for discovering that proteins carry intrinsic signals governing their transport and localisation in the cell; Dolly the sheep was back in the news; and the ethics of research touching on human development and the then-nascent field of human pluripotent stem cells were hotly debated (source: "Celebrating 20 years of cell biology", nature.com/articles/s41556-018-0262-5, 2018).

The journal's founding mission was set out in its first editorial, published as Nat. Cell Biol. 1, E1–E2 (1999): to provide "a new interdisciplinary forum designed to foster the exchange of ideas between all areas of cell biology". That editorial argued that understanding how cells function and communicate with each other is one of biology's great challenges, and that unravelling the fundamental molecular processes responsible defines the core of cell biology — setting the journal's scope to encompass cell biology in the broadest sense (source: "Celebrating 20 years of cell biology", nature.com).

Nature Cell Biology arrived as part of the rapid expansion of the Nature-branded research journal family in the late 1990s, when the portfolio was establishing discipline-specific titles alongside the flagship multidisciplinary journal Nature. From the outset it was positioned as the portfolio's home for primary cell biology research — a venue for substantial, mechanistically grounded studies that might otherwise have been scattered across biochemistry, developmental biology, immunology, and cancer journals.

In 2009, the journal marked its tenth anniversary with an editorial reflecting on how the field had evolved ("A decade of Nature Cell Biology", nature.com). The anniversary piece noted that the areas named in the founding editorial — membrane traffic, cytoskeletal dynamics, adhesion, apoptosis, cell division, nuclear organisation and signal transduction — remained at the heart of the journal's scope a decade on, while the rate of discovery had been accelerated by technological breakthroughs in imaging and high-throughput genomic and proteomic approaches. A web collection of papers from the decade's run documented the diversity of subject areas covered (source: "A decade of Nature Cell Biology", nature.com/articles/ncb1209-1389, 2009).

In 2018, the journal celebrated twenty years with a special Focus, "Celebrating 20 years of cell biology", reflecting on progress in cell biological research and the evolution of the journal as it entered its third decade (source: nature.com/collections, 20th anniversary focus, 2018).

In 2024, the journal marked twenty-five years since its launch with another commissioned anniversary programme, "Celebrating 25 years of cell biology", which looked back at landmark biological discoveries while also addressing forward-looking themes such as sustainable practice in the lab, the role of cell biologists in tackling climate change, and mentoring the next generation of cell scientists (source: nature.com/ncb/collections, 25th anniversary focus, 2024).

Across more than 25 years, the journal's remit has grown alongside the field: areas such as autophagy, mechanobiology, phase separation, organelle contact sites, cellular senescence, and stem cell-based embryo models have moved from frontier topics to core parts of its published content — a trajectory visible in the journal's recent cross-journal Collections on topics including cellular senescence, cell death and inflammatory signalling, and stem cell-based embryo models (source: nature.com/ncb, October 2026).

Leadership and Editorial Team

Nature Cell Biology does not have an external editorial board. All editorial decisions are made by a team of full-time professional editors employed by Springer Nature, each with doctoral or postdoctoral research experience in cell biology or a related discipline (source: nature.com/ncb/about).

The current Chief Editor is Christina Kary, PhD. She obtained her PhD in 2010 from the University of Maryland, where her doctoral work with Eric Baehrecke focused on the role of autophagy during cell death in Drosophila. She then completed a Jane Coffin Childs postdoctoral fellowship with Susan Mango at Harvard University, studying how the pioneer factor PHA-4/FoxA binds DNA to specify cell fate during C. elegans organ formation. Before moving into scientific publishing, she worked as an editor at Genes & Development and at PLOS Biology. She joined Nature Cell Biology in 2016 and became Chief Editor in 2019, and is based in the New York office (source: nature.com/ncb/about-the-editors).

Note on editorial leadership: some third-party sources reference other names for this role. The official editors page accessed in October 2026 lists Christina Kary as the current Chief Editor, and this profile follows that authoritative source.

The journal's Senior Editors, as listed on the official editors page (source: nature.com/ncb/about-the-editors, accessed October 2026), are:

• Sabrya Carim, PhD (London) — PhD 2017, University of Manchester, on phosphoinositide homeostasis during cytokinesis with Martin Lowe; postdoctoral work on contractile ring dynamics with Gilles Hickson at the Université de Montréal. Joined Scientific Reports in 2021 and Nature Cell Biology in January 2023.
• Melina Casadio, PhD (New York) — PhD 2012, Rockefeller University, on mechanisms of severe herpes simplex virus-1 infection in children with Jean-Laurent Casanova; postdoctoral research on glioblastoma development with Viviane Tabar at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. Scientific Editor at the Journal of Cell Biology from 2014, joined Nature Cell Biology in June 2021, served as Locum Chief Editor of Nature Structural & Molecular Biology from January 2025, and returned to Nature Cell Biology as Senior Editor in September 2025.
• Daryl David, PhD (Berlin) — PhD, University of Toronto, on dynamic cytoskeletal networks and cell polarity during Drosophila embryogenesis with Tony Harris; EMBO Long-Term Fellowship postdoc with Pascale Cossart at the Pasteur Institute on Listeria monocytogenes virulence factors and their host cell targets. Joined Nature Communications in February 2018 and Nature Cell Biology in September 2021; also an advisory editor for npj Biological Physics and Mechanics.
• Petra Gross, Dr. rer. nat. (London) — doctorate from the University of Heidelberg; postdoctoral fellowships at the University of Toronto and the Marie Curie Research Institute; former Editor of Trends in Biotechnology and Reviews/Senior Editor at the Journal of Cell Science (2010–2024). Joined Nature Cell Biology and Nature Genetics in January 2024, handling front-half and commissioned content across both journals.
• Stylianos Lefkopoulos, PhD (Berlin) — PhD 2021, University of Freiburg (work with Eirini Trompouki at the Max Planck Institute of Immunobiology & Epigenetics) on innate immune signals triggered by transposable element transcripts in haematopoietic stem and progenitor cell development; postdoctoral studies on metabolic pathways in haematopoietic stem cell development with Trista North at Boston Children's Hospital. Joined Nature Cell Biology in December 2021.
• Zhe Wang, PhD (Shanghai) — PhD 2013, Purdue University, on the role of SHARPIN in inflammation and autoimmunity with Harm HogenEsch; postdoctoral work on host resistance to cancer immunotherapy with Patrick Hwu at MD Anderson Cancer Center; previously scientific editor at the Journal of Experimental Medicine. Joined Nature Cell Biology in January 2018.

Editorial responsibilities rotate across the team, with editors handling submissions in areas matching their research expertise. The journal also commissions front-half content — News & Views, Reviews, Perspectives and Comments — through dedicated commissioning editors.

Aims & Scope

According to the journal's official aims and scope page, "Nature Cell Biology publishes papers of the highest quality from all areas of cell biology, encouraging those that shed light on the mechanisms underlying fundamental cell biological processes" (source: nature.com/ncb/aims, accessed October 2026).

The scope is deliberately broad and mechanism-focused. The official page lists specific areas of interest that include, but are not limited to: autophagy; cancer biology; cell adhesion and migration; cell cycle and growth; cell death; chromatin and epigenetics; clinical trials and pre-clinical studies; cytoskeletal dynamics; developmental biology; DNA replication and repair; mechanisms of human disease; mechanobiology; membrane traffic and dynamics; metabolism; nuclear organisation and dynamics; organelle biology; proteolysis and quality control; RNA biology; signal transduction; and stem cell biology (source: nature.com/ncb/aims).

Several features of this scope are worth noting. First, the journal explicitly solicits mechanistic papers — studies that illuminate how fundamental cell biological processes work, not merely descriptive observations. Second, the inclusion of clinical trials, pre-clinical studies, and mechanisms of human disease reflects the journal's commitment to research that connects cell biology to medicine, alongside its core fundamental remit. Third, the scope evolves with the field: emerging areas such as mechanobiology and membrane contact sites now appear as named interests, and the journal runs open submission Collections on frontier topics such as cellular senescence, cell death and inflammatory signalling, and stem cell-based embryo models (source: nature.com/ncb, October 2026).

In practice, the journal seeks studies that represent a conceptual or technical advance likely to influence thinking in the field, with the visibility of publication in a Nature Portfolio journal warranted over a specialist venue — consistent with the portfolio-wide publication criteria that a paper should represent "an advance in understanding likely to influence thinking in the field" (source: nature.com/ncb/editorial-policies/peer-review).

Editorial Process and Peer Review

Nature Cell Biology follows the standard Nature Portfolio editorial workflow, documented on the journal's official editorial policies pages (source: nature.com/ncb/editorial-policies/peer-review).

Initial editorial assessment. All submitted manuscripts are read by the editorial staff. To save time for authors and peer reviewers, only those papers that seem most likely to meet the journal's editorial criteria are sent for formal external review. Papers judged by the editors to be of insufficient general interest or otherwise inappropriate are rejected promptly without external review — although these decisions may be based on informal advice from specialists in the field.

Formal peer review. Manuscripts judged to be of potential interest to the readership are sent for formal review, typically to two or three reviewers — sometimes more if special advice is needed, for example on statistics or a particular technique. Reviewers are asked to assess both the technical validity of the work and whether its significance warrants publication in the journal. The publication criteria require that a paper represent an advance in understanding likely to influence thinking in the field, with strong evidence for its conclusions, and that there be a discernible reason why the work deserves the visibility of a Nature Portfolio journal rather than the best of the specialist journals.

Editorial decision. Based on the reviewers' advice, the editors decide among several outcomes: accept (with or without editorial revisions); invite the authors to revise the manuscript to address specific concerns before a final decision; reject but indicate that further work might justify a resubmission; or reject outright, typically on grounds of specialist interest, lack of novelty, insufficient conceptual advance, or major technical problems. Editorial decisions are not a simple count of reviewer votes — the editors weigh the strength of the arguments raised by each reviewer and by the authors (source: nature.com/ncb/editorial-policies/peer-review).

Anonymity and transparency. The journal offers double-anonymised peer review as an option at submission (source: nature.com/ncb/for-authors). Reviewer identities are not disclosed to authors unless a referee voluntarily signs their report. Springer Nature also asks that peer reviewers not upload manuscripts into generative AI tools, to protect confidential and proprietary content (source: nature.com/ncb/editorial-policies/peer-review).

Preprints. The journal has an explicit preprint policy and supports the In Review preprint service; posting a preprint is compatible with submission, and authors are encouraged to check the detailed preprint guidance before submitting (source: nature.com/ncb/for-authors).

Transfers and appeals. Manuscripts declined by Nature Cell Biology may be offered transfer to another journal in the Nature Portfolio, with reviewer reports carried over where appropriate — reviewer identities are also transferred for manuscript transfers between Nature Portfolio journals with in-house editors. A formal appeals route exists for authors who wish to challenge a decision (source: nature.com/ncb/for-authors; nature.com/ncb/editorial-policies/peer-review).

Speed. The journal publishes its own speed metrics: the median time from submission to first editorial decision is 8 days, and the median time from submission to acceptance is 260 days (source: nature.com/ncb/journal-impact, 2025 figures). The 8-day first-decision median reflects the journal's policy of prompt desk assessment; the longer acceptance median reflects full peer review and revision cycles.

Impact and Metrics

The following metrics are published on Nature Cell Biology's official journal metrics page (nature.com/ncb/journal-impact, accessed October 2026). Years refer to the metric year as displayed by the journal.

Springer Nature is a signatory of the San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment (DORA), and the journal's metrics page notes that citation measures such as the 2-year Journal Impact Factor are not necessarily measures of journal quality — authors and readers are encouraged to consider a range of metrics when evaluating journals (source: nature.com/ncb/journal-impact). Article-level metrics (citations, downloads, online attention) are available on each individual article page for papers published from 2010 onward.

Acceptance rate: Nature Cell Biology does not publish an official acceptance rate. No acceptance-rate figure appears on the journal's official pages; any figure found elsewhere is unofficial and should be treated with caution.

Submission Guidelines

Nature Cell Biology's submission guidelines walk authors through five stages: what to know before initial submission, preparing the manuscript, the editorial and peer review process, formatting after acceptance in principle, and production (source: nature.com/ncb/for-authors). Key points from the official guidance:

• Submission portal: Manuscripts are submitted through the journal's online manuscript submission system (mts-ncb.nature.com), linked from the for-authors pages. Authors must register for an account if they do not have one.
• Presubmission enquiries: The journal accepts presubmission enquiries, so authors can check whether their manuscript is likely to be of interest before preparing a full submission.
• Content types and formats (source: nature.com/ncb/content):
  • Article — a substantial novel research study, often involving several techniques or approaches. Main text up to 5,000 words (excluding abstract, Methods, references and figure legends); abstract up to 150 words, unreferenced; 5–8 main display items plus up to 10 Extended Data figures; up to 50 references as a guideline. Peer reviewed.
  • Resource — a large dataset of broad utility, interest and significance to the community. Main text up to 5,000 words; abstract 100–150 words; 6–8 main figures plus up to 10 Extended Data figures; up to 70 references. Peer reviewed.
  • Technical Report — primary research data on a new technique likely to be influential. Format broadly similar to an Article, though may be shorter; up to 60 references. Peer reviewed.
  • Correspondence — a forum for comment on issues relevant to the journal's community; not for presentation of research data. 300–800 words, 1 display item, up to 10 references. Peer-reviewed at the editors' discretion.
  • Review — an authoritative, balanced and scholarly survey of recent developments in a field. 3,000–4,000 words, up to 100 references. Peer reviewed.
  • Perspective — scholarly reviews and discussions too technical for a Comment but narrower or more viewpoint-driven than a Review. Up to 3,000 words, up to 70 references. Peer reviewed.
  • Comment — flexible format on scientific, ethical, societal or policy issues surrounding research; topical, readable and provocative. Typically 1–3 pages, up to 15 references. Peer review at the editors' discretion.
  • Matters Arising — exceptionally interesting and timely scientific comments and clarifications on original research papers published in Nature Cell Biology, via a specialist submission process.
  • News & Views and Obituaries — commissioned by the editors; not peer reviewed (unsolicited News & Views contributions are not normally considered).
• Initial formatting: The journal provides specific initial-formatting requirements that manuscripts must meet before submission; detailed final formatting is only required after acceptance in principle.
• Double-anonymised peer review: Available as an option at submission; authors should check the published requirements if they wish to participate.
• Preprints: Supported — the journal's preprint policy and the In Review service allow authors to post preprints alongside submission.
• ORCID: Before final acceptance, corresponding authors are asked to link their ORCID identifier to their manuscript tracking system account.
• Writing and language: Authors are directed to guidance on manuscript accuracy, readability, and language support services.

Non-primary article types (Reviews, Comments, News & Views and similar) should not include original, previously unpublished results and may only contain minimal new supporting findings; these formats are not eligible for gold open access and are published via the subscription route (source: nature.com/ncb/content).

Open Access and APC

Nature Cell Biology is a hybrid journal: authors of primary research articles (Articles, Resources, Technical Reports) can choose between two publishing routes after acceptance (source: nature.com/ncb/submission-guidelines/publishing-options):

1. Traditional subscription publishing — no author-side fee; the article is available to subscribers and pay-per-view readers.
2. Gold open access — the authors or their funders pay an article processing charge (APC), and the final published article is freely available to everyone under a Creative Commons licence permitting reuse and sharing.

APC figure: According to the journal's official publishing-options page, the APC to publish gold open access in Nature Cell Biology is £9,390 / $12,850 / €10,850. This figure changes over time and should be verified on the journal's official publishing-options page before any financial planning (source: nature.com/ncb/submission-guidelines/publishing-options, accessed October 2026).

Springer Nature offers institutional open access agreements that can cover APCs for affiliated authors, as well as open access funding and support services — authors are advised to check whether their institution participates and whether the journal is included (source: nature.com open access support pages). Springer Nature's APC waiver and discount policies apply to authors in qualifying circumstances; discretionary waiver requests are considered on a case-by-case basis at the point of submission (source: nature.com open access policy pages). VAT or local taxes may apply to the APC depending on the billing country.

Important limitation: Non-primary research articles (e.g. Reviews, Comments, News & Views) are not eligible for gold open access and can only be published via the traditional subscription-based route — these formats must not contain original, previously unpublished research findings (source: nature.com/ncb/submission-guidelines/publishing-options).

Springer Nature journals also operate under a compliant self-archiving policy for authors with funder open-access mandates, and the journal's guidance directs authors to check their individual funder requirements (such as Plan S / NIH public access provisions) before choosing a route (source: nature.com open access policy pages).

Nature Cell Biology in the Nature Portfolio

Nature Cell Biology is part of Nature Portfolio, Springer Nature's family of journals, which spans the flagship multidisciplinary journal Nature, the open-access multidisciplinary Nature Communications and the Communications series, the Nature Reviews titles (including Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology), and discipline-specific research journals such as Nature Genetics, Nature Structural & Molecular Biology and Nature Medicine. Within this family, Nature Cell Biology is the portfolio's dedicated primary-research home for cell biology.

The portfolio structure benefits authors: manuscripts declined by Nature Cell Biology may be offered transfer to a sister journal (for example Communications Biology or another Nature Portfolio title) with reviewer reports carried over where appropriate, avoiding the need to start peer review from scratch. Conversely, the journal itself receives transfers of manuscripts whose significance or scope suits cell biology better than their original venue (sources: nature.com; nature.com/ncb/for-authors).

Key Facts

Frequently Asked Questions

What is Nature Cell Biology?

Nature Cell Biology is a monthly peer-reviewed scientific journal published by Springer Nature (Nature Portfolio). It publishes high-quality research from all areas of cell biology, with an emphasis on studies that shed light on the mechanisms underlying fundamental cell biological processes. All editorial decisions are made by full-time professional editors (sources: nature.com/ncb/about; nature.com/ncb/aims).

When was Nature Cell Biology founded?

The journal was launched in 1999. Its founding editorial appeared as Nat. Cell Biol. 1, E1–E2 (1999), setting out its mission as "a new interdisciplinary forum designed to foster the exchange of ideas between all areas of cell biology" (source: "Celebrating 20 years of cell biology", nature.com/articles/s41556-018-0262-5).

What is the impact factor of Nature Cell Biology?

According to the journal's official metrics page, the Journal Impact Factor is 22.7 (2025), with a 5-year Journal Impact Factor of 23.0 (2025). Other 2025 metrics include an Immediacy Index of 4.1, an Article Influence Score of 9.925, and an SJR of 9.085. Metrics are updated annually — check nature.com/ncb/journal-impact for current values.

Who is the Editor-in-Chief of Nature Cell Biology?

The current Chief Editor is Christina Kary, PhD, who has led the journal since 2019. She earned her PhD in 2010 from the University of Maryland (autophagy and cell death in Drosophila), completed a Jane Coffin Childs postdoctoral fellowship at Harvard University, and previously worked as an editor at Genes & Development and PLOS Biology before joining Nature Cell Biology in 2016 (source: nature.com/ncb/about-the-editors).

What does Nature Cell Biology publish?

Primary research formats include Articles, Resources and Technical Reports, plus Correspondence, Reviews, Perspectives, Comments, Matters Arising, and commissioned News & Views. The scope covers autophagy, cancer biology, cell adhesion and migration, cell cycle and growth, cell death, chromatin and epigenetics, cytoskeletal dynamics, developmental biology, DNA replication and repair, mechanobiology, membrane traffic, metabolism, nuclear organisation, organelle biology, RNA biology, signal transduction, stem cell biology, mechanisms of human disease, and clinical/pre-clinical studies (sources: nature.com/ncb/content; nature.com/ncb/aims).

How does peer review work at Nature Cell Biology?

All manuscripts are first read by the editorial staff; only those deemed likely to meet the journal's criteria are sent for formal external review, typically to two or three reviewers. Editors then decide among accept, revise, reject-with-resubmission-invited, or reject outright, based on the reviewers' advice. Double-anonymised peer review is available as an option at submission (sources: nature.com/ncb/editorial-policies/peer-review; nature.com/ncb/for-authors).

How long does Nature Cell Biology take to make a decision?

The journal's published speed metrics (2025) show a median of 8 days from submission to first editorial decision, and a median of 260 days from submission to acceptance. The short first-decision time reflects prompt desk assessment; the longer acceptance time covers full peer review and revisions (source: nature.com/ncb/journal-impact).

What is the acceptance rate of Nature Cell Biology?

The journal does not publish an official acceptance rate. No acceptance-rate figure appears on its official pages, so any figure found elsewhere is unofficial and should be treated with caution.

Is Nature Cell Biology open access, and what does it cost?

Nature Cell Biology is a hybrid journal. Authors of primary research articles can choose subscription publishing (no author-side fee) or gold open access. The official gold OA APC is £9,390 / $12,850 / €10,850 — verify the current figure on the journal's official publishing-options page, as it changes over time. Reviews, Comments and News & Views are not eligible for gold open access (source: nature.com/ncb/submission-guidelines/publishing-options).

Can I post my manuscript as a preprint before submitting?

Yes. The journal has an explicit preprint policy and supports the In Review preprint service; posting a preprint is compatible with submission. Authors should check the detailed preprint guidance before submitting (source: nature.com/ncb/for-authors).

Does Nature Cell Biology accept presubmission enquiries?

Yes. The journal accepts presubmission enquiries, allowing authors to check whether their manuscript is likely to be of interest before preparing a full submission (source: nature.com/ncb/for-authors).

Where do I submit a manuscript to Nature Cell Biology?

Manuscripts are submitted through the journal's online submission system at mts-ncb.nature.com, linked from the "For Authors" pages. Authors need to register for an account if they do not already have one, and corresponding authors are asked to link their ORCID before final acceptance (source: nature.com/ncb/for-authors).

Profile compiled October 2026 from official Nature and Springer Nature sources listed below. Metrics, APCs and policies change over time — always verify current figures on the journal's official pages before citing or acting on them.