Nature Energy

About Nature Energy

Journal Overview

Nature Energy is a monthly, online-only peer-reviewed journal published by Nature Portfolio (Springer Nature) that covers the full span of energy research — from the generation, storage, distribution and management of energy to the needs and demands of different energy actors and the impacts that energy technologies and policies have on societies. Launched in January 2016, it has become one of the most selective and influential venues in the field, publishing work across both the natural sciences and the social and behavioural sciences, as well as economics. The journal's electronic ISSN is 2058-7546 and its officially recommended abbreviation for abstracting and indexing is Nat. Energy.

What distinguishes Nature Energy from other energy journals is its deliberate breadth. Rather than concentrating only on materials or device engineering, the journal positions itself as a forum where researchers working on solar cells, batteries, hydrogen systems, carbon capture, energy economics, energy policy, energy justice and energy access can all encounter one another's work. Its official journal description states that it publishes "the best research on energy, from its generation and distribution to the impacts energy technologies and policies have on societies." All editorial decisions are made by a team of full-time professional in-house editors — there is no external academic editorial board, a hallmark of the Nature-branded journal model that gives the journal editorial independence and consistent standards across topics.

Within its first decade the journal has risen to the very top of energy publishing by citation measures. Its official journal metrics page reports a 2025 Journal Impact Factor of 70.1 — placing it among the highest-cited journals in any field. Over 50% of the articles it published in 2025 were related to one or more of the United Nations' 17 Sustainable Development Goals, reflecting the journal's deep connection to the climate and energy-transition agenda.

History of Nature Energy

The story of Nature Energy begins in the mid-2010s, a period when global attention on clean energy was intensifying sharply. The Paris Agreement on climate change was adopted in December 2015, and research funding and industrial investment in solar power, batteries, hydrogen and related technologies were growing at a rapid pace. Recognising that energy had become a defining scientific and societal challenge of the century — and that no existing journal captured its full technical-to-societal spectrum — Nature Portfolio launched Nature Energy with its first issue in January 2016.

Key members of the editorial team joined before launch. Changjun Zhang — who would later become Chief Editor — joined the launch team in August 2015 as an editor focused on energy storage, and Senior Editor James Gallagher arrived in September 2015. Their backgrounds in materials chemistry, catalysis and energy systems signalled the journal's intention to be serious about both fundamental science and technology. The launch timing put the journal squarely at the start of the most transformative decade in modern energy history: the years that followed saw solar become the cheapest source of new electricity in much of the world, lithium-ion battery costs collapse, electric vehicles go mainstream, and hydrogen and carbon capture re-enter the spotlight.

The journal grew quickly in stature. Its first impact factor came in 2017 at 46.859 — an extraordinary debut for a new title — and the figure climbed over the years, reaching 67.439 in 2021 and then rising to a record 70.1 for 2025 (released in the 2026 Journal Citation Reports). This trajectory is exceptionally rare for a journal founded less than a decade earlier, and it cemented Nature Energy's position as the flagship Nature-branded journal for energy research.

A leadership transition marked the journal's second act: in April 2024, Changjun Zhang became Chief Editor, guiding the journal into its tenth year. In January 2026, Nature Energy celebrated its 10th anniversary with a special issue featuring thirteen expert articles reflecting on a decade of energy research and looking ahead at how the energy transition may unfold next — covering themes such as grid integration, batteries, hydrogen, electrocatalysis, carbon capture and the geopolitics of Europe's fossil-fuel exit. The anniversary made explicit what the journal's publishing record already showed: that Nature Energy had become a central record of the energy transition itself.

Leadership and Editorial Team

Like all Nature-branded titles, Nature Energy has no external editorial board. Instead, every manuscript decision is made by a dedicated team of full-time professional editors with research backgrounds relevant to the journal's scope. This in-house model is deliberate: it ensures that peer review is fair, consistent and rigorous, and that editors remain independent of the academic communities they serve. The editors handle manuscripts across energy storage, energy conversion, fuels, catalysis, systems, policy and social-science topics, applying the same high editorial standards to each.

The Chief Editor is Dr Changjun (Alex) Zhang, based in the London office of Springer Nature. Alex joined Nature Research in April 2013 as an editor for Nature Communications, where he handled a broad portfolio of manuscripts spanning materials chemistry and energy research. In August 2015 he transitioned to the launch team of Nature Energy, with a primary editorial focus on energy storage. He has served as Chief Editor since April 2024. He received his PhD in surface catalysis from Queen's University Belfast and subsequently pursued postdoctoral research at the University of Cambridge, expanding into energy production and storage.

The Senior Editor is Dr James Gallagher, also based in London. James arrived at Nature Energy in September 2015. After receiving an MSc in Natural Sciences (Chemistry) from the University of Cambridge, he moved to the University of Liverpool for his PhD, where he developed high-throughput screens to evaluate Fischer-Tropsch catalysts for producing liquid fuels from syngas. During postdoctoral work at Argonne National Laboratory in the United States, he used synchrotron X-ray techniques to study new catalysts for energy applications, with a focus on biomass and alkane transformations. His research background in catalysis for fuels and energy applications underpins the journal's strength in conversion technologies and chemical routes to clean energy.

The journal's official pages emphasise that the editorial team is supported by high standards of copy-editing and production, swift publication workflows and editorial independence — the core values that the Nature brand promises across its portfolio.

Aims & Scope

The following is a paraphrased summary of the journal's official aims and scope (as published on nature.com), not a verbatim reproduction. The journal describes energy provision as one of the central questions of modern society: where energy comes from, how it is used, and whether supply can meet demand. Addressing these questions, the journal notes, is essential work for many fields of research — spanning the natural sciences, the social and behavioural sciences and economics — and is the focus of multi-billion-dollar global industries.

Published monthly, Nature Energy is dedicated to exploring all aspects of this ongoing conversation: the generation and storage of energy, its distribution and management, the needs and demands of the different actors involved, and the effects that energy technologies and policies have on societies. The journal expresses a particular interest in studies that advance knowledge and inform the development of next-generation technologies and solutions, and it aims to provide a forum where all parties active at the frontiers of energy can come together and learn about the different facets of the sector.

In practice, this scope covers an unusually wide topical range for a single journal. Published research spans solar energy, wind energy, geothermal and hydroelectric power, energy harvesting devices, nuclear power, fuel cells, hydrogen energy, transportation fuels, bioenergy and biofuels, batteries, supercapacitors, electrocatalysis and photocatalysis, carbon capture and storage, energy grids and networks — and extends into energy economics and finance, energy policy, energy security, energy access, energy justice, and energy and behaviour. The journal also publishes non-primary content — including Comments, Perspectives, Reviews, News & Views, Features and Correspondence — drawn from across the full range of disciplines concerned with energy.

Like all Nature-branded journals, it is characterised by a dedicated team of professional editors, a fair and rigorous peer-review process, high standards of copy-editing and production, swift publication and editorial independence.

Editorial Process and Peer Review

Nature Energy uses the standard Nature Portfolio peer-review model. Manuscripts are first assessed by the in-house professional editors, who decide whether a paper should be sent for formal peer review. Because the editors are full-time staff with research expertise rather than external academics, initial triage is informed by a broad view of the field and by consistency with the journal's published standards. Articles that are sent out undergo rigorous external peer review before any publication decision is made.

The journal is transparent about its editorial speeds. Its official journal metrics page publishes the following turnaround statistics:

• Submission to first editorial decision: median of 4 days
• Submission to acceptance: median of 149 days

The four-day median to first decision reflects the rapid initial editorial assessment that the journal applies to every submission, including quick desk decisions for manuscripts that do not fit the journal's criteria. The median 149 days from submission to acceptance covers the full peer-review, revision and re-review cycle typical of a highly selective journal. These figures are updated on the journal metrics page and reflect the journal's official reporting.

Notably, the journal does not publish an official acceptance rate. Prospective authors should be aware that no acceptance-rate figure appears on the journal's nature.com pages; third-party estimates found elsewhere on the web are not official and should not be treated as authoritative. What is clear from the journal's published standards is that it is extremely selective, accepting only work it judges to be of the highest significance for the energy field.

The journal also discloses its policy on artificial intelligence in publishing: Nature Portfolio journals occasionally use internal Springer Nature-developed AI tools to support the generation of accessory content such as summary points, which are always edited and fact-checked by authors or editors. Any substantive use of AI beyond accessory content is declared on an individual article basis.

Impact and Metrics

Nature Energy is among the most cited journals in energy research, and its official journal metrics page presents a full suite of citation, speed and usage metrics. The table below reproduces the metrics exactly as displayed on the journal's official metrics page (nature.com/nenergy/journal-impact), with the metric year as stated there:

These figures tell a story of exceptional influence. A Journal Impact Factor of 70.1 means that, on average, recent articles attracted a very high number of citations in the measurement year — a level reached by only a handful of journals worldwide. The Article Influence Score of 18.985 indicates that the average article is cited nearly nineteen times more than the average article across all journals, and the SJR of 20.769 reflects citations weighted by the prestige of the citing journals. The download count of nearly 4.5 million in a single year shows that the journal's readership extends far beyond a narrow specialist audience.

Springer Nature is a signatory of the San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment (DORA), and the journal's metrics page carries a DORA statement reminding readers that citation measures such as the 2-year Journal Impact Factor are not necessarily measures of journal quality — a small number of highly cited articles can disproportionately influence such averages — and that authors and readers should consider a range of metrics when evaluating journals. Article-level metrics, including downloads, citations and online attention, are available on each article page.

Submission Guidelines

Manuscripts are submitted through the journal's online submission system (mts-nenergy.nature.com). Before submitting, the journal instructs authors to read its submission guidelines carefully. The journal considers the following content types, with detailed formatting rules published on its Content Types page:

• Article — a substantial novel research study, often involving several techniques or approaches. Format: up to 3,000 words (excluding abstract, Methods, references and figure legends); abstract of up to 150 words, unreferenced; up to 8 display items (figures and/or tables); structured with an unheaded Introduction, main text with topical subheadings, a Discussion/Conclusions section without subheadings, and a Methods section; references typically up to 50; includes received and accepted dates; supplementary information permitted; peer reviewed.
• Analysis — a research-format contribution for analytical, modelling, techno-economic or data-driven studies.
• Resource — a contribution presenting a valuable resource to the community, such as a dataset, tool or platform.
• Correspondence — short-form contributions (non-primary; not eligible for open access).
• Review — an authoritative overview of a field (non-primary; not eligible for open access).
• Perspective — a forward-looking expert viewpoint (non-primary; not eligible for open access).
• Comment — discussion of topical issues, often policy-related (non-primary; not eligible for open access).
• Consensus Statement — a statement representing agreement among a group of experts.
• Matters Arising — the journal's format for challenging or extending previously published work, with a specialist submission process.
• Commissioned or editor-handled formats include News & Views, Feature, Policy Brief and World View (non-primary; subscription route only).

The journal explicitly notes that the starred non-primary content types (Correspondence, Review, Perspective, Comment, News & Views, Feature, Policy Brief, World View) should not include original, previously unpublished research findings and may contain only minimal new supporting data; as non-primary articles they are not eligible for open access and can only be published via the subscription route.

Authors are also encouraged to consult the journal's full submission guidelines on its nature.com pages for requirements on manuscript structure, figure preparation, data availability and reporting standards before submitting.

Open Access and APC

Nature Energy is a hybrid journal. Since January 2021, authors submitting primary research articles — Articles, Analyses and Resources — have been able to choose between the traditional subscription-based publishing route and immediate gold open access, the latter funded by an article processing charge (APC) typically paid by the authors' institutions or funding bodies. Non-primary research content (Reviews, Comments, News & Views and similar formats) is not eligible for open access and is published only via the subscription route.

This hybrid model was introduced as part of broader changes in scientific publishing aimed at increasing the readership, reach and impact of published research. For authors whose funders require immediate open access — for example under Plan S principles or the NIH public access policy — the journal directs them to the gold open access route, noting that the subscription model is not suitable where funders require no embargo.

APC figure: the journal's own nature.com pages (the publishing-models page and the journal information page) do not disclose a journal-specific APC amount for Nature Energy. Springer Nature's generic open-access APC payment forms for Nature Portfolio journals list standard hybrid-journal rates, but Nature Energy does not publish its own dedicated APC price on its journal pages, so authors should confirm the current charge through the journal or Springer Nature's open-access support channels at the time of acceptance. No APC figure is therefore quoted here as an official journal-specific value.

The journal's online submission page also notes that Springer Nature Author Services can assist authors with manuscript development — English language editing, developmental comments, formatting, figure preparation and translation — at a 15% discount, while making clear that using these services is neither a requirement for publication nor a guarantee of acceptance or even peer review.

Indexing and Visibility

Nature Energy is indexed in the major citation databases that matter for energy and materials research. According to the Information Matrix for the Analysis of Journals (MIAR), which tracks the journal under ISSN 2058-7546, it is found in the Science Citation Index Expanded (Clarivate) and Scopus (Elsevier) — the two principal citation databases — as well as in specialized databases including Compendex (Elsevier), INSPEC (Institution of Engineering and Technology), the Advanced Technologies & Aerospace Database (ProQuest), the Materials Science & Engineering Collection (ProQuest), the Technology Collection (ProQuest) and Geobase (Elsevier). It is also listed in journal evaluation resources including the JUFO Portal and the Norwegian Register for Scientific Journals, Series and Publishers. The journal's DOI prefix is 10.1038/41560.

The journal's official nature.com pages do not themselves publish a dedicated abstracting-and-indexing list, so the enumeration above is drawn from the MIAR database record rather than from the publisher. Its inclusion in the Science Citation Index Expanded is what makes it eligible for a Journal Impact Factor in Clarivate's Journal Citation Reports, and its Scopus coverage underpins its SJR and SNIP metrics. The journal is also part of the Nature Index's applied-sciences publication set, reflecting its standing among high-impact applied research venues.

Key Facts

Frequently Asked Questions

1. What is Nature Energy?

Nature Energy is a monthly, online-only peer-reviewed journal from Nature Portfolio (Springer Nature) covering all aspects of energy research — from generation, storage, distribution and management to the societal impacts of energy technologies and policies. It spans the natural sciences, social and behavioural sciences and economics, and is one of the most highly cited journals in the energy field, with a 2025 Journal Impact Factor of 70.1.

2. Who publishes Nature Energy?

The journal is published by Nature Portfolio, which is part of Springer Nature. It is one of the Nature-branded research journals, sharing the Nature model of professional in-house editors and editorial independence.

3. When was Nature Energy launched?

The journal was launched with its first issue in January 2016, in the immediate aftermath of the Paris Agreement on climate change. It celebrated its 10th anniversary in January 2026 with a special issue reflecting on a decade of energy research.

4. Who is the editor-in-chief of Nature Energy?

The Chief Editor is Dr Changjun (Alex) Zhang, who has held the role since April 2024. He joined Nature Research in 2013 as a Nature Communications editor and moved to the Nature Energy launch team in August 2015. He holds a PhD in surface catalysis from Queen's University Belfast and did postdoctoral research at the University of Cambridge. The Senior Editor is Dr James Gallagher, at the journal since September 2015.

5. What is the ISSN of Nature Energy?

The journal's electronic ISSN is 2058-7546. It is an online-only journal, so it has a single eISSN rather than separate print and online identifiers.

6. What is the impact factor of Nature Energy?

According to the journal's official metrics page, the 2025 Journal Impact Factor is 70.1, with a 5-year Journal Impact Factor of 66.6 and an Immediacy Index of 15.2. These figures were released in the 2026 edition of Clarivate's Journal Citation Reports.

7. How selective is Nature Energy? What is its acceptance rate?

Nature Energy is extremely selective, but the journal does not publish an official acceptance rate on its nature.com pages. Any acceptance-rate figures found on third-party websites are estimates, not official data, and should be treated with caution.

8. How long does peer review take at Nature Energy?

The journal's official metrics report a median of 4 days from submission to first editorial decision and a median of 149 days from submission to acceptance. The fast first-decision time reflects rapid editorial triage; the full review-and-revision cycle is longer, as is typical for highly selective journals.

9. Is Nature Energy open access? What is the APC?

Nature Energy is a hybrid journal: since January 2021, authors of primary research articles (Articles, Analyses, Resources) may choose between the traditional subscription route and immediate gold open access, which is funded by an article processing charge. Non-primary content such as Reviews, Comments and News & Views is subscription-only. The journal does not publish a journal-specific APC figure on its own nature.com pages, so authors should confirm the current charge with the journal or Springer Nature's open-access support.

10. What article types does Nature Energy publish?

The journal publishes Articles, Analyses, Resources, Correspondence, Reviews, Perspectives, Comments, Consensus Statements and Matters Arising, alongside editor-handled formats including News & Views, Features, Policy Briefs and World Views. Full-length Articles are limited to 3,000 words with an abstract of up to 150 words and up to 8 display items.

11. What topics does Nature Energy cover?

The scope is deliberately broad: solar, wind, geothermal, hydroelectric and nuclear energy; energy harvesting; fuel cells; hydrogen; transportation fuels; bioenergy and biofuels; batteries and supercapacitors; electrocatalysis and photocatalysis; carbon capture and storage; energy grids and networks; plus energy economics and finance, energy policy, energy security, energy access, energy justice, and energy and behaviour.

12. Where is Nature Energy indexed?

The journal is indexed in the Science Citation Index Expanded (Clarivate) and Scopus (Elsevier), as well as specialized databases including Compendex, INSPEC, ProQuest's technology and materials science collections and Geobase, according to the MIAR database record for ISSN 2058-7546. Indexing in SCIE makes it eligible for a Journal Impact Factor.

13. How do I submit a manuscript to Nature Energy?

Manuscripts are submitted through the journal's online manuscript submission and tracking system (mts-nenergy.nature.com). The journal advises authors to read its submission guidelines and content-type formatting details on nature.com before submitting. There is no external editorial board; all editorial decisions are made by the in-house professional editors.

14. What is the correct abbreviation for citing Nature Energy?

The journal's official abbreviation for abstracting and indexing purposes is Nat. Energy, as stated on its journal information page.

Sources: this profile is based on the journal's official pages on nature.com — the journal homepage, Journal Information page, Aims & Scope page, About the Editors page, Content Types page, Publishing Models page, and Journal Metrics page — plus the MIAR database record for ISSN 2058-7546 for indexing detail. All figures are as officially published; where the journal does not publish a figure (acceptance rate, journal-specific APC), this is stated explicitly. Access date for all sources: 2026-10-11.