Nature Reviews Clinical Oncology

About Nature Reviews Clinical Oncology

Overview: Nature Reviews Clinical Oncology

Nature Reviews Clinical Oncology is a monthly, peer-reviewed review journal covering the full spectrum of clinical oncology, published by Nature Portfolio (part of Springer Nature) in the United Kingdom. It is one of eight Clinical Review journals published by Nature Portfolio and is widely regarded as one of the most influential journals in oncology: its 2025 Journal Impact Factor is 94.6, reported in the 2026 Journal Citation Reports release (Clarivate), placing it in the top tier of the oncology category.

Unlike primary-research journals, Nature Reviews Clinical Oncology publishes only non-primary content — in-depth Reviews, Perspectives, News & Views articles, Comments and Research Highlights — written by internationally renowned clinical academics and researchers and targeted at readers in the medical sciences from postgraduate level upward. Articles are subject to rigorous peer review and/or review by the journal's in-house professional editors. This verified depth profile was researched from official sources in October 2026 — the Radiomics review of 2017 remains the journal's most-cited article.

Journal at a Glance

History

Nature Reviews Clinical Oncology began life in 2004 under the title Nature Clinical Practice Oncology, as part of the Nature Clinical Practice series of journals aimed at practicing clinicians. In April 2009, the title was renamed Nature Reviews Clinical Oncology, bringing it into the Nature Reviews portfolio alongside its sister clinical review journals. The rename reflected the journal's identity: authoritative, editor-driven review content spanning clinical oncology rather than primary research reports.

Since the rename, the journal has grown into one of the highest-impact titles in all of medicine. Its 2021 Journal Impact Factor of 65.011 ranked it 3rd out of 245 journals in the "Oncology" category (Journal Citation Reports, Clarivate), and the metric has continued to climb — reaching a 2025 Journal Impact Factor of 94.6 with a 5-year Journal Impact Factor of 105.2. The journal celebrated more than two decades of continuous publication, with coverage indexed from 2009 onward in Scopus under its current title.

Editorially, the journal has been led in recent years by Diana Romero as Editor-in-Chief. Like other Nature titles, it has no external editorial board: all editorial decisions are made by a team of full-time professional editors who are PhD-level scientists, supported by an external advisory board.

Aims and Scope

According to the official aims-and-scope statement on nature.com, the journal "is interested in the best research from across the entire spectrum of clinical oncology, with our broad scope ensuring that the work we publish reaches the widest possible audience."

The journal's content model, as described by the publisher, is distinctive:

• In-depth Reviews present authoritative, up-to-date information on a topic, placing it in the context of a field's history and development.
• Perspectives and News & Views articles offer topical discussion and opinion.
• Research Highlights filter primary research from a range of specialty and general medical journals.

The publisher states that Nature Reviews' clinical content is written by internationally renowned clinical academics and researchers and targeted toward readers in the medical sciences from postgraduate level upward: while intended to be read by practicing doctors, researchers and academics within a specialty, the journal aims to make all articles accessible to readers working in any medical discipline.

Subjects covered

Per the official aims page, subjects covered include: Chemotherapy; Clinical pharmacology; Diagnosis; Epidemiology; Experimental therapies; Genetics; Health services, economics and outcomes research; Hematology; Hormonal therapies; Imaging; Immunotherapy; Medical oncology; Palliative care; Pathology; Pediatric oncology; Prevention; Radiotherapy; Screening; Signal transduction; Statistics; Surgical oncology; and Targeted therapies.

Editorial Leadership

Editor-in-Chief: Diana Romero, BSc, PhD. Only the Editor-in-Chief's name is published here because it is the one editorial name verified across multiple independent sources. The journal's official journal-information page confirms the editorial model: the journal has an external advisory board, but — like the other Nature titles — it has no external editorial board. Instead, all editorial decisions are made by a team of full-time professional editors who are PhD-level scientists. Individual in-house editors are not named here because their names were not verified from official sources at the time of writing. General editorial inquiries and manuscript-status correspondence are directed to the editorial office at nrclinonc@nature.com.

Abstracting and Indexing

The journal is abstracted and indexed in:

• PubMed / MEDLINE
• Science Citation Index Expanded (Web of Science Core Collection)
• Scopus (coverage from 2009 under the current title)

Journal Metrics

Every metric below is given with its source and vintage. Where the publisher does not officially publish a metric, we say so rather than quoting an aggregator figure as fact.

Landmark Papers

The following are among the most-cited articles ever published in Nature Reviews Clinical Oncology, ranked by citation count in the Crossref database at the time of writing. Each DOI was individually verified against the Crossref record for this journal's ISSN.

• "Radiomics: the bridge between medical imaging and personalized medicine" — Lambin P. et al., published 4 October 2017. DOI: 10.1038/nrclinonc.2017.141. Approximately 5,250 citations in Crossref — the journal's most-cited article, a foundational review of extracting quantitative features from medical images for precision oncology.
• "Tumour-associated macrophages as treatment targets in oncology" — Mantovani A. et al., published 24 January 2017. DOI: 10.1038/nrclinonc.2016.217. Approximately 3,800 citations — a landmark synthesis on reprogramming tumor-associated macrophages as anticancer strategy.
• "Tumour heterogeneity and resistance to cancer therapies" — Dagogo-Jack I. and Shaw A.T., published 8 November 2017. DOI: 10.1038/nrclinonc.2017.166. Approximately 3,660 citations — a defining review of how intra-tumor heterogeneity drives therapy resistance.
• "Clinical development and potential of photothermal and photodynamic therapies for cancer" — Li X. et al., published 22 July 2020. DOI: 10.1038/s41571-020-0410-2. Approximately 3,370 citations — a comprehensive review of light-based cancer therapies moving toward the clinic.
• "Delivering nanomedicine to solid tumors" — Jain R.K. and Stylianopoulos T., published 14 September 2010. DOI: 10.1038/nrclinonc.2010.139. Approximately 2,920 citations — a classic analysis of the physical barriers limiting nanoparticle drug delivery.
• "Targeting the IL-6/JAK/STAT3 signalling axis in cancer" — Johnson D.E. et al., published 6 February 2018. DOI: 10.1038/nrclinonc.2018.8. Approximately 2,860 citations — a major review of a central inflammatory signaling pathway in oncology drug development.

Publishing Model and Costs

The publishing model is stated plainly on the publisher's official page, and it is unusual enough to highlight: articles published in Nature Reviews journals can only be published using the subscription publication route — the publisher does not offer an immediate gold open-access option, and it does not charge a fee for publication. There is therefore no article processing charge (APC) for this journal. Any APC figure shown elsewhere for this title should be treated as incorrect unless confirmed with the publisher.

On reuse rights: six months after the date of online publication, authors of articles published in the Nature Reviews journals may self-archive the accepted manuscript on their own personal website and/or in their funder or institutional repositories. The publisher notes that the vast majority of funders with open-access mandates only require primary research to be published open access, and since Nature Reviews titles publish only non-primary articles (Reviews, News & Views, Comment articles), most authors face no compliance conflict.

Readers access the journal through institutional or personal subscriptions; the publisher also offers a "Nature+" subscription product covering Nature and other Nature journals.

How to Publish in This Journal

Nature Reviews Clinical Oncology does not publish primary research articles — it publishes Reviews, Perspectives, News & Views and Comment pieces. Content is typically written by leading researchers working with the journal's professional editors, and much of it is commissioned. Prospective authors should note:

• Scope fit: the journal seeks authoritative syntheses across the full spectrum of clinical oncology — from epidemiology, screening and diagnosis through systemic therapy, radiotherapy, surgery, survivorship and health-services research.
• Contact the editors first: general editorial inquiries go to nrclinonc@nature.com. Authors with a review proposal are best served by pitching the concept to the editorial team before preparing a full manuscript.
• Submission system: manuscripts are handled through the journal's online manuscript submission and tracking system (the Nature manuscript tracking portal for this title).
• No fees: there are no submission or publication charges.
• Peer review: articles are subject to rigorous peer review and/or review by in-house editors; the publisher reports a median of 4 days from submission to first editorial decision and 122 days from submission to acceptance (2025 figures).

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the ISSN of Nature Reviews Clinical Oncology?
Print ISSN 1759-4774 and online ISSN 1759-4782, as stated on the publisher's official journal-information page.

Who publishes Nature Reviews Clinical Oncology?
Nature Portfolio (part of Springer Nature), United Kingdom.

When was the journal founded?
2004, as Nature Clinical Practice Oncology; it was renamed Nature Reviews Clinical Oncology in April 2009.

Who is the Editor-in-Chief?
Diana Romero, BSc, PhD. Editorial decisions are made by a team of full-time professional in-house editors.

What is the journal's impact factor?
The 2025 Journal Impact Factor is 94.6 (Journal Citation Reports 2026 release, Clarivate), Q1 in Oncology. The 5-year Journal Impact Factor is 105.2.

Is the journal open access?
No. It is published via the subscription route only; the publisher offers no immediate gold open-access option for Nature Reviews titles. Authors may self-archive the accepted manuscript six months after online publication.

What is the article processing charge (APC)?
There is none — the publisher states it does not charge a fee for publication in Nature Reviews journals.

Does the journal publish original research?
No. It publishes only non-primary content: in-depth Reviews, Perspectives, News & Views, Comments and Research Highlights.

Where is the journal indexed?
PubMed/MEDLINE, the Science Citation Index Expanded (Web of Science), and Scopus.

How do I contact the editorial office?
General editorial inquiries: nrclinonc@nature.com; manuscript-status inquiries: the editorial assistant at the same address, per the publisher's journal-information page.

How long does peer review take?
The publisher reports a median of 4 days from submission to first editorial decision and 122 days from submission to acceptance, labelled for 2025 on the journal's official metrics page.

What was the journal called before 2009?
Nature Clinical Practice Oncology, under which title it published from its 2004 launch until the April 2009 rename.

Can I republish or reuse a review from the journal?
The journal is subscription-based; reuse is governed by Springer Nature's standard licensing terms. Authors may self-archive the accepted manuscript six months after online publication. For other permissions, consult the publisher.

Content Types and Editorial Approach

Nature Reviews Clinical Oncology publishes several distinct article formats, each serving a different function in the clinical literature:

• Reviews — comprehensive, authoritative syntheses that place a topic in the context of its history and development; these are the journal's flagship articles and account for its most-cited papers.
• Perspectives — topical discussion and opinion pieces from leading figures, often addressing controversies or emerging directions.
• News & Views — concise commentaries on important new primary-research findings.
• Research Highlights — short items filtering notable primary research from specialty and general medical journals.
• Comments — shorter opinion pieces on policy, practice or publishing issues.

Crucially, the journal publishes no primary research: by the publisher's definition, its articles contain no original, previously unpublished research findings and at most minimal re-analysis of published data. This is why the title carries no gold open-access APC — most funder OA mandates apply only to primary research.

Standing and Influence

Nature Reviews Clinical Oncology is consistently ranked among the very top journals in oncology by citation measures. In the independent OOIR oncology journal rankings (publications 2022–2026), it places 4th by average citations per article — behind only CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians, Cancer Cell and the Journal of Hematology & Oncology. It is one of eight Clinical Review journals published by Nature Portfolio, the clinical counterpart to the basic-science Nature Reviews Cancer.

The journal also reports a broader societal footprint: per its official journal-information page, over 50% of the articles it published in 2025 were related to one or more of the 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, and Springer Nature is a signatory of the SDG Publishers Compact. The journal's readership spans practicing oncologists, affiliated health-care professionals, clinical researchers and academics across medical disciplines.

Impact Factor Trajectory

The journal's citation influence has risen steeply over the past decade, reflecting the growing centrality of high-quality clinical synthesis in oncology:

• 2015: 18.786 (Journal Citation Reports, Thomson Reuters)
• 2021: 65.011 — ranked 3rd of 245 journals in "Oncology" (Journal Citation Reports, Clarivate)
• 2025: 94.6 — 5-year impact factor 105.2 (Journal Citation Reports 2026 release, Clarivate)

This trajectory — roughly a five-fold increase in a decade — is exceptional even among elite review journals and reflects both the journal's selectivity and the field's reliance on authoritative clinical reviews to navigate an exploding primary literature. Readers should remember, as the publisher itself notes, that journal-level metrics describe the publication as a whole and do not predict the citation count or importance of any individual article.

Editorial Standards and Research Integrity

As a Nature Portfolio title, the journal applies the editorial standards common across the Nature Reviews family. The publisher's journal-information page notes that the information and material in the journal are for educational, research and information purposes, and that readers should treat published content as part of the wider scientific record rather than a standalone definitive statement — a standard disclaimer reflecting that science and understanding are constantly evolving.

On the use of artificial intelligence, Springer Nature discloses that Nature Reviews journals occasionally use internal Springer Nature-developed AI tools to support the generation of accessory content, such as summary points; these are always edited and fact-checked by the author and/or editor to meet Nature Reviews publication standards, and any substantive use of AI beyond accessory content is declared on an individual article basis. Articles themselves remain subject to rigorous peer review and/or review by the journal's in-house professional editors, who — as the publisher emphasizes — are PhD-level scientists making all editorial decisions.

Sources and Attribution

Facts in this profile were verified against: the official journal-information, aims-and-scope and publishing-model pages on nature.com; the Crossref database records for ISSN 1759-4782 (used to verify landmark-paper DOIs, publication dates and citation counts); the 2026 Journal Citation Reports release (Clarivate) for the 2025 Journal Impact Factor; Scopus/SCImago data for the 2025 SJR; and the journal's Wikipedia entry for publication history, CODEN and editorial details. Metrics are labelled with their source and vintage; where the publisher does not officially publish a metric, that is stated explicitly. Citation counts are approximate Crossref figures at the time of writing and will change over time.

How to cite this profile: "Nature Reviews Clinical Oncology — Journal Depth Profile." JournalsWorld, researched October 2026 from the publisher's official pages, Crossref, and the Journal Citation Reports.