Scientific publisher Nature Publishing Group (NPG), UK, has announced that it has once again emerged as the high impact publisher in the 2007 Journal Citation Report (Thomson, 2008). Eight of the top 20 titles are published by NPG. The 2007 Impact Factors illustrate NPG's successful expansion into physical science and clinical medicine, and maintain the publisher's strong reputation for life sciences.
Nature, with an Impact Factor of 28.751, is the number one multidisciplinary science journal, ahead of its major competitor Science (26.372). NPG publishes 10 journals that lead their fields in Impact Factors, and 41 journals in the top 10 in their respective categories. Nature Nanotechnology debuts as the number one journal in the Nanoscience & Nanotechnology category, with a first Impact Factor of 14.917. Launched in October 2006, the journal is part of NPG's growing portfolio of leading physical science titles, which all improved their Impact Factors in this year's Journal Citation Report. Two physical science journals - Nature Chemical Biology and Nature Physics - received their second Impact Factor this year.
Nature Materials, with an improved Impact Factor of 19.782, continued its dominant position as the number one journal in three categories: Physics, Applied; Physics, condensed matter; Chemistry, physical and as the leading monthly journal in Materials, multidisciplinary. Nature Methods is the number one journal in Biochemical Research Methods, continuing a year-on-year growth in citations with an Impact Factor of 15.478.
The Nature Clinical Practice series also saw substantial increases to their Impact Factors. Three of the seven titles are now in the top five in their category, while six are in the top 10. The Nature research journals continued to dominate the life sciences while all seven Nature Reviews journals remain the leading monthly review journals in their fields.
NPG's open access online journal, Molecular Systems Biology, continued its strong growth with a second Impact Factor of 9.954 (up more than two on last year's figure), whilst NPG's academic and society journals also excelled. The Journal of Investigative Dermatology's Impact Factor increased to 4.829, retaining its position as the leading Dermatology journal. Molecular Psychiatry ranks second in Psychiatry journals with an impact factor of 10.900, while Neuropsychopharmacology (6.157) is number five in the field. Kidney International (4.922) and Laboratory Investigation (4.479) are both in the top five in their categories, while Oncogene and Leukemia ranks in the top 15 for oncology journals. Cell Research saw its Impact Factor increase to 4.217, and remains the leading science journal in China.
