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Nature Reviews Psychology (EISSN 2731-0574; abbreviated Nat. Rev. Psychol.) is an online-only review journal from the Nature Reviews portfolio of Springer Nature. It publishes timely syntheses of psychological research, in formats such as Reviews and Perspectives, for researchers, educators and policy specialists. Within the broader landscape of what is psychology, it serves as a synthesis venue spanning cognitive, social and clinical psychology and applied areas.
Editorial Scope and Editors
According to the journal’s aims and scope, it is interested in the latest advances in psychology and in timely syntheses of research spanning all its aspects, covering all subfields of cognitive, social and clinical psychology, and including developmental aspects, methodological issues and more applied areas. The wider societal relevance of psychological science is also featured.
The journal states that, like other titles in the Nature Portfolio, it has no external academic editors: all editorial decisions are made by a dedicated team of full-time professional editors. It lists Reviews and Perspectives, along with Comments, Viewpoints and Research Highlights, as its content types. Papers are published online as soon as they are ready, and published online papers are definitive and may be altered only through an addendum, corrigendum or erratum.
Nature Reviews Psychology Impact Factor and Other Metrics
The journal’s own metrics page reports the Nature Reviews Psychology impact factor as 22.0 (2025), with a 5-year Journal Impact Factor of 26.1 (2025). The page notes that for recently launched journals, metrics are calculated from available citation data, and multi-year metrics may be partial. The values reported there are:
- Journal Impact Factor (2-year): 22.0 (2025). The Journal Impact Factor is defined as all citations in the current JCR year to items published in the previous two years, divided by the number of scholarly items published in those two years.
- 5-year Journal Impact Factor: 26.1 (2025).
- Immediacy Index: 3.2 (2025).
- Eigenfactor Score: 0.01098 (2025); Article Influence Score: 9.800 (2025).
- Source Normalized Impact per Paper (SNIP): 7.249 (2025).
- SCImago Journal Rank (SJR): 6.763 (2025).
- Usage (2025): 321,882 downloads and 3,106 Altmetric mentions.
When conducting literature reviews, psychologists find review articles through specialised databases. Structured searching is covered in our guide to PsycINFO search strategy.
Publishing Route, Fees and Self-Archiving
The journal’s publishing model page states that articles in Nature Reviews titles can only be published through the subscription route, with no immediate gold open access option, and that no fee is charged for publication. Nature Reviews titles publish only non-primary articles (such as Reviews, News & Views and Comment articles), which do not include original, previously unpublished research findings. The publisher notes that the vast majority of funders with open access mandates require only the primary research they funded to be published open access.
Six months after the date of online publication, authors can self-archive the accepted manuscript on their own personal website and in their funder or institutional repositories. The publisher advises authors to check their individual funding mandates. Authors of syntheses often share early work as preprints; see PsyArXiv and PsychArchives for psychology repositories.
Using the Impact Factor Responsibly
Springer Nature is a signatory of the San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment (DORA). On the journal’s metrics page it explains that small numbers of highly cited articles can have an outsized influence on measures such as the 2-year Journal Impact Factor, so it believes these measures are not necessarily measures of journal quality and that authors and readers should consider a range of metrics. Article-level metrics such as downloads, citations and online attention are available from each article page. For wider context on assessment reform, see the CoARA agreement; for how scholarly articles are vetted, see peer review.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the impact factor of Nature Reviews Psychology?
The journal reports a 2-year Journal Impact Factor of 22.0 and a 5-year Journal Impact Factor of 26.1, both for 2025.
Does Nature Reviews Psychology charge author publication fees?
No. The journal’s publishing model page states that no fee is charged for publication, and that articles are published through the subscription route.
Can authors deposit Nature Reviews Psychology manuscripts in a repository?
Yes. Six months after online publication, authors can self-archive the accepted manuscript on a personal website or in funder or institutional repositories. Authors should check their own funder’s mandate.
Who makes editorial decisions at Nature Reviews Psychology?
All editorial decisions are made by a dedicated team of full-time professional editors; the journal has no external academic editors. Authors considering a submission should consult the journal’s guide to authors.
Sources
- Springer Nature. “Journal Metrics”, Nature Reviews Psychology (checked 2026-11-07): https://www.nature.com/nrpsychol/journal-impact
- Springer Nature. “Journal Information”, Nature Reviews Psychology (checked 2026-11-07): https://www.nature.com/nrpsychol/journal-information
- Springer Nature. “Publishing model”, Nature Reviews Psychology (checked 2026-11-07): https://www.nature.com/nrpsychol/publishing-model
