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In 2014, Nature collaborated with parters and launched npj, and they state "Nature Partner Journals adopt a modified set of Nature editorial standards". In fact, relatively high impact factors are observed in these "npj" journals but these journals are branded with "npj (Topic Name)" rather than "Nature (Field)".

What's more, the journals like npj Computational Materials (IF~9) and Nature Communications (IF~12) are slightly comparable in terms of the impact factor.

So my question is, do "npj" journals have a comparable reputation to other Nature derivative journals like Nature Materials, Nature Physics etc.? Basically can I say I published in a Nature journal after publishing in npj?

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    These are two very different questions.
    – Federico Poloni
    Jul 16, 2019 at 17:47

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The answer is a resounding no, they don't carry the same reputation. The npj journals are quite clearly on a lower rung of the prestige ladder. You can easily verify this by comparing the impact factors, which is >40 for Nature, and ~9 for npj Computational Materials, for example. It isn't only age either - the Nature Publishing Group clearly has an incentive to offer a range of journals for different topics and levels of impact, while preserving the reputation of their flagship journal.

As for whether you can say that you've published in Nature, see When someone says a paper is published “in Nature”, does that mean it's published in Nature? In short, you're much better off not misrepresenting where you've published.

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    I'd note that the accepted answer at that link is pretty bad... If you say you published "in Nature" and you meant "in a Nature journal" anyone who finds out the later is going to think you misrepresented yourself. The other two answers address this. I think this is important information to convey separately so the OP doesn't embarrass themselves.
    – Bryan Krause ♦
    Jul 16, 2019 at 18:30
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    @BryanKrause I'd agree with that, and would also say that the misrepresentation would be even worse if you meant "in an npj journal".
    – Anyon
    Jul 16, 2019 at 18:46
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    I just mean that the "partner journal" designation makes it more distant from Nature than, say, Nature Physics. I thought the linked question was only concerned with the latter, but clearly I skipped the line about journals that don't include "Nature" in the title.
    – Anyon
    Jul 16, 2019 at 18:54
  • Yep, sorry, I figured out what you meant a moment after I posted the comment.
    – Bryan Krause ♦
    Jul 16, 2019 at 18:58
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    No worries. I added a short sentence to my answer to discourage such misrepresentation. I could expand on it, but I think it'd be better to keep this Q&A focused on the reputation/significance difference.
    – Anyon
    Jul 16, 2019 at 19:02

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