For Authors

Editorial Policies

[VIDEO] How to submit your new paper to PNAS Express Submission.
[VIDEO] How to submit your Contributed, revised, or resubmitted paper to PNAS.

Submission Guidelines

Direct Submission.

The standard mode of transmitting manuscripts is Direct Submission. Direct Submissions account for more than 75% of papers published in PNAS and do not need to be sponsored by an NAS member. The Editorial Board screens all incoming submissions and may reject manuscripts without further review, or review and reject manuscripts that do not meet PNAS standards. More than 50% of Direct Submissions are declined by the Editorial Board without additional review, which takes less than 2 weeks on average. For papers that are sent on to an editor and reviewers, the average time to receive a decision is 41 days. If accepted, authors have their papers published online as soon as 4–5 weeks after acceptance. Authors must recommend three appropriate Editorial Board members, three NAS members who are expert in the paper's scientific area, and five qualified reviewers. The Board may choose someone who is or is not on that list or may reject the paper without further review. Authors are encouraged to indicate in their cover letter why their suggested editors are qualified to handle the paper. A directory of PNAS Member Editors and their research interests is available within the submission process and at nrc88.nas.edu/pnas_search. The editor may obtain reviews of the paper from at least two qualified reviewers, each from a different institution and not from the authors' institutions. The PNAS Office will invite the reviewers, secure the reviews, forward them to the editor, and secure any revisions and subsequent reviews. The name of the editor must remain anonymous to the author until the paper is accepted. Direct Submissions are published as “Edited by” the responsible editor and have an identifying footnote.

Contributed Submission.

Less than a quarter of published research papers are Contributed submissions by NAS members. An Academy member may submit up to four of his or her own manuscripts for publication per year. The deadline is the last day of the year. To contribute an article, the member must affirm that he or she had a direct role in the design and execution of all or a significant fraction of the work, and the subject matter must be within the member's area of expertise. Contributed articles must report the results of original research. A footnote will be included on Contributed papers for which the member or coauthors disclose a significant financial or other competing interest. When submitting using the Contributed process, members must secure the comments of at least two qualified reviewers, each from a different institution and not from the authors’ institutions. Reviewers should be asked to evaluate revised manuscripts to ensure that their concerns have been adequately addressed. Members' submissions must be accompanied by the names and contact information, including emails, of knowledgeable experts who reviewed the paper, along with all of the reviews received and the authors' response for each round of review, and a brief statement endorsing publication in PNAS. Reviews must be on the PNAS review form. Members must select reviewers who have not collaborated with the authors in the past 48 months. See Section iii and the Conflict of Interest Policy. Members must verify that reviewers are free of conflicts of interest, or must disclose any conflicts and explain their choice of reviewers. Members may use the Preliminary Contributed Article option to have the Editorial Office handle the administrative aspects of the review process. Beginning October 1, 2015, the names and institutional affiliations of all reviewers of Contributed papers will be published in a footnote. The Academy member must be one of the corresponding authors on the paper. These papers are published as "Contributed by" the responsible editor.

PNAS Plus.

Authors may submit a PNAS Plus version of either a Direct or Contributed Submission, in which research reports appear in an expanded online format up to 10 pages in length. A collection of PNAS Plus Significance Statements is published in each issue.

All manuscripts are evaluated by the Editorial Board. The identity of the assigned Board member is confidential and not shared with authors or third parties. The names of reviewers are confidential and not shared, unless express permission is granted by the reviewers. The Board may reject manuscripts without further review, or review and reject manuscripts that do not meet PNAS standards. Manuscripts rejected by one member cannot be resubmitted through another member or as a Direct Submission. Please note a single negative review, with which the editor agrees, is sufficient to recommend rejection. Revised papers must be received within 2 months of the decision notification or they will be treated as new submissions. Information pertaining to a submitted manuscript is treated as confidential and not shared outside of the journal.

Appeals of decisions on rejected papers will be considered; however, appeals on the basis of novelty or general interest are unlikely to be granted. Due to the high volume of submissions that PNAS receives we cannot guarantee a quick decision on appeals. Appeals must be made in writing and should be sent to pnas{at}nas.edu. If an appeal is rejected, further appeals of the decision will not be considered and the paper may not be resubmitted. Repeated appeals or resubmissions of a rejected manuscript without invitation by the Editorial Board will not be considered and may result in the authors being banned from submitting to PNAS.

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