Journal Author Guidesreputable journals' Instructions-for-Authors

Instructions for Authors — Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

Source: http://www.pnas.org/author-center

PNAS Nexus Welcomes SubmissionsPNAS Nexus welcomes high-quality original research across the biological, medical, physical, social, and political sciences, as well as engineering and mathematics. Of particular interest are those articles with broad, interdisciplinary appeal. Learn more about submitting your research to PNAS Nexus.

PNAS Author Center

Submit your research to the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) and have your research discovered by millions of researchers in the biological, physical, and social sciences.

submit your manuscript

About PNAS

PNAS has been at the forefront of scientific research for over a century. Established in 1914 as the peer-reviewed journal of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS), PNAS is now one of the largest and most-cited multidisciplinary scientific journals in the world. With a global readership, PNAS publishes more than 3,500 research articles annually.

Why Submit to PNAS?

Comprehensive scientific coverage

PNAS publishes exceptional research across all areas of the biological, physical, and social sciences. Innovation often occurs at the boundaries of disciplines, and we are especially interested in research that crosses disciplinary lines, addresses questions with broad scientific impact, or breaks new ground.

Broad scientific audience

With one of the largest scientific audiences in the world, PNAS articles reach millions of top researchers each year. Our equitable access and open research programs further our mission to make scientific research accessible to all.

Rapid, high-quality peer review

PNAS is edited by members of the NAS, a private, nonprofit society of distinguished scholars. Scientists are elected by their peers to membership in the NAS for outstanding contributions to research. Nearly 200 members of the NAS have won Nobel Prizes. The NAS is committed to furthering science in America and beyond, and its members are active contributors to the international scientific community.

On average, a full review takes just 45 days, and most articles publish within six months of submission.

High impact

PNAS publishes some of the most highly cited research in the world. Learn more about our 2024 article- and journal-level metrics.

Submitting Your Manuscript

PNAS welcomes submissions in all scientific disciplines from researchers worldwide. Information on submitting your manuscript is included below. Due to the volume of submissions received, PNAS does not consider presubmission inquiries. Please contact us if you have any questions about the submission process. Click here for information about submitting to PNAS Nexus.

Submit Your Manuscript Contact Us

PNAS Article Types

Unsolicited article types

Research Reports describe the results of original research of exceptional importance. The preferred length of these articles is 6 pages, but PNAS allows articles up to a maximum of 12 pages. For example, a standard 6-page article is approximately 4,000 words, 50 references, and 4 medium-size graphical elements (i.e., figures and tables).

Brief Reports describe observations of immediate impact that may hold potential to initiate new avenues of research, provide compelling new data on controversies of broad interest and long-standing questions, or present a concise conceptual advance.

Letters to the Editor provide brief comments that allow readers to constructively address a difference of opinion with authors of a PNAS article.

Opinions are succinct essays that appear in the Front Matter section. Authored by researchers, Opinion pieces further the discourse on a timely topic or offer a call to action through a clearly articulated argument that presents novel ideas or proposals. Opinions are not summaries or synopses; the essay’s argument should be explicitly stated early on, and then supported in the text. Submissions should also address relevant counter-arguments. All authors are welcome to submit proposals for consideration. We especially welcome a broad range of voices and contributors. Submissions deemed appropriate for the section are reviewed by at least one NAS member, or other expert, who has the relevant expertise. Submissions should be approximately 1,500–2,000 words, not including references and do not require abstracts.

By invitation only

Commentaries call attention to articles of particular note.

** Inaugural Articles** provide newly elected NAS members an opportunity to introduce themselves to the readers of PNAS. Inaugural Articles may be submitted by newly elected NAS members within five years of election. These are predominantly original research articles that may contain new ideas or hypotheses or describe the historical development of the member’s field. They may contain a personal perspective component, but Review articles are not considered.

** Front Matter** is a magazine section that tells the stories of science. Sections include News Features, Science and Culture, Inner Workings, Core Concepts, QnAs, Profiles, and the

Science Sessionspodcast. All of these elements are written or produced by science writers and journalists who receive assignments from PNAS editors.

** Perspectives** should identify a critical science problem, provide a state-of-the-art assessment, and offer new insights or a new approach to its resolution. The narrative style may vary, but each Perspective should focus on an important area of research and be accessible to a broad scientific audience. Perspectives may help contextualize findings within a field or add a new dimension to previously published research. Current advances and novel insights are encouraged. To submit a proposed article, select “Presubmission for Perspective.” Invited Perspectives are reviewed as described in the

Peer Review Process. PNAS allows up to a maximum of 10 pages for these articles.

Author Responses are invited at the request of the Editorial Board. They briefly respond to points raised in Letters to the Editor regarding PNAS articles published in the past six months.

Special Features in PNAS are carefully curated collections of articles that explore significant topics in areas of interest to PNAS readers and make important contributions to the science and literature. Proposals for Special Features are reviewed by Editorial Board members and other subject matter experts to ensure they present a cohesive and balanced collection that will be of interest to a broad audience. Topics of Special Features are often interdisciplinary and may be in emergent fields or those underrepresented in PNAS. Papers invited as part of a Special Feature undergo the same rigorous review process as Direct Submissions and Perspectives. Accepted papers publish when ready and the entire collection is highlighted when the feature concludes. PNAS is committed to broad participation in the organization and authorship of Special Features. All Special Feature organizers and participating authors must declare any competing interests.

Colloquium Papers are reports of scientific colloquia held under NAS auspices.

Initial Submissions

PNAS follows a format-neutral policy for initial submissions, meaning your manuscript does not need to adhere to strict journal formatting guidelines to be considered. However, we do require the following information:

PNAS will consider manuscripts for review as long as all the components listed above are included in your submission. For more detailed guidance on manuscript formatting, including what to include in each section of your file, please see the Manuscript Formatting Guidelines below.

To learn more about the initial submission process for member-contributed submissions, click here. Please note that the final version of the paper must be submitted by the last day of the year to count toward that year's annual limit.

Revised Submissions

Revised papers must be submitted within two months of receiving the revision decision or they will be treated as new submissions. If you need more time, please notify PNAS. Along with the information provided at initial submission, revised submissions must also include:

The revised version of the manuscript should be uploaded as a Manuscript file type. Authors are strongly encouraged to include a tracked-changes file for review purposes. Revised submissions are encouraged to adhere to all Manuscript Formatting Guidelines, including the Publication-Ready Source File Guidelines. Please note that multiple revisions are rarely permitted, and acceptance of the paper is not guaranteed. If you have any questions regarding manuscript formatting or the revision process, please contact us for assistance.

Manuscript Formatting Guidelines

Read the Initial Submission Guidelines to learn about formatting requirements for submitting to PNAS. Before preparing your revised submission, be sure to review the Revised Submission Guidelines. Detailed formatting instructions are provided below.

Manuscript templates

Please use the templates below to prepare your manuscript for PNAS.

Word LaTeX (Overleaf)
Research article Research article
Brief Report Brief Report
SI Appendix SI Appendix

Support for LaTeX templates is available through Overleaf. If you have questions about submitting your manuscript in LaTeX, please contact PNAS and include the manuscript file as an attachment when possible.

Manuscript order

Submitting your manuscript sections in the following order will help us to locate key information more easily. Please number all manuscript pages starting with the title page. The recommended order is:

Title page element

Please include the following information on the title page:

Title Page Element Description
Keep the title brief (< 135 characters), descriptive, and comprehensible to a broad scientific audience. Include the studied organism. Avoid numbers, acronyms, abbreviations, punctuation, and puns.
Include full names of all authors in the order intended for publication. Use asterisks (*) to designate co-corresponding authors and numbered footnotes to indicate equal contributions.
Include, in this order, department/laboratory/section/division, institution, city, state with ZIP code (for US institutions), or country with postal code (for non-US institutions). Use superscripts to match authors with institutions. Multiple affiliations are allowed. Affiliations where the work was done should be listed. If an author's affiliation has changed since the work was done, the current affiliation should also be listed and noted as such. PNAS requires the corresponding author to supply an ORCID identifier at submission and strongly encourages all authors to use an ORCID ID. Do not include ORCIDs in the manuscript file; individual authors must link their ORCID account to their PNAS profile at
Include the name, complete address, phone number, and email address of the author(s) to whom correspondence and proofs should be sent. Note that corresponding authors' email addresses will be published in the article footnotes.
If applicable, note if a manuscript was deposited as a preprint, including to which server(s) and the licensing information in regards to the article.
Select both a major and minor classification category. Dual classifications are permitted between major categories.
Include at least three keywords at submission.

Classifications

Select a major (Physical, Social, or Biological Sciences) and a minor category from the following. Dual classifications are permitted between major categories. Dual classifications within a major category are only permitted in exceptional cases and are subject to Editorial Board approval.

Physical Sciences

Applied Mathematics; Applied Physical Sciences; Astronomy; Biophysics and Computational Biology; Chemistry; Computer Sciences; Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences; Engineering; Environmental Sciences; Mathematics; Physics; Statistics; and Sustainability Science.

Social Sciences

Anthropology; Demography; Economic Sciences; Environmental Sciences; Political Sciences; Psychological and Cognitive Sciences; Social Sciences; and Sustainability Science.

Biological Sciences

Agricultural Sciences; Anthropology; Applied Biological Sciences; Biochemistry; Biophysics and Computational Biology; Cell Biology; Developmental Biology; Ecology; Environmental Sciences; Evolution; Genetics; Immunology and Inflammation; Medical Sciences; Microbiology; Neuroscience; Pharmacology; Physiology; Plant Biology; Population Biology; Psychological and Cognitive Sciences; Sustainability Science; and Systems Biology.

Main text

Please take note of the following when preparing your manuscript for PNAS:

Publication-ready source files guidelines

Once your manuscript is accepted, PNAS will request publication-ready source files. Please follow the guidelines below when preparing these files. Extensive edits are not permitted at this stage; only minor edits will be allowed during the proofing process.

Manuscript file

Manuscript files must meet the following criteria:

Accepted formats:

LaTeX

The PNAS submission system runs PDFLaTeX (Overleaf’s default). Please use the latest version of LaTeX2e to prepare your files. Using other versions or alternate engines (such as XeLaTeX or LuaLaTeX) may cause compilation issues at submission.

Basic rules

Figures and tables

References

Resolving compilation problems in submission

Figures

Supply figures and schemes as high-resolution files whenever possible. Please review the PNAS Digital Art Guidelines before uploading images.

PNAS strives to ensure articles are accessible for readers throughout the world by offering article PDFs that are easily suitable for downloading in any environment. In order to accommodate size and content, article PDFs are processed to display images at 200 ppi, which will guarantee quality at print size. The HTML display of an article offers 300 ppi for all images. In addition, the option to enlarge each figure and table in the HTML display is available to closely review comprehensive details, as necessary.

Alternative text

Beginning with Volume 123, PNAS includes alternative text, or alt text, for all journal figures in the version of record hosted on the PNAS website. Alt text is a short description of an image that conveys essential context to readers using screen readers and improves digital accessibility. Alt text is generated during production using generative AI technology and is reviewed by a scientific editor to ensure accuracy. To learn more about accessibility at PNAS, including a link to download the latest Voluntary Product Accessibility Template, please visit our Accessibility page.

Tables

Raster Vector
Definition Images composed of pixels (also called “bitmapped” or “pixelmapped” images). Use for non–line art images, e.g., scanned artwork, digital photographs, complex imagery, and color effects such as blended colors, shading, shadows, and gradients. Images composed of paths (points, lines, and curves) that are created with mathematical formulas. Use for line art images, e.g., graphs, polygons, logos, illustrations, circles, and ellipses, all predominantly composed of solid colors with sharp lines and contrasts.
Sample Notice pixelation and blurriness of numbers,and jagged edges of lines. For details, magnify image by using zoom function.
Notice continuous smooth paths of numbers and lines. For details, magnify image by using zoom function.
Resolution Graphics are resolution dependent; scaling to different sizes results in quality loss.Images with large dimensions will maintain large file sizes.
Graphics are notresolution dependent; they can be scaled to any size without quality loss.Images with large dimensions will maintain smaller file sizes.
File types JPGs, GIFs, TIFFs, and EPSs/PDFs originating from raster programs.Common programs: Adobe Photoshop, Corel Painter, SketchBook Pro, and GIMP.
AIs, and PPTs/EPSs/PDFs originating from vector programs.Common programs: Adobe Illustrator, Corel DRAW, Sketch, PowerPoint, and Canva.
Requirements and tips 300 ppi for grayscale or color images with no type or lettering, 600–900 ppi for grayscale or color images with type, and 1000–1200 ppi for line art, e.g., bar graphs.Color mode should be RGB.Avoid embedding text in graphics.Raster-based files can have low resolution in the published article, as they cannot be altered in size without losing quality.
300 dpi for grayscale or color images with no type or lettering, 600–900 dpi for grayscale or color images with type, and 1000–1200 dpi for line art, e.g., bar graphs.Color mode should be RGB.Best for creating text in graphics.Vector-based files provide maximum flexibility for sizing your figures, as they can be altered in size while maintaining high-quality resolution.

Figure legends

Include figure legends immediately after referencing the figure in the manuscript. Ensure that figure legends adhere to the following guidelines:

References

References must be in PNAS style and numbered in the order they appear in the text. Unpublished abstracts presented at meetings or references to “data not shown” are not permitted. References must not cite retracted articles except when referring to the retraction. PNAS expects authors to cite relevant works and relies on the editors and reviewers to note potential omissions during peer review. The journal reserves the right to ask authors to add relevant citations after publication as determined by editorial review.

Cite references in numerical order as they appear in text, and include all references cited in the main text in the main manuscript file. Include a separate citation list for references cited in the SI. Tables and figures will be inserted in the text where first cited; number references in these sections accordingly.
10. J.-M. Neuhaus, L. Sticher, F. Meins, Jr., T. Boller, A short C-terminal sequence is necessary and sufficient for the targeting of chitinases to the plant vacuole. C. Corsello
12. E. van Sebille, M. Doblin, Data from “Drift in ocean currents impacts intergenerational microbial exposure to temperature.” Figshare. Available at
14. A. V. S. Hill, “HLA associations with malaria in Africa: Some implications for MHC evolution” in Molecular Evolution of the
15. H. Luetkens
7. C. Trepo, “Modelization of the epidemic” in
2. C. Reynaud
3. D. P. Hua, "Unique allosteric mechanism regulating protein-protein interaction through phosphorylation: A case study of the conformational changes in the syk tandem sh2 protein," PhD thesis, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN (2016); Available from

Supporting information

SI will be published as provided by the authors and will not be edited or typeset.

SI file formats:

When preparing SI files, please note the following:

If you choose to place detailed materials and methods in an SI Appendix, you must provide sufficient detail in the main-text methods to enable a reader to follow the logic of the procedures and results. The main article text also must reference the SI methods.

If a paper is fundamentally a study of a new method or technique, then the methods must be described completely in the main text.

Journal Cover Images

Authors are invited to submit scientifically interesting and visually arresting images to be considered for our cover (see our archive). Illustrations need not appear in the article but should be representative of the work. Images should be original, and authors must grant PNAS a License to Publish. AI-generated images and stock photography will not be considered.

To submit an image for consideration for the PNAS cover:

The deadline for cover submissions is when your proof corrections are returned. If you choose to submit an image outside the online submission system, make sure you include the manuscript number, author name, phone, and email in your submission. Authors who submit will be notified either way if the submission has been selected for a cover.

With one of the largest scientific audiences in the world, PNAS articles reach millions of top researchers each year. Our equitable access and open research programs further our mission to make scientific research accessible to all.

PNAS publishes some of the most highly cited research in the world. Learn more about our 2024 article- and journal-level metrics.

Research Integrity and Publication Ethics at PNAS

At PNAS, we are committed to the highest standards of research integrity and publishing ethics. As the flagship journal of the National Academy of Sciences and one of the world's leading multidisciplinary scientific journals, PNAS aims to ensure that all research we publish is rigorous, reproducible, transparent, and aligned with best practices in scholarly publishing. See PNAS Editorial Policies for more information.

We view integrity in research and publishing as a shared responsibility among authors, reviewers, editors, and the broader scientific community. Our policies and initiatives are designed to support ethical research conduct, prevent misconduct, promote trust and transparency in scientific findings, and address honest errors and research misconduct.

PNAS is an active member of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and follows COPE principles. These include ensuring that our ethics policies are fair and transparent. Expectations for authors, reviewers, and editors—as well as policies related to AI use, image integrity, and data availability—are detailed in the PNAS Author Center.

PNAS encourages trust and transparency in science publications through the actions noted on this page as well as the inclusion of several key elements within published articles:

Expectations of Authors, Reviewers, and Editors

PNAS expects all stakeholders, including authors, reviewers, and editors, to:

Additional peer review expectations are detailed in the PNAS Peer Review Process section of the Author Center.

Correcting the Scientific Record

Science is an iterative process, and errors can occur despite rigorous peer review and good-faith efforts. PNAS is committed to upholding scientific integrity by correcting the scientific record when necessary and by supporting transparency, accountability, and learning. See PNAS Errata policies for more information.

Key principles

Approach to Ethics Management

PNAS evaluates each case using a consistent process. We work with authors and other stakeholders to resolve situations impartially and as quickly as possible. Each concern is considered confidentially using the following framework:

Initial screening

Reported concerns are assessed for type and level of concern. PNAS may contact authors or other stakeholders for more information.

Examples of concerns:

Evaluation

Cases are typically reviewed by subject-matter experts. Authors and their institutions may be asked for additional information.

Author response

Authors may be asked to respond to queries or provide additional data.

Resolution

The PNAS Editorial Board evaluates the information and determines a resolution, which may include:

Reporting a Concern

For information about submitting errata, see PNAS Errata policies. Authors who wish to submit a correction for their paper may use the PNAS Correction Request Form. Formal correction requests may only be made by the authors

Concerns about papers published in or submitted to PNAS can be reported confidentially to Tricia Kershaw, PNAS Managing Editor for Publication Ethics.

Additional Resources

The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine have a wealth of resources with recommendations for best practices on responsible conduct in research. We encourage all those involved in the creation and consumption of research to be familiar with the principles discussed in reports such as:

Or Editorials and Perspectives published in PNAS journals such as:

Additionally, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine Strategic Council for Research Excellence, Integrity, and Trust hosts workshops and develops policies to enhance and improve the research ecosystem, such as On Leading a Lab: Strengthening Scientific Leadership in Responsible Research.

academic.oup.com

Performing security verification

This website uses a security service to protect against malicious bots. This page is displayed while the website verifies you are not a bot.

Special Features in PNAS are carefully curated collections of articles that explore significant topics in areas of interest to PNAS readers and make important contributions to the science and literature. Proposals for Special Features are reviewed by Editorial Board members and other subject matter experts to ensure they present a cohesive and balanced collection that will be of interest to a broad audience. Topics of Special Features are often interdisciplinary and may be in emergent fields or those underrepresented in PNAS. Papers invited as part of a Special Feature undergo the same rigorous review process as Direct Submissions and Perspectives. Accepted papers publish when ready and the entire collection is highlighted when the feature concludes. PNAS is committed to broad participation in the organization and authorship of Special Features. All Special Feature organizers and participating authors must declare any competing interests.

To learn more about the initial submission process for member-contributed submissions, click here. Please note that the final version of the paper must be submitted by the last day of the year to count toward that year's annual limit.

Revised papers must be submitted within two months of receiving the revision decision or they will be treated as new submissions. If you need more time, please notify PNAS. Along with the information provided at initial submission, revised submissions must also include:

Word LaTeX (Overleaf)
Research article Research article
Brief Report Brief Report
SI Appendix SI Appendix

Supply figures and schemes as high-resolution files whenever possible. Please review the PNAS Digital Art Guidelines before uploading images.

Authors are invited to submit scientifically interesting and visually arresting images to be considered for our cover (see our archive). Illustrations need not appear in the article but should be representative of the work. Images should be original, and authors must grant PNAS a License to Publish. AI-generated images and stock photography will not be considered.

Editorial and Journal Policies

By submitting to PNAS, all authors agree to adhere to the journal's editorial and publication policies. Manuscripts are reviewed with the understanding that all authors have reviewed and approved each version submitted. Failure to comply with the PNAS Editorial and Journal policies may result in manuscript rejection, post-publication updates (including expressions of concern or retraction) and may preclude future publication in the journal.

Peer Review Process

Tier 1: Editorial Board assessment

The PNAS Editorial Board is made up of NAS members who are active scientists and experts in their fields. On submission, your paper is assigned to an Editorial Board member in one of the 31 NAS disciplines. If the Board member determines that the paper should proceed further, the individual assigns it to a member editor or, if the NAS membership lacks sufficient expertise, to a nonmember guest editor to oversee the peer review process. The Board may reject manuscripts without further review, or send them for review and subsequently reject those that do not meet PNAS standards. More than 50% of submissions are declined at initial evaluation.

Tier 2: Member Editor or guest editor assessment

A member editor is an NAS member who is an active scientist in the field most relevant to your research. The member editor manages the peer review process for papers in their field and determines suitability of your work for PNAS.

A guest editor is an active scientist who is not an NAS member but is recognized by the Board as an expert in their field. Guest editors manage the peer review process in emerging and interdisciplinary fields where the NAS membership lacks sufficient expertise. With oversight from the Editorial Board, guest editors determine suitability of your work for PNAS.

Tier 3: Independent peer review

Research papers across all submission routes are peer-reviewed by at least two independent experts. If your paper is sent out for review, your member editor or guest editor selects recognized subject experts to review your work. The editors evaluate the reviewers’ comments and make a recommendation to the Editorial Board member, who makes the final decision to accept or reject your paper. The acceptance rate is currently 14%.

A member or guest editor will typically secure two independent peer reviews. However, a single negative review, with which the editor agrees, may be sufficient to recommend rejection. The names of the reviewers of Direct Submissions are confidential and not shared, unless express permission is granted by the reviewers (single-anonymous peer review). Contributed submissions have open peer review (named reviewers).

For all articles, the peer review track is identified below the author affiliation line on the title page of the article, along with the name of the NAS member responsible for editing or contributing the paper.

The above peer review process is used to evaluate Brief Reports, Direct Submissions, Letters to the Editor, and Perspectives. Learn more about the peer review process for member-contributed submissions.

Editorial Policies

Authorship and contributions

Authorship must be limited to those who have contributed substantially to the work. The corresponding author must have obtained permission from all authors for the submission of each version of the paper and for any change in authorship. Artificial intelligence (AI) and generative AI software, such as large language models (e.g., ChatGPT), may not be listed as an author.

All collaborators share some degree of responsibility for any paper they coauthor. Some coauthors have responsibility for the entire paper as an accurate, verifiable report of the research. These include coauthors who are accountable for the integrity of the data reported in the paper, carry out the analysis, write the manuscript, present major findings at conferences, or provide scientific leadership to junior colleagues.

Coauthors who make specific, limited contributions to a paper are responsible for their contributions but may have only limited responsibility for other results. While not all coauthors may be familiar with all aspects of the research presented in their paper, all collaborators should have in place an appropriate process for reviewing the accuracy of the reported results.

Authors must indicate their specific contributions to the published work, which will be published as a footnote to the paper. Published contributions are taken from the submission system, not from the manuscript file. Examples of designations include:

An author may list more than one contribution, and more than one author may have contributed to the same aspect of the work.

ORCID

PNAS requires the corresponding author to provide an ORCID identifier at submission and strongly encourages all authors to use an ORCID ID. ORCID provides a persistent digital identifier that distinguishes you from every other researcher. When provided, published articles display the ORCID logo and link to an author’s ORCID record. Learn more or register for ORCID.

Corresponding authors

Throughout submission and peer review, a single corresponding author is responsible for providing all necessary manuscript information and interactions with the editorial office. After acceptance, multiple corresponding authors, who are responsible for checking the accuracy of the proof contents and who will act as points of contact for queries about the published article, are permissible; these authors should be indicated on the title page (see Submitting Your Manuscript).

Inclusion in Global Research

Authors are encouraged to consider recommendations from the TRUST CODE - A Global Code of Conduct for Equitable Research Partnerships when designing, conducting, and reporting research resulting from partnerships between high-income and lower-income settings. Authors should carefully consider contributions and authorship criteria when involved in collaborations among regions, countries, and communities. Local collaborators should be listed as coauthors when they meet the authorship criteria; otherwise, they should be included in the acknowledgments.

Authors may be asked for a disclosure statement pertaining to the ethical and scientific considerations of their research collaborations (including permits, authorizations, permissions, and/or any formal agreements with local communities or other authorities; additional acknowledgements of local help received; and/or description of end-users of the research) to be included in the acknowledgments.

Group authors

A group author is an organization or conglomerate of researchers that is collectively credited with authorship. An individual can appear as both an author and a member of a group author on the same paper. Group authors usually share contributions collectively, such as "performed research" or "contributed new reagents or analytic tools." The group author is listed on the author byline instead of listing all individual members. Individual members of the group are displayed within the supporting information of the published article and are included within the article metadata to ensure that the article is correctly indexed and linked to individual members in searches. Before submitting a manuscript with a large author list, please contact [email protected].

Competing interest

Authors must disclose, at submission, any association that poses, or could reasonably be perceived as posing, a financial or personal competing interest in connection with the manuscript and acknowledge all funding sources supporting the work. Disclosures must be entered directly into the submission system; providing a link to full disclosures hosted on a website is not permissible. When asked to evaluate a manuscript, members, reviewers, and editors must disclose any association that poses a competing interest in connection with the manuscript.

PNAS competing interest policy

PNAS recognizes the multiplicity of financial and other competing interests confronting authors, referees, and editors. The PNAS policy is designed to manage, not eliminate, competing interests. The most important element of our policy is that all authors, members, referees, and editors must disclose any association that poses or could be reasonably perceived as posing a financial, intellectual, or personal competing interest in connection with the manuscript. Disclosing a potential competing interest usually does not invalidate the research or the comments of a referee or editor; it simply provides the reader information necessary to independently assess the work.

When a competing interest is disclosed either by the author or the editor, a descriptive footnote will be included with the published article.

PNAS reserves the right to publish an erratum disclosing competing interests related to a previously published paper. Authors, referees, or editors who have deliberately or recklessly failed to disclose a competing interest may receive sanctions, including being banned from publishing in PNAS.

This policy applies to all material published in PNAS, including research articles, Perspectives, Editorials, Reviews, Colloquium papers, and Commentaries. Competing interests are considered relevant if they occurred within the 48 months prior to manuscript submission. For further details, please contact PNAS.

Guidance

Financial competing interest. A financial interest in an organization whose products or services are related to the article’s subject matter and could be reasonably perceived as capable of influencing the objectivity, integrity, or interpretation of a publication should be disclosed as a competing interest.

In determining whether the financial interest meets the “reasonably be perceived as…” criterion, use your best judgment to arrive at a good-faith determination.

These financial interests may include employment, substantive ownership of stock or mutual funds*, membership on a standing advisory council or committee, service on the board of directors, public association with the company or its products, consulting fees, patent filings, compensation as a spokesperson, honoraria received in exchange for services, or financial support.

These considerations apply to financial interests held by you, your spouse or domestic partner, or your dependent children within the last 48 months.

*For example, many US universities require faculty members to disclose interests exceeding $10,000 or 5% equity in a company.

Personal association competing interest. A competing interest due to a personal association arises if you are asked to serve as editor or reviewer of a manuscript whose authors include a person with whom you had an association, such as a thesis advisor (or advisee), postdoctoral mentor (or mentee), or coauthor of a paper, within the last 48 months. When such a competing interest arises, you may not serve as editor or reviewer.

Authors should disclose research collaborations occurring within the last 48 months that could be perceived as influencing, or benefiting from, the current research.

A competing interest due to personal association also arises if you are asked to serve as editor or reviewer of a manuscript whose authors include a person with whom you have a family relationship, such as a spouse, domestic partner, or parent–child relationship. When such a competing interest arises, you may not serve as editor or reviewer.

A personal association competing interest may exist for Academy members who submit a Contributed manuscript if a suggested reviewer was, for example, the member’s thesis advisee (or advisor), postdoctoral mentee (or mentor), or coauthor of a paper, within the last 48 months. When such a competing interest arises, an alternative reviewer must be suggested.

Author responsibilities

During manuscript submission, authors are required to complete the online form, disclose any competing interests, and acknowledge all funding sources supporting the work. The corresponding author must ensure that all authors have disclosed any competing interests.

Editor and reviewer responsibilities

When asked to evaluate a manuscript, reviewers and editors must disclose any association that poses a competing interest in connection with the manuscript. Referees and editors are asked to recuse themselves from handling a paper if the competing interest makes them unable to make an impartial scientific judgment or evaluation. A referee or editor who has a competing interest but believes that it does not preclude them from making a proper judgment must disclose to the journal the nature of the interest.

Concurrent submission

PNAS will not consider manuscripts that are simultaneously submitted to, or are under consideration by, any other journal or publisher. This policy applies to manuscripts that are under appeal at PNAS or at any other journal or publisher.

Design, methods, and analysis transparency

Authors should follow field standards for disclosing key aspects of research design and data analysis and should report the standards used in their study. See the EQUATOR Network for information about standards across disciplines. PNAS encourages authors to preregister their studies and analysis plans and to provide links to the preregistration in their submission. The main text must contain a Materials and Methods section which provides enough information for readers to follow the experiments in the paper. This information cannot be provided solely as supporting information. Authors should provide the names and locations of all field, sites, or research facilities in the methods sections of their manuscript. GPS coordinates for archaeological sites should also be included when allowed. Authors are encouraged to include a map of the area where the study was conducted. Maps should avoid depicting contested borders or disputed place names. If disputed territories are relevant for the study, please ensure neutral figure captions, legends, and labeling within the map.

Dual use research of concern

Authors and reviewers must notify PNAS if a manuscript reports potential dual use research of concern (DURC). The National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity (NSABB) defines DURC as “life sciences research that, based on current understanding, can be reasonably anticipated to provide knowledge, information, products, or technologies that could be directly misapplied to pose a significant threat with broad potential consequences to public health and safety, agricultural crops and other plants, animals, the environment, materiel, or national security.” PNAS will evaluate such papers and, if necessary, will consult additional reviewers. See the articles “PNAS policy on publication of sensitive material in the life sciences” and “A balance between innovation and biosafety” for more information.

Embargo policy

PNAS may distribute ** embargoed **copies of an accepted article to the press prior to publication. Embargoes expire at 3:00 PM Eastern time, Monday of the publication week. Authors may talk freely with the press about their work but should coordinate with the PNAS News Office so that reporters are aware of PNAS policy.

If a version of your PNAS manuscript has ever been posted, in whole or in part, in any publicly accessible form, including on preprint servers, or if you plan on presenting your embargoed paper at a conference prior to publication, please note that different embargo policies may apply and you must contact the PNAS News Office immediately at 202-334-1310 or [email protected].

Errata

PNAS is committed to correcting published research as necessary to maintain the accuracy of the scientific record. Authors should notify PNAS when a correction to a published article is needed by completing the Correction Request form. At its discretion, PNAS may publish independent, citable corrections for errors of a scientific nature that do not alter the overall results or conclusions of a published article. Requests for these corrections may be sent to an editor for review to determine whether the errors warrant a Correction.

The standards for assembling scientific figures have evolved over time and are taken into consideration when addressing concerns about published figures. If concerns are raised regarding figures that were assembled in accordance with the guidelines at the time of their publication but do not meet current standards, they will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis to determine their impact on the reported results. In instances where figure errors do not affect the overall results or conclusions of a published article, PNAS may choose to publish independent and citable corrections while keeping the figures unchanged. Instances of suspected improper figure assembly, such as unauthorized duplication, may be reported to the corresponding author's affiliated institution or funding agency, as recommended by COPE.

PNAS articles may be retracted by their authors or by the editors because of pervasive error or unsubstantiated or irreproducible data. Articles may be retracted, for example, because of honest error, scientific misconduct, or plagiarism.

Name changes do not require a formal correction, unless specifically requested. See Name Changes for more information.

Human and animal participants

Studies with human participants, including self-experimentation, and/or animal subjects must have been approved by the author’s institutional review board. Authors must include in the methods section a brief statement identifying the institutional and/or licensing committee that approved the experiments, including reference/permit numbers (where available), or provide a statement explaining why approval was not necessary. The journal reserves the right to ask authors for all ethical documentation related to their study and to contact the authors’ institution for more information.

All experiments must have been conducted according to the principles expressed in the Declaration of Helsinki. For all experiments involving human participants, authors must also include a statement confirming that informed consent was obtained from all participants or provide a statement explaining why informed consent was not necessary. Authors are strongly encouraged to report participant recruitment selection criteria; participant dropout criteria; rates, timing, and conditions (as applicable); and participant data excluded from the analysis and any effects on the results.

Studies reporting on clinical trials must follow the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors’ policy to deposit clinical trial and design information into an accepted clinical trial registry before the onset of patient enrollment. Detailed trial information, such as registration numbers and the registry name, must be included in the manuscript.

All use of animals in research should be ethical and humane, in accordance with the United States Animal Welfare Act and the Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals, and investigators should strive to meet all requirements recommended by scientific societies focused on the specifics of their study organism(s). Authors are encouraged to consider Directive 2010/63/EU and explore practices to replace, reduce, and refine the use and care of animals in procedures. For animal studies, authors must report the details in accordance with the ARRIVE guidelines, including the species, sex, age, housing conditions (or natural habitat), and when applicable, the strain, weight, welfare, animal training, and fate of the animals at the end of the experiment.

Integrity and research misconduct

As part of the journal's editorial assessment and peer review process, PNAS uses software that may leverage artificial intelligence (AI), such as iThenticate to screen for text similarity to published works, Pangram to detect content generated by AI, Prophy to assist matching submissions to editors and potential reviewers, and Web of Science Reviewer Locator to identify potential reviewers.

Artificial intelligence

Use of AI and generative AI software, such as large language models (e.g., ChatGPT), during the research process must be disclosed in the Materials and Methods section (or Acknowledgments, if no Materials and Methods section is available) of the manuscript and may not be listed as an author. The name and specific model or version (e.g., GPT-4 or Claude 3.5 Sonnet) of any AI tool should be provided. Authors are solely accountable for, and must thoroughly fact-check, outputs created with the help of generative AI software. AI tools for creating images or graphics may not be used unless the software is the subject of the work under consideration. Accordingly, PNAS does not permit AI-generated content in cover art submissions. See Protecting scientific integrity in an age of generative AI (2024) for further guidance.

Images

No specific feature within an image may be enhanced, obscured, moved, removed, or introduced. The grouping or consolidation of images from multiple sources must be made explicit by the arrangement of the figure and in the figure legend. Adjustments of brightness, contrast, or color balance are acceptable if they are applied to the whole image and if they do not obscure, eliminate, or misrepresent any information present in the original, including backgrounds.

Questions about images raised during image screening will be referred to the editors, who may request the original data from the authors for comparison with the prepared figures. If the original data cannot be produced, the manuscript may be rejected. Cases of deliberate misrepresentation of data will result in rejection of the paper and may be reported to the corresponding author's home institution or funding agency as recommended by COPE. Authors must obtain consent for publication of figures with recognizable human faces.

Research misconduct

All work should be free of fabrication, falsification, and plagiarism as defined by the US Office of Research Integrity. In cases of suspected or alleged misconduct, PNAS follows the recommended procedures from COPE.

PNAS uses software to screen manuscripts for potential research integrity issues. PNAS will also evaluate issues with text, data, or figures that are brought to our direct attention and may request from the authors source data, descriptions of how experiments were performed, or explanations of how figures were prepared. PNAS may discuss concerns with a member of the Editorial Board, the editor, or the authors.

Authors should place direct quotes or excerpts from others’ publications in quotation marks and must identify the original source reference(s). For text passages that overlap with another, published work, but that are not verbatim, authors must include the original source reference(s). See our Publication Ethics Process for reporting a concern.

Materials and data availability

To allow others to replicate and build on work published in PNAS, authors must make all materials, data, and associated protocols, including code and scripts, used in the analysis of the study available to readers in a public repository upon publication. Restrictions on full or partial access to these materials and requests for legal, ethical, and logistical (e.g., size) exceptions must be noted at submission. If requested, these materials must be made available to editors and reviewers during submission for the purpose of evaluating the manuscript. A statement detailing sharing plans will be included in the published article. Research datasets, whether original or previously published, must be cited in the references as a condition for publication.

PNAS encourages authors to:

Data availability requirements:

Material Policy
Algorithms and computer codes
Characterization of chemical compounds Authors must provide sufficient information to establish the identity of a new compound and its purity.Authors must include sufficient experimental details to allow other researchers to reproduce the synthesis.Authors must include characterization data and experimental details either in the text or in the SI.
Datasets Before publication, authors must deposit all datasets (including microarray data, protein or nucleic acid sequences, and atomic coordinates for macromolecular structures) in an approved database and provide an accession number for inclusion in the published article. Citation to the dataset must be included in the references.When no public repository exists, authors must provide the data as SI or, if this is not possible, on the author's institutional website.Authors should contact PNAS regarding privacy concerns, legal constraints to sharing, or to provide instructions for accessing large datasets.Authors using public databases should retain a copy of the dataset used in their analysis, along with the relevant metadata. When the data license permits, authors should make this archived version publicly accessible in a data repository or supporting information.
Earth and space sciences data Authors should follow the FAIRdata principles.See DataCite Repository Finder.
Enzymology data When reporting kinetic and equilibrium binding data, authors should follow the Standards for Reporting Enzymology Data (STRENDA) commissionguidelines.
Fossils and rare specimens Fossils, other geological samples, archeological materials, or other rare specimens must be deposited in a museum or repository and be made available to qualified researchers under conditions stipulated by the institution and/or relevant entities that permitted the work and/or house the collections.Authors must ensure that specimens were collected in concordance with international norms and with all national and local laws of the territory in which they were discovered.
Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies Authors should deposit data to XNAT Centralor equivalent publicly accessible repository.
Genomic and proteomic studies Authors must submit genomic, proteomic, or other high-throughput data to the NCBI gene expression
and hybridization array data repository (GEO) or equivalent publicly accessible database.Authors should deposit data in dbGaP.Accession numbers must be provided and access to deposited data must be available at the time of publication.Submitted data should follow the MIAME checklist.
Plasmids Authors are encouraged to deposit plasmid constructs in a public repository such as Addgene.
Protein and nucleic acid sequences Authors must deposit data in a publicly available database such as GenBank,EMBL,DNA Data Bank of Japan,UniProtKB/Swiss-Prot, orPRIDE.Including raw data in the public repositories is recommended.Authors must provide a link to the data and associated accession numbers prior to publication.Showing examples within the manuscript (body or supplementary information) of individual replicates prior to averaging to provide a sense of variability of the data is recommended. Detailed information should be available in associated datasets.
Structural studies: small-angle scattering experiments Authors are encouraged to follow the guidelines by the International Union of Crystallography (IUCr).Prior to submission, authors are encouraged to use the IUCr checkCIF serviceto validate their crystallographic information files (CIFs) and structure factors.Validation reports may be submitted as SI for editors and reviewers.
Structural studies: structures of biological macromolecules from electron microscopy experiments that involve any averaging method (including subtomogram averaging) Authors must deposit the 3D map at either the EMBL-EBI (UK) or RCSB (USA) EMDB deposition site.Any atomic structure models fitted to EM maps must be deposited in PDB.For electron tomographic studies with no averaging, deposition of one or more representative tomograms in EMDB is strongly recommended.PDB and/or EMDB accession codes must be included in the manuscript, together with a brief descriptive title for each accession.Where PDB models have been fitted into EMDB maps, the correspondences between them should be clearly stated.
Unique materials (e.g., cloned DNAs; antibodies; bacterial, animal, or plant cells; viruses) Authors must make unique materials promptly available on request by qualified researchers for their own use. Failure to comply will preclude future publication in the journal.Authors may charge a modest amount to cover the cost of preparing and shipping the requested material.

Data not shown and personal communications cannot be used to support claims in the work. If deposition of data is not possible, authors may use supporting information (SI) to show all necessary data. For further information about accessibility of data and materials, see Reproducibility and Replicability in Science (2019). PNAS supports the CARE Principles for Indigenous Data Governance to balance accessibility of data with the rights of indigenous populations to be consulted on restrictions and reuse.

Contact [email protected] if you have difficulty obtaining materials or data.

Data availability and retention

Authors agree to make original data and code underlying their manuscript fully available upon request during the peer review process or post-publication. This includes all raw visual data including, but not limited to, blots, gels, or micrographs. All data and any direct outputs from imaging systems must be retained in their raw, unprocessed versions. To respond to potential post-publication concerns, PNAS strongly recommends that authors retain all original data in perpetuity.

Name changes

PNAS recognizes that people change their names for a variety of reasons. An author, editor, or reviewer who wishes to change how their name appears on a published PNAS article should complete the Name Change Request form. PNAS will work on each request to ensure that the change is made quickly, accurately, and confidentially, if requested. Given/family names and initials will be updated in all versions of the article (HTML and PDF), as well as metadata records of the paper. No indication or notification of the change will be published unless a formal correction is requested. Once the change is made, only the new name will be associated with the paper. PNAS will send the updated information to PubMed, PubMed Central, and Crossref, but cannot control changes in other downstream repositories or indexing services. PNAS cannot update references (in text or reference list), only listed names of authors, reviewers, or editors in the byline.

For additional questions or information, please contact [email protected].

Open access

All PNAS articles are free within six months of publication. Authors who choose the open access option can have their articles made available without cost to the reader immediately upon publication. Open access articles are published under a nonexclusive License to Publish and distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives (CC BY-NC-ND) license or a Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY).

Preprint servers

Posting on preprint servers, such as arXiv or bioRxiv, is permitted and will not affect editorial consideration. However, authors must disclose preprint deposition. The license selected for a preprint will affect the sharing, adaptation, and reuse of material (see Licenses for PNAS Articles and the PNAS statements on prior publication, preprints, and the media embargo policy for details). Please contact the PNAS News Office ([email protected]) before posting an accepted manuscript as a preprint.

Previous publication

Submitted manuscripts must not have been previously published. What constitutes prior publication must take into account many criteria, including the extent of review, and will be determined on a case-by-case basis. Related manuscripts that are in press or submitted elsewhere must be included with a PNAS submission.

Figures, tables, or videos that have been published elsewhere must be identified, and permission from the copyright holder for both the online and print editions of the journal must be provided.

Recombinant DNA

Physical and biological containment must conform to National Institutes of Health guidelines or those of a corresponding agency.

Resubmissions and Appeals

Resubmissions to PNAS may be allowed upon request. Appeals must be made in writing within 3 months of the decision and sent to [email protected]. PNAS may consider author appeals of decisions on rejected papers; 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, a quick decision on appeals cannot be guaranteed. If an appeal is rejected, further appeals of the decision will not be considered and the paper may not be resubmitted. Repeated appeals or uninvited resubmissions of a rejected manuscript will not be considered and may result in the authors being banned from submitting to PNAS.

Statistical analysis

Statistical analyses should be done on all available data and not just on data from a "representative experiment." Statistical analyses should include:

Statistics and error bars should only be shown for independent experiments and not for replicates within a single experiment (see Figure Legends for error bar details). Editors may send manuscripts for statistical review.

Survey research

PNAS supports the recommendations for Protecting the Integrity of Survey Research. All survey questions and their order must be included in the supplemental material upon initial submission. When reporting survey data, the following information must be disclosed in the methods section as applicable:

When survey data are weighted, the phrase “representative sample” should not be used without explicit acknowledgment of the underlying assumptions, including disclosure of weighting and modeling used.

Publication Charges

You can find information on PNAS article processing charges and publication licenses on this page.

Article Processing Charges

PNAS depends, in part, on the payment of article processing charges (APCs) to finance its operations. Papers are accepted or rejected for publication and published solely on the basis of merit. For articles that published in volume 123 and later, please see the APC and license structure below. PNAS will grant waivers for authors who do not have funding to cover APCs (for example, in mathematics and astronomy, or from lower-income countries). Articles that publish in volume 122 will have the 2025 APC structure.

Regular research articles:

APC Available Licenses
Delayed open access $3,025 CC BY-NC-ND
Immediate open access $5,575 for corresponding authors from institutions with current-year site licenses (compared to our $6,075 regular fee) CC BY-NC-ND or CC BY

Brief Report articles. $2,600 per article with either a CC BY or CC BY-NC-ND license. All Brief Report articles are immediately open access upon publication.

All PNAS articles, regardless of their license, are free within six months of publication.

Publication charges may be paid by credit card, check, or wire transfer. On receipt of the publication estimate, authors may log into the author billing system to review their charges. Email questions regarding billing and payment of APCs to [email protected]. Submit requests for waivers of charges to [email protected].

Licenses for PNAS Articles

Users are advised to check each article for its publication license and corresponding reuse and distribution policies.

PNAS offers two Creative Commons licenses: CC BY-NC-ND and CC BY. Please visit the respective websites for information on license terms.

The standard PNAS license was discontinued beginning with articles published in volume 119 (2022). Information on the terms that apply to articles that were published with this license can be found here: standard PNAS License terms.

Open Access Policy

All PNAS articles are free to read within six months of publication, without a subscription, and PNAS automatically deposits the version of record in PubMed Central for the authors. Authors who choose the immediate open access option can have their articles made freely available immediately upon publication. The following content is freely available upon publication:

Open access articles are published under a nonexclusive License to Publish and distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives (CC BY-NC-ND) or a Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license. Some funders and institutions have explicit open access and license requirements. Authors are advised to confirm these requirements with their funding or institutional representatives to ensure compliance or to request policy waivers. Changes to license selections, or open access status, after publication may not be possible.

PNAS operates on a break-even basis and must generate sufficient revenue annually to cover all operating expenses. PNAS is prohibited from retaining a surplus or maintaining cash reserves. More information about PNAS’s financial governance can be found here.

Since 2004, PNAS has offered green open access to everyone. Immediately upon publication, authors may deposit their accepted manuscript in their funding body’s archive or designated noncommercial institutional repository, under the same license as the published article, provided that a link to the published article in PNAS is included. The accepted manuscript is the version of the article that was accepted for publication after peer review and prior to copyediting by PNAS. Authors may make their deposited accepted manuscripts publicly available immediately upon publication by PNAS. See the PNAS listing on Open Policy Finder (formerly Sherpa Services).

PNAS offers an immediate open access option. Note that Plan S-funded authors may not be able to use Plan S funds to pay for open access fees. If Plan S-funded authors do not have funds available, PNAS will grant waivers for the CC BY fee on a case-by-case basis.

PNAS also participates in the following open access initiatives:

Authors Rights and Permissions

Rights and permissions

For volumes 1–89 (1915–1992), the author(s) retains copyright to individual articles, and the NAS holds copyright to the collective work.

For volumes 90–105 (1993–2008), the articles are copyright NAS.

For volumes 106–118 (2009–2021), except for open access articles submitted beginning September 2017, the author(s) retains copyright to individual articles, and the NAS retains an exclusive license to publish these articles and holds copyright to the collective work.

For articles published under either a CC BY-NC-ND or CC BY license beginning September 2017, the NAS retains a nonexclusive license to publish.

Visit the Permissions FAQ for information about PNAS copyright and self-archiving guidelines.

**PNAS authors do not need permission for the following cases: **

The full journal reference must be cited and, for articles published in volumes 90–105 (1993–2008), "Copyright (copyright year) National Academy of Sciences" must be included as a copyright note.

Requesting permission

For permission to reuse material in volumes 90–118 (1993–2021) that published under the exclusive PNAS License to Publish, requests should be sent to [email protected] and must include the following information about the requestor and the material:

Requests must also include the following information about the intended use of the material:

Permission is not required to use original figures or tables for noncommercial and educational use (i.e., in a review article, in a book that is not for sale) if the article published under the exclusive PNAS License to Publish. Please include a full journal reference and, for articles published in volumes 90–105 (1993–2008), include "Copyright (copyright year) National Academy of Sciences" as a copyright note. Commercial reuse of figures and tables (i.e., in promotional materials, in a textbook for sale) requires permission from PNAS.

Reproducing full articles (whether physically or electronically) published under the exclusive PNAS License to Publish requires permission from PNAS and will also incur an article reprint fee. Sharing the URL of a PNAS article does not require permission and will not incur any fees.

In September 2017 (partway through volume 114), PNAS started offering CC BY-NC-ND and CC BY licenses. PNAS is not authorized to grant permission for material published under either license, as the authors hold copyright. However, depending on the intended use, permission may not be required at all. Users are advised to check each article for its publication license and corresponding reuse and distribution policies.

As a courtesy, please notify PNAS authors when reusing their work, regardless of the license to publish. Use of PNAS material must not imply any endorsement by PNAS or NAS.

Text and data mining are permitted for noncommercial institutions with an active institutional site license to PNAS for internal noncommercial research purposes. Other requests should be sent to [email protected].

PNAS cannot supply original artwork. Such requests should be directed to the article’s corresponding author (contact information is available in the article’s footnotes).

Additional permissions requests

Copyright Clearance Center offers the following pay-per-use options for PNAS material:

Pay-per-use orders can be submitted directly through the Copyright Clearance Center website.

Authorization to photocopy items for the internal or personal use of specific clients is granted by the NAS provided that the proper fee is paid directly to the Copyright Clearance Center.

For questions regarding any of the above, including permission to photocopy beyond that permitted by Section 107 or 108 of the US Copyright Law, contact:

Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive Danvers, MA 01923; Phone: 978-750-8400; Fax: 978-750-4770; Email: [email protected]

Pilot Publish-and-Read Agreements

The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) has select pilot Read-and-Publish agreements with institutions and consortia to provide immediate public access to PNAS, the peer reviewed journal of the NAS. These agreements offer a sustainable open access framework and provide the following benefits to researchers at participating institutions:

Jisc Publish-and-Read agreement

PNAS has a new two-year Publish-and-Read agreement with Jisc, running from January 1, 2026, to December 31, 2027. Corresponding authors at participating UK institutions may publish open access in PNAS without paying article processing charges. A CC BY license is applied by default; authors who choose to opt out will be responsible for paying the full publication charges outlined in the PNAS Publication Fees page.

How to take advantage of this agreement:

University of California Publish-and-Read agreement

California Digital Library has signed a Publish-and-Read agreement with the NAS on behalf of the University of California. The agreement, which benefits researchers at all University of California campuses and the Lawrence Berkeley and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratories, runs from January 1, 2024, to December 31, 2026.

Under the agreement, corresponding authors from any University of California institution, including the Lawrence Berkeley and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratories, may publish open access in PNAS for a discounted total rate of $3,355 per article, with no separate article page charges. A CC BY license is applied to the article by default; authors may opt to change to CC BY-NC-ND.

Authors may also opt out of using an open access license to publish their article and choose subscription-only access instead. These authors will pay PNAS article charges as outlined in the Article Processing Charges.

Max Planck Society Publish-and-Read agreement

Max Planck Digital Library (MPDL) has renewed a Publish-and-Read agreement with the NAS on behalf of the Max Planck Society. The agreement is in effect from May 1, 2026, through April 30, 2029.

Corresponding authors affiliated with Max Planck Society institutes may publish open access in PNAS without paying article processing charges (APCs). A CC BY license must be selected. Authors who opt out of publishing their articles with an immediate open access CC BY license should contact [email protected] for guidance on applicable publication charges.

For background, see the 2023 announcement of the initial pilot agreement.

PNAS and Funder Mandates

All authors who publish in PNAS under a CC BY license retain copyright ownership for their work, along with the right to post their accepted manuscript under the same CC BY license. PNAS makes all published articles available through PMC and Europe PMC at the close of each weekly issue.

Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

Authors whose research was funded in part or in whole by the Gates Foundation may comply with the Gates Foundation open access policy as follows:

HHMI

Effective January 1, 2026, HHMI lab budgets may no longer be used to pay APCs at hybrid journals. APCs for fully open access journals such as PNAS Nexus—a fully open-access journal from the National Academy of Sciences—remain eligible.

National Institutes of Health

Authors whose research was funded in part or in whole by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) must comply with the NIH Public Access Policy. PNAS offers two routes to compliance:

The Wellcome Trust

Authors may comply with the Wellcome open access policy by including the following statement in their submission, which will be included in the published article:

“This research was funded in whole or in part by the Wellcome Trust. For the purpose of Open Access, the author has applied a CC BY public copyright license to any Author Accepted Manuscript (AAM) version arising from this submission.”

Wellcome Trust authors should also select a CC BY license for their PNAS article, which ensures that their article will be made freely available upon publication. Note that Wellcome does not permit authors to use their funds to pay the APC associated with publishing open access in PNAS.