Short answers, pulled from the story.
Nature Communications launched in 2010 as a multidisciplinary online-only publication from the Nature Portfolio. Lesley Anson served as the founding editor-in-chief to guide its initial direction.
Elisa De Ranieri currently holds the position of editor-in-chief at Nature Communications. She followed Joerg Heber and Magdalena Skipper in the editorial leadership succession.
In January 2016 all content became freely accessible to anyone with an internet connection. This shift marked a complete transition from subscription-based availability to full open access status for the journal.
According to the Journal Citation Reports the journal has a 2024 impact factor of 15.7. This metric reflects the average number of citations received per paper published in the journal over the preceding two years.
Communications Biology Communications Chemistry and Communications Physics launched as specialized outlets for specific disciplines in 2017. Additional journals including Communications Materials arrived in 2020 while Communications Medicine began operations in 2021.