Nature Climate Change

• 1. Introduction

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  Nature Climate Change arrived in 2011 with a single mandate: bring the full breadth of global warming research under one monthly roof. The journal did not emerge from nothing. It grew directly out of Nature Reports Climate Change, a predecessor publication that itself had launched in 2007, giving the broader Nature Portfolio family nearly two decades of continuous focus on climate science. What does it take to shape the scientific conversation on one of the defining challenges of our time? And what does a 2023 impact factor of 30.3 actually tell us about who reads the journal and why? Those questions run through everything that follows.

• 2. Origins and Lineage

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  Nature Reports Climate Change launched in 2007, staking out territory at a moment when climate science was rapidly accelerating. Four years later, Nature Portfolio chose not simply to rename or expand that publication but to establish a new journal entirely, Nature Climate Change, as its direct continuation. The distinction mattered. A new journal carried its own identity, its own editorial board, and its own submission culture. Olive Heffernan became the first editor-in-chief, a choice that signalled the journal's intent to combine rigorous peer review with broad thematic reach. Heffernan's tenure set the early editorial tone that later editors would build on.

• 3. Scope and Coverage

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  Nature Climate Change is built to span disciplines. Its stated remit covers all aspects of research on global warming and the current climate change, with particular weight given to effects rather than only causes. That focus on effects means the journal publishes work ranging from atmospheric science and oceanography through to economics, ecology, and human health. Monthly publication keeps the rhythm steady without the pressure of weekly deadlines, giving authors and reviewers time to engage with complex, cross-disciplinary findings. The breadth is deliberate; understanding climate change demands that no single field dominate the conversation.

• 4. Impact and Standing

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  Journal Citation Reports recorded an impact factor of 30.3 for Nature Climate Change in 2023, a figure that positions it among the most cited journals in its field. Impact factor measures how frequently articles published in a two-year window are cited in subsequent work; a score above 30 reflects sustained, high-volume citation across the research community. For a monthly journal covering a field as active as climate science, maintaining that level requires consistently attracting landmark studies. Bronwyn Wake, the journal's current editor-in-chief, now oversees the editorial process that filters thousands of submissions down to the studies most likely to shift the field's direction.