Join thousands of researchers worldwide that have published their work in one of our 3,000+ Springer Nature journals.
Step-by-step guide to article publishing
- Make sure you follow the submission guidelines for that journal. Search for a journal.
- Get permission to use any images.
- Check that your data is easy to reproduce.
- State clearly if you're reusing any data that has been used elsewhere.
- Follow our policies on plagiarism and ethics.
- Use our services to get help with English translation, scientific assessment and formatting. Find out what support you can get.
2. Write a cover letter
- Introduce your work in a 1-page letter, explaining the research you did, and why it's relevant.
3. Submit your manuscript
- Go to the journal homepage to start the process
- You can only submit 1 article at a time to each journal. Duplicate submissions will be rejected.
4. Technical check
- We'll make sure that your article follows the journal guidelines for formatting, ethics, plagiarism, contributors, and permissions.
5. Editor and peer review
- The journal editor will read your article and decide if it's ready for peer review.
- Most articles will be reviewed by 2 or more experts in the field.
- They may contact you with questions at this point.
6. Final decision
- If your article is accepted, you'll need to sign a publishing agreement.
- If your article is rejected, you can get help finding another journal from our transfer desk team.
7. Payment
- If your article is open access, you'll need to pay a fee.
- Fees for OA publishing differ across journals. See relevant journal page for more information.
- You may be able to get help covering that cost. See information on funding.
8. Publish
- We'll send you proofs to approve, then we'll publish your article.
- Track your impact by logging in to your account
Get tips on preparing your manuscript using our submission checklist.
Each publication follows a slightly different process, so check the journal's guidelines for more details
Open access vs subscription publishing
Each of our journals has its own policies, options, and fees for publishing.
Over 600 of our journals are fully open access. Others use a hybrid model, with readers paying to access some articles.
Publishing your article open access has a number of benefits:
- Free to access and download
- Reaches a wider global audience
- 1.6x more citations
- 6x more downloads
- 4.9 average Altmetric attention (vs 2.1 subscription)
It's free to publish your article in a subscription journal, but there are fees for publishing open access articles. You'll need to check the open access fees for the journal you choose.
Get help with funding
Many organisations require you to publish your research open access. It's worth checking with your supervisor and colleagues to understand your organisation's approach.
Many funders and institutions will cover your open access publishing fees. To find out if your fees are covered, take a look at our funding agreements.
We also offer discounts for researchers in some geographical regions. See regions with reduced fees
Choose a journal
We have 3,000+ journals to choose from, covering a wide range of topics. The best way to find a relevant journal is to search by keyword.
Once you've chosen a journal, check the submission guidelines to see the open access fees.
Get support
We offer editing, translation, data presentation and formatting services to help you at each step.
If you have a question about a specific journal, check the submission guidelines. If you still need help, contact us.
