What is the PNAS Impact Factor in 2026?

The 2025 JIF is 9.5 in the 2026 JCR release.

What is PNAS's acceptance rate?

The 2025 acceptance rate is 13% .

How fast is the first PNAS decision?

First decision: 10 days ; post review: 45 days .

PNAS is Q1 in Multidisciplinary Sciences , with a current supporting category rank of 14/135 .

PNAS Impact Factor 2026: 9.5 (2025 JIF, 2026 JCR)

Name: SciFig
Author: SciFig

PNAS lists a 2025 Journal Impact Factor of 9.5 in the 2026 JCR release.

Those numbers describe the journal, not the expected outcome for your manuscript. PNAS is multidisciplinary, evaluates papers through an editorial-board process, and publishes several article types with different length and figure expectations.

What is PNAS's impact factor?

The official PNAS metrics page lists an Impact Factor of 9.5. It labels the supporting table 2025 Metrics. Clarivate describes its 2026 JCR release as reflecting 2025 data, so the safest wording is “PNAS 2025 Journal Impact Factor, 2026 JCR release: 9.5” rather than presenting it as a timeless score.

PNAS itself warns that a journal-level Impact Factor does not represent the citation distribution of individual articles. Use the value as one screening signal, then inspect scope, article type, review path, publication charges, and the evidence package your study needs.

PNAS at a glance

A scientific figure is one of the production constraints that the Impact Factor cannot answer, so check the companion artwork guide too.

Publisher metric	PNAS
Impact Factor (2025 JIF, 2026 JCR release)	9.5
Acceptance rate	13%
Time to first decision	10 days
Time to first post-review decision	45 days
Submission to online publication	6.5 months

The metrics page also describes article-level usage and citation indicators, including Altmetric score, citation counts, full-text views, abstract views, and PDF downloads. These measures answer different questions from the journal Impact Factor.

You searched 2026 — why this is the 2025 JIF

The year in a search result is often the year you are doing the research, not the year covered by the metric. PNAS's public page calls the table 2025 Metrics and lists the Impact Factor as 9.5; Clarivate's 2026 JCR announcement says that release reflects 2025 data. Keep both the JCR release year and metric year when you compare PNAS with another journal.

The same table reports the acceptance and decision medians for that metrics release. The publication page also says articles are published directly into an open issue and that prompt proof return can allow publication within four to five weeks after acceptance; that production window is not the same as the 6.5 months submission-to-online median.

Where this number comes from, and how to check it yourself

Use PNAS's Article and Journal Metrics page. It presents the Impact Factor, acceptance rate, turnaround values, citation distribution, and links to related journal and article metrics.

The page explains that the citation distribution behind the 2025 Impact Factor uses articles published in 2023 and 2024. That context is why a journal metric should not be read as an average citation count for a newly accepted paper.

Is PNAS Q1? Quartile and category rank

The current supporting JCR record lists PNAS as Q1 in Multidisciplinary Sciences, with a category rank of 14/135. That gives you the direct quartile answer for journal shortlisting.

The PNAS public metrics page publishes the 9.5 Impact Factor but does not expose those JCR fields, so this Q1 line is identified as a current supporting JCR record rather than a PNAS field.

Is PNAS's impact factor rising or falling?

Yes. The latest two comparable two-year JIF releases rose from 9.1 in 2024 to 9.5 in 2025, a change of +0.4. The recent two-release direction is therefore up.

This answers the recent direction question; it is not a claim that the long-term series is a straight line.

Beyond the headline: CiteScore, SJR, and h-index

PNAS says it provides a broad set of indicators, including CiteScore, SJR, SNIP, Eigenfactor, Article Influence, Google Scholar metrics, and article-level usage. The public page captured for this guide does not expose a single comparable value for every one of those measures in the same compact table.

Use the PNAS page to inspect the available indicator and its definition, then compare it with the same indicator for the other journals on your shortlist. A metric without a matching definition and release year is not a fair ranking input.

PNAS vs peers

PNAS is a broad multidisciplinary venue. The useful peer question is not “which journal has the largest number?” but whether the paper's significance, audience, article type, and review path fit the venue.

Compare PNAS with the journals already covered on SciFig: the Science Advances Impact Factor guide and Nature Communications Impact Factor guide keep the peer comparison inside the site. Use the same checklist for scope, evidence threshold, article type, figure limits, open-access cost, and timing; the 9.5 Impact Factor starts the comparison but does not finish it.

What this number does not tell you

The Impact Factor does not tell you:

whether an editor will send your paper for review;
whether your work belongs in a Research Report, Brief Report, Letter, or another article type;
whether the PNAS figure and page limits fit your evidence package;
how the open-access license affects your budget;
or whether the journal's AI policy permits the image workflow you planned.

Read the companion PNAS formatting requirements and submission guide before treating the score as a recommendation.

Preparing figures for PNAS

PNAS's digital art guidance gives 8.7 cm for one-column width, 11.4 cm for one-and-a-half columns, 17.8 cm for two columns, and 22.5 cm as the recommended maximum height. It also asks for 6 points to 12 points after reduction, with resolution bands from 300 ppi to 1000–1200 ppi depending on the image type.

The full PNAS formatting guide explains which files, color mode, fonts, and line weights to use. If you need editable artwork, use Vector Canvas for existing figures or SVG layers, or Figure Enhancer for an existing raster figure. For grant, conference, institutional, or other tasks where AI-generated visuals are allowed, you can also explore Text-to-Figure to create a new draft. Keep the source until production is complete.

Read the figure rules before choosing the article type

PNAS combines page, display-element, and digital-art limits. Check the whole package before you lock the layout.

Explore the Tool

Should you submit to PNAS?

PNAS is worth considering when the work can matter to a broad scientific audience and the manuscript can satisfy the journal's editorial and peer-review path. The public metrics show a 13% acceptance rate and 10 days to first decision, but neither number predicts your paper's path.

Submit when the paper has a clear contribution beyond a narrow specialist result, the intended article type is correct, and your team can prepare the required title page, significance statement where applicable, figures, data-sharing plan, reviewer suggestions, and license decision.

Frequently asked questions

Sources

This page uses official PNAS pages captured through a rendered browser session and reviewed in 2026.

PNAS — Article and Journal Metrics — Impact Factor, acceptance, turnaround, and 2025 metrics
Clarivate — Journal Citation Reports 2026 — release naming and the statement that the 2026 release reflects 2025 data
PNAS — Author Center — author-center navigation and submission context
PNAS — Editorial and Journal Policies — review process and AI policy
PNAS — Submitting Your Manuscript — article types, initial submission, and manuscript components
PNAS — Publication Charges — APC and license structure
PNAS — Digital Art Guidelines — resolution, color, fonts, widths, and line weights

See our editorial standards for how these guides are researched and corrected.