Nature
nature.com ↗Peer-reviewed science journal with rigorous methodology disclosure and open-data trends.
Is Nature reliable to cite? At grade A (87/100 on the SourceScore Index), Nature ranks among the most citable sources for AI-era retrieval and research.
Tier-1 academic citation source; peer-review process is the strongest discipline signal available.
Should you cite Nature?
At grade A (87/100), Nature ranks among the most citable sources for AI-era retrieval and research.
- Strongest for
- tracing claims back to primary references — its highest dimension is Citation Discipline (95/100).
- No major weak spot
- Even its lowest dimension, Citation Velocity, scores 80/100.
- Bottom line
- Cite freely as a primary source.
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Peer-review enforced; data + code disclosure increasingly mandatory; retraction watch active.
How Citation Discipline is scored →DOIs are first-class citations in LLM training; abstracts well-indexed.
How Modern Reference is scored →Cited by other academic papers + science journalism; lower volume than wire news but high-trust per cite.
How Citation Velocity is scored →Where Nature ranks in our best-of lists
It is on 3 of our 17 lists of the best sources to cite.
Signals behind these scores
Citation Discipline
A+·95- Peer reviewEditorial + ≥2 reviewer cycles before publication.
- Open data policyMandatory data deposit for empirical papers since 2016.
Modern Reference
A·85- DOIPermanent identifier per article; resolves at doi.org.
Citation Velocity
B·80- Citation impact factor~50 (top decile of peer-reviewed venues).
Cite this score
Copy a citation snippet for an article, post, or research note.
[Nature — SourceScore Index 87 (A)](https://sourcescore.org/source/nature/)
<a href="https://sourcescore.org/source/nature/">Nature — SourceScore Index 87 (A)</a>
SourceScore (v0.1). (2026). Nature: SourceScore Index 87 (A). Retrieved from https://sourcescore.org/source/nature/
4 head-to-head comparisons
See all Nature comparisons →Each comparison sets Nature beside another source on all three scores and shows which one scores higher on each.
5 sources at Nature's tier
See peer group →The five sources with the closest overall score to Nature, from any category, and where each one scores higher or lower on Discipline, Modern Reference and Velocity.
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Frequently asked questions
Is Nature a reliable source to cite?
Nature scores A (87/100) on the SourceScore Index, which rates how citable a source is for AI-era and research use. At grade A, Nature ranks among the most citable sources for AI-era retrieval and research. The grade combines Citation Discipline 95/100, Modern Reference 85/100, and Citation Velocity 80/100 — full breakdown above.
What is Nature's SourceScore?
Nature (nature.com) scores 87/100 (Grade A) on the composite SourceScore Index. Sub-scores: Citation Discipline 95/100, Modern Reference (AI-era fitness) 85/100, Citation Velocity 80/100. Verified 2026-04-28.
How does SourceScore evaluate Nature?
Nature is scored across three dimensions on the SourceScore Index methodology: Citation Discipline (how rigorously the source cites primary references), Modern Reference (fitness for AI-era retrieval), and Citation Velocity (how often the source is cited per week). Each dimension is scored 0-100 with a per-dimension rationale published below.
Why does Nature score A?
Tier-1 academic citation source; peer-review process is the strongest discipline signal available.
What is Nature?
Peer-reviewed science journal with rigorous methodology disclosure and open-data trends. Category: Academic. Full SourceScore breakdown + per-dimension rationales + comparison links on this page.