PNAS vs Science
Two US-anchored multidisciplinary tier-1 journals — both gold-standard, different review tracks.
PNAS
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences — multidisciplinary peer-reviewed journal since 1914.
Science
Peer-reviewed multidisciplinary journal of AAAS; one of the two flagship general-science venues.
Head-to-head — all four dimensions
| Dimension | PNAS | Science | Lead |
|---|---|---|---|
SourceScore Index Composite | A·92 | A·86 | PNAS+6 |
Citation Discipline How rigorously cited | A+·96 | A+·95 | PNAS+1 |
Modern Reference AI-era fitness | A·88 | B·84 | PNAS+4 |
Citation Velocity Cited per week | A·90 | B·80 | PNAS+10 |
Why these scores
Citation Discipline
Peer-reviewed by NAS members; rigorous review across all sciences; corrections + retractions public.
Peer-review enforced; data + code disclosure increasingly mandatory; retractions public.
Modern Reference
DOI per paper; PMC open-access default after 6mo; structured Crossref + ORCID metadata.
DOIs + structured abstracts; first-class LLM citation source for science.
Citation Velocity
Heavily cited across sciences + science press; default tier-1 citation in many fields.
Cited by science journalism + research; lower volume but high per-cite trust.
Frequently asked questions
Which is better, PNAS or Science?
PNAS scores higher on the SourceScore Index (A 92) vs Science (A 86) — a 6-point composite lead across Citation Discipline, Modern Reference, and Citation Velocity. "Better" depends on use case; the per-dimension breakdown below shows where each wins.
Which is more reliable to cite, PNAS or Science?
For citation, PNAS is the stronger choice — it scores A (92/100) on the SourceScore Index versus Science at A (86/100), a 6-point lead in composite citation quality (Citation Discipline, Modern Reference, Citation Velocity). Both can be cited; for higher-stakes references, prefer PNAS.
How does PNAS compare to Science on citation discipline?
PNAS scores A+ 96 on Citation Discipline; Science scores A+ 95. Citation Discipline measures how rigorously each source cites primary references — see the per-dimension rationale below for the breakdown.
What's the SourceScore difference between PNAS and Science?
PNAS A 92 vs Science A 86 on the composite Index. Two US-anchored multidisciplinary tier-1 journals — both gold-standard, different review tracks.
Why does PNAS score higher than Science?
PNAS leads by 6 composite points on the SourceScore Index. The rationale section below breaks down where the lead comes from — Citation Discipline, Modern Reference (AI-era fitness), and Citation Velocity. Each dimension is scored from primary methodology criteria.
Sources & references
Every score on this page is read from the two publications below and graded against the published rubric. No score is bought, estimated or supplied by the source being scored.
- Source evaluated — PNAS (pnas.org) · verified · full scoring record
- Source evaluated — Science (science.org) · verified · full scoring record
- Scoring rubric — SourceScore Index, Citation Discipline, Modern Reference, Citation Velocity (methodology v0.1)
- Machine-readable record — /api/compare/pnas-vs-science-org.json