The Journal of Natural Products invites and publishes papers that make substantial and scholarly contributions to the area of natural products research. Contributions may relate to the chemistry and/or biochemistry of naturally occurring compounds or the biology of living systems from which they are obtained.Specifically, there may be articles that describe secondary metabolites of microorganisms, including antibiotics and mycotoxins; physiologically active compounds from terrestrial and marine plants and animals; biochemical studies, including biosynthesis and microbiological transformations; fermentation and plant tissue culture; the isolation, structure elucidation, and chemical synthesis of novel compounds from nature; and the pharmacology of compounds of natural origin.When new compounds are reported, manuscripts describing their biological activity are much preferred.

《自然產品雜志》邀請并發表對自然產品研究領域做出重大學術貢獻的論文。貢獻可能與自然產生的化合物的化學和/或生物化學或從中獲得它們的生物系統有關。具體來說，可能有文章描述微生物的次生代謝產物，包括抗生素和霉菌毒素;陸地和海洋動植物中具有生理活性的化合物;生物化學研究，包括生物合成和微生物轉化;發酵和植物組織培養;從自然界中分離、結構闡明和化學合成新化合物;以及天然化合物的藥理學。當新化合物被報道時，描述其生物活性的手稿更受歡迎。