diff --git a/mlflow/R/mlflow/R/tracking-runs.R b/mlflow/R/mlflow/R/tracking-runs.R
index 4c7c194943434..dfef257a2d6ec 100644
--- a/mlflow/R/mlflow/R/tracking-runs.R
+++ b/mlflow/R/mlflow/R/tracking-runs.R
@@ -2,26 +2,32 @@
 #'
 #' Logs a metric for a run. Metrics key-value pair that records a single float measure.
 #'   During a single execution of a run, a particular metric can be logged several times.
-#'   Backend will keep track of historical values along with timestamps.
+#'   The MLflow Backend keeps track of historical metric values along two axes: timestamp and step.
 #'
 #' @param key Name of the metric.
 #' @param value Float value for the metric being logged.
-#' @param timestamp Unix timestamp in milliseconds at the time metric was logged.
+#' @param timestamp Timestamp at which to log the metric. Timestamp is rounded to the nearest
+#'  integer. If unspecified, the number of milliseconds since the Unix epoch is used.
+#' @param step Step at which to log the metric. Step is rounded to the nearest integer. If
+#'  unspecified, the default value of zero is used.
 #' @template roxlate-run-id
 #' @template roxlate-client
 #' @export
-mlflow_log_metric <- function(key, value, timestamp = NULL, run_id = NULL, client = NULL) {
+mlflow_log_metric <- function(key, value, timestamp = NULL, step = NULL, run_id = NULL,
+                              client = NULL) {
   c(client, run_id) %<-% resolve_client_and_run_id(client, run_id)
   key <- cast_string(key)
   value <- cast_scalar_double(value)
   timestamp <- cast_nullable_scalar_double(timestamp)
-  timestamp <- timestamp %||% current_time()
+  timestamp <- round(timestamp %||% current_time())
+  step <- round(cast_nullable_scalar_double(step) %||% 0)
   mlflow_rest("runs", "log-metric", client = client, verb = "POST", data = list(
     run_uuid = run_id,
     run_id = run_id,
     key = key,
     value = value,
-    timestamp = timestamp
+    timestamp = timestamp,
+    step = step
   ))
   invisible(value)
 }
diff --git a/mlflow/R/mlflow/tests/testthat/test-tracking-runs.R b/mlflow/R/mlflow/tests/testthat/test-tracking-runs.R
index 262472caea424..8b578fe74b64a 100644
--- a/mlflow/R/mlflow/tests/testthat/test-tracking-runs.R
+++ b/mlflow/R/mlflow/tests/testthat/test-tracking-runs.R
@@ -69,6 +69,7 @@ test_that("logging functionality", {
   metric_history <- mlflow_get_metric_history("mse", ended_run$run_uuid)
   expect_identical(metric_history$key, c("mse", "mse"))
   expect_identical(metric_history$value, c(24, 25))
+  expect_identical(metric_history$step, c(0, 0))
   expect_true(all(difftime(metric_history$timestamp, run_start_time) >= 0))
   expect_true(all(difftime(metric_history$timestamp, run_end_time) <= 0))
 
@@ -79,6 +80,102 @@ test_that("logging functionality", {
   )
 })
 
+test_that("mlflow_log_metric() rounds step and timestamp inputs", {
+  mlflow_clear_test_dir("mlruns")
+  mlflow_start_run()
+
+  step_inputs <- runif(10, min = -20, max = 100)
+  for (step_input in step_inputs) {
+    mlflow_log_metric(key = "step_metric",
+                      value = runif(1),
+                      step = step_input,
+                      timestamp = 100)
+  }
+  expect_setequal(
+    mlflow_get_metric_history("step_metric")$step,
+    round(step_inputs)
+  )
+
+  timestamp_inputs <- runif(10, 1000, 100000)
+  for (timestamp_input in timestamp_inputs) {
+    mlflow_log_metric(key = "timestamp_metric",
+                      value = runif(1),
+                      step = 0,
+                      timestamp = timestamp_input)
+  }
+  expect_setequal(
+    mlflow_get_metric_history("timestamp_metric")$timestamp,
+    purrr::map(round(timestamp_inputs), mlflow:::milliseconds_to_date)
+  )
+})
+
+test_that("mlflow_log_metric() with step produces expected metric data", {
+  mlflow_clear_test_dir("mlruns")
+  mlflow_start_run()
+
+  metric_key_1 <- "test_metric_1"
+  mlflow_log_metric(key = metric_key_1,
+                    value = 1.2,
+                    step = -2,
+                    timestamp = 300)
+  mlflow_log_metric(key = metric_key_1,
+                    value = 137.4,
+                    timestamp = 100)
+  mlflow_log_metric(key = metric_key_1,
+                    value = -20,
+                    timestamp = 200)
+
+  metric_key_2 <- "test_metric_2"
+  mlflow_log_metric(key = metric_key_2,
+                    value = 14,
+                    step = 120)
+  mlflow_log_metric(key = metric_key_2,
+                    value = 56,
+                    step = 137)
+  mlflow_log_metric(key = metric_key_2,
+                    value = 20,
+                    step = -5)
+
+  run <- mlflow_get_run()
+  metrics <- run$metrics[[1]]
+  expect_setequal(
+    metrics$key,
+    c("test_metric_1", "test_metric_2")
+  )
+  expect_setequal(
+    metrics$value,
+    c(-20, 56)
+  )
+  expect_setequal(
+    metrics$step,
+    c(0, 137)
+  )
+
+  metric_history_1 <- mlflow_get_metric_history("test_metric_1")
+  expect_setequal(
+    metric_history_1$value,
+    c(1.2, 137.4, -20)
+  )
+  expect_setequal(
+    metric_history_1$timestamp,
+    purrr::map(c(300, 100, 200), mlflow:::milliseconds_to_date)
+  )
+  expect_setequal(
+    metric_history_1$step,
+    c(-2, 0, 0)
+  )
+
+  metric_history_2 <- mlflow_get_metric_history("test_metric_2")
+  expect_setequal(
+    metric_history_2$value,
+    c(14, 56, 20)
+  )
+  expect_setequal(
+    metric_history_2$step,
+    c(120, 137, -5)
+  )
+})
+
 test_that("mlflow_end_run() behavior", {
   mlflow_clear_test_dir("mlruns")
   expect_error(