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90-523: Nature is a British weekly scientific journal founded and based in London , England. As a multidisciplinary publication, Nature features peer-reviewed research from a variety of academic disciplines, mainly in science and technology. It has core editorial offices across the United States, continental Europe, and Asia under the international scientific publishing company Springer Nature . Nature

180-556: A Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for research initially rejected by Nature and published only after Lauterbur appealed against the rejection, Nature acknowledged more of its own missteps in rejecting papers in an editorial titled, "Coping with Peer Rejection": [T]here are unarguable faux pas in our history. These include the rejection of Cherenkov radiation , Hideki Yukawa 's meson , work on photosynthesis by Johann Deisenhofer , Robert Huber and Hartmut Michel , and

270-485: A bibliography ). They also deal with research, and are peer reviewed. Meanwhile, trade journals are aimed at people in different fields, focusing on how people in these fields can do their jobs better. They additionally cover information related to work, and include tips and advice for improving performance, but they are not scholarly. Articles in scientific journals are mostly written by active scientists such as students, researchers, and professors. Their intended audience

360-547: A natural history magazine and progressed to include more physical observational science and technical subjects and less natural history. The journal's name changed from its original title to Intellectual Observer: A Review of Natural History, Microscopic Research, and Recreative Science and then to the Student and Intellectual Observer of Science, Literature, and Art . While Recreative Science had attempted to include more physical sciences such as astronomy and archaeology ,

450-660: A "physical science", together is called the "physical sciences". Physical science can be described as all of the following: History of physical science – history of the branch of natural science that studies non-living systems, in contrast to the life sciences . It in turn has many branches, each referred to as a "physical science", together called the "physical sciences". However, the term "physical" creates an unintended, somewhat arbitrary distinction, since many branches of physical science also study biological phenomena (organic chemistry, for example). The four main branches of physical science are astronomy, physics, chemistry, and

540-617: A consequence, the majority of submitted papers are rejected without review. According to Nature ' s original mission statement : It is intended, FIRST, to place before the general public the grand results of Scientific Work and Scientific Discovery; and to urge the claims of Science to a more general recognition in Education and in Daily Life; and, SECONDLY, to aid Scientific men themselves, by giving early information of all advances made in any branch of Natural knowledge throughout

630-432: A discussion of similar research. The materials and methods or experimental section provides specific details of how the research was conducted. The results and discussion section describes the outcome and implications of the research, and the conclusion section places the research in context and describes avenues for further exploration. In addition to the above, some scientific journals such as Science will include

720-423: A gradual move towards a license to publish instead. Under such a system, the publisher has permission to edit, print, and distribute the article commercially, but the authors retain the other rights themselves. Even if they retain the copyright to an article, most journals allow certain rights to their authors. These rights usually include the ability to reuse parts of the paper in the author's future work, and allow

810-415: A journal uses to determine publication can vary widely. Some journals, such as Nature , Science , PNAS , and Physical Review Letters , have a reputation of publishing articles that mark a fundamental breakthrough in their respective fields. In many fields, a formal or informal hierarchy of scientific journals exists; the most prestigious journal in a field tends to be the most selective in terms of

900-463: A line by William Wordsworth : "To the solid ground of nature trusts the Mind that builds for aye". First owned and published by Alexander Macmillan , Nature was similar to its predecessors in its attempt to "provide cultivated readers with an accessible forum for reading about advances in scientific knowledge." Janet Browne has proposed that "far more than any other science journal of the period, Nature

990-660: A measure of how many citations a journal generates in other works, was 42.778 in 2019 (as measured by Thomson ISI ). However, as with many journals, most papers receive far fewer citations than the impact factor would indicate. Nature 's journal impact factor carries a long tail. Studies of methodological quality and reliability have found that some high-prestige journals including Nature "publish significantly substandard structures", and overall "reliability of published research works in several fields may be decreasing with increasing journal rank". As with most other professional scientific journals, papers undergo an initial screening by

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1080-462: A news section where scientific developments (often involving political issues) are described. These articles are often written by science journalists and not by scientists . In addition, some journals will include an editorial section and a section for letters to the editor. While these are articles published within a journal, in general they are not regarded as scientific journal articles because they have not been peer-reviewed. Electronic publishing

1170-578: A number of journals in different disciplines, all prefixed with "Communications", which complement their other journals. These include: Scientific journal As of 2012 , it is estimated that over 28,100 active scientific journals are in publication, covering a broad spectrum of disciplines from the general sciences, as seen in journals like Science and Nature , to highly specialized fields. These journals primarily publish peer-reviewed articles, including original research , review articles , and perspectives , each serving distinct purposes within

1260-547: A public forum for scientific innovations. The mid-20th century facilitated an editorial expansion for the journal; Nature redoubled its efforts in explanatory and scientific journalism . The late 1980s and early 1990s saw the creation of a network of editorial offices outside of Britain and the establishment of ten new supplementary, speciality publications (e.g. Nature Materials ). Since the late 2000s, dedicated editorial and current affairs columns are created weekly, and electoral endorsements are featured. The primary source of

1350-408: A scientific article is citation of earlier work. The impact of articles and journals is often assessed by counting citations ( citation impact ). Some classes are partially devoted to the explication of classic articles, and seminar classes can consist of the presentation by each student of a classic or current paper. Schoolbooks and textbooks have been written usually only on established topics, while

1440-418: A theory which, during the latter half of the 19th century, received a great deal of criticism among more conservative groups of scientists. Perhaps it was in part its scientific liberality that made Nature a longer-lasting success than its predecessors. John Maddox , editor of Nature from 1966 to 1973 and from 1980 to 1995, suggested at a celebratory dinner for the journal's centennial edition that perhaps it

1530-426: A year. In general, this money is used to fund the activities of the scientific societies that run such journals, or is invested in providing further scholarly resources for scientists; thus, the money remains in and benefits the scientific sphere. Despite the transition to electronic publishing, the serials crisis persists. Concerns about cost and open access have led to the creation of free-access journals such as

1620-403: Is a new area of information dissemination . One definition of electronic publishing is in the context of the scientific journal. It is the presentation of scholarly scientific results in only an electronic (non-paper) form. This is from its first write-up, or creation, to its publication or dissemination. The electronic scientific journal is specifically designed to be presented on the internet. It

1710-405: Is defined as not being previously printed material adapted, or retooled, and then delivered electronically. Electronic publishing will likely continue to exist alongside paper publishing for the foreseeable future, since whilst output to a screen is important for browsing and searching, it is not well suited for extensive reading. Formats suitable both for reading on paper, and for manipulation by

1800-504: Is others in the field (such as students and experts), meaning their content is more advanced and sophisticated than what is found regular publications. They have different purposes, depending on the type. Articles with original research are meant to share it with others in the field, review articles give summaries of research that has already been done, and perspective articles give researchers' views on research that their peers performed. Each article has several different sections, including

1890-736: Is therefore judged implicitly by the quality of the procedures reported and agreement with the data provided. However, some journals in the field of chemistry such as Inorganic Syntheses and Organic Syntheses require independent reproduction of the results presented as part of the review process. The inability for independent researches to reproduce published results is widespread, with 70% of researchers reporting failure to reproduce another scientist's results, including more than half who report failing to reproduce their own experiments. Sources of irreproducibility vary, including publication of falsified or misrepresented data and poor detailing of procedures. There are several types of journal article;

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1980-403: Is wanted, such as physics , the role of the journal at disseminating the latest research has largely been replaced by preprint databases such as arXiv.org . Almost all such articles are eventually published in traditional journals, which still provide an important role in quality control , archiving papers, and establishing scientific credit. Many scientists and librarians have long protested

2070-581: The Nature Clinical Practice series of journals, Nature Structural & Molecular Biology , Nature Chemistry , and the Nature Reviews series of journals. Since 2005, each issue of Nature has been accompanied by a Nature Podcast featuring highlights from the issue and interviews with the articles' authors and the journalists covering the research. It is presented by Kerri Smith and features interviews with scientists on

2160-571: The Intellectual Observer broadened itself further to include literature and art as well. Similar to Recreative Science was the scientific journal Popular Science Review , created in 1862, which covered different fields of science by creating subsections titled "Scientific Summary" or "Quarterly Retrospect", with book reviews and commentary on the latest scientific works and publications. Two other journals produced in England prior to

2250-460: The Prince of Asturias Award for Communications and Humanity. Nature mostly publishes research articles. Spotlight articles are not research papers but mostly news or magazine style papers and hence do not count towards impact factor nor receive similar recognition as research articles. Some spotlight articles are also paid by partners or sponsors. The huge progress in science and mathematics during

2340-637: The Public Library of Science (PLoS) family and partly open or reduced-cost journals such as the Journal of High Energy Physics . However, professional editors still have to be paid, and PLoS still relies heavily on donations from foundations to cover the majority of its operating costs; smaller journals do not often have access to such resources. Based on statistical arguments, it has been shown that electronic publishing online, and to some extent open access , both provide wider dissemination and increase

2430-749: The Royal Society (1660) and the French Academy of Sciences (1666). In 1665, the French Journal des sçavans and the English Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society began systematically publishing research results. Over a thousand, mostly ephemeral , were founded in the 18th century, and the number has increased rapidly since then. Peer review did not begin until the 1970s, and

2520-421: The Student and Intellectual Observer in 1871. The Quarterly Journal , after undergoing a number of editorial changes, ceased publication in 1885. The Reader terminated in 1867, and finally, Scientific Opinion lasted a mere 2 years, until June 1870. Not long after the conclusion of The Reader , a former editor, Norman Lockyer , decided to create a new scientific journal titled Nature , taking its name from

2610-559: The Unite the Right rally to oppose the removal of a statue of Robert E. Lee , setting off violence in the streets and killing a young woman. When Nature posted a link to the editorial on Twitter , the thread quickly exploded with criticisms. In response, several scientists called for a boycott. On 18 September 2017, the editorial was updated and edited by Philip Campbell, the editor of the journal. When Paul Lauterbur and Peter Mansfield won

2700-532: The World Wide Web via hyperlinks that are created 'on-the-fly'. The PDF version of an article is usually seen as the version of record , but the matter is subject to some debate. Electronic counterparts of established print journals already promote and deliver rapid dissemination of peer-reviewed and edited, "published" articles. Other journals, whether spin-offs of established print journals, or created as electronic only, have come into existence promoting

2790-495: The structure of DNA , Nature did not send the paper out for peer review. John Maddox , Nature ' s editor, stated: "the Watson and Crick paper was not peer-reviewed by Nature ... the paper could not have been refereed: its correctness is self-evident. No referee working in the field ... could have kept his mouth shut once he saw the structure". An earlier error occurred when Enrico Fermi submitted his breakthrough paper on

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2880-565: The 19th century was recorded in journals written mostly in German or French , as well as in English . Britain underwent enormous technological and industrial changes and advances particularly in the latter half of the 19th century. The most respected scientific journals of this time were the refereed journals of the Royal Society , which had published many of the great works from Isaac Newton and Michael Faraday to Charles Darwin . In addition,

2970-528: The Creative Commons attribution-non-commercial-share alike unported licence for those articles in Nature journals that are publishing the primary sequence of an organism's genome for the first time. In 2008, a collection of articles from Nature was edited by John S. Partington under the title H. G. Wells in Nature, 1893–1946: A Reception Reader and published by Peter Lang . Nature also publishes

3060-459: The Earth sciences, which include meteorology and geology. Physics – branch of science that studies matter and its motion through space and time , along with related concepts such as energy and force . Physics is one of the " fundamental sciences " because the other natural sciences (like biology, geology etc.) deal with systems that seem to obey the laws of physics. According to physics,

3150-488: The academic and research careers of scientists. They are instrumental in keeping researchers informed about the latest developments in their field, supporting the integrity of research through reproducibility and replicability, and influencing the direction of future research endeavors. There are thousands of scientific journals in publication, with one estimate from 2012 indicating that there were 28,100 that were active, and many more have been published at various points in

3240-403: The academic landscape. The advent of electronic publishing has further expanded the reach and accessibility of scientific journals, enabling more efficient dissemination and retrieval of information, while also addressing challenges related to cost and copyright . Scientific journals not only contribute to the dissemination and archival of scientific knowledge but also play a critical role in

3330-895: The activities of the International Scientific Unions." During the years 1945 to 1973, editorship of Nature changed three times, first in 1945 to A. J. V. Gale and L. J. F. Brimble (who in 1958 became the sole editor), then to John Maddox in 1965, and finally to David Davies in 1973. In 1980, Maddox returned as editor and retained his position until 1995. Philip Campbell became Editor-in-chief of all Nature publications until 2018. Magdalena Skipper has since become Editor-in-chief. In 1970, Nature first opened its Washington office; other branches opened in New York in 1985, Tokyo and Munich in 1987, Paris in 1989, San Francisco in 2001, Boston in 2004, and Hong Kong in 2005. In 1971, under John Maddox 's editorship,

3420-474: The article as long as no fee is charged. The rise of open access journals, in which the author retains the copyright but must pay a publication charge, such as the Public Library of Science family of journals, is another recent response to copyright concerns. Outline of physical science Physical science is a branch of natural science that studies non-living systems, in contrast to life science . It in turn has many branches, each referred to as

3510-433: The articles it will select for publication, and usually will also have the highest impact factor . In some countries, journal rankings can be utilized for funding decisions and even evaluation of individual researchers, although they are poorly suited for that purpose. For scientific journals, reproducibility and replicability of the scientific results are core concepts that allow other scientists to check and reproduce

3600-507: The author to distribute a limited number of copies. In the print format, such copies are called reprints; in the electronic format, they are called postprints . Some publishers, for example the American Physical Society , also grant the author the right to post and update the article on the author's or employer's website and on free e-print servers, to grant permission to others to use or reuse figures, and even to reprint

3690-416: The authors are unpaid and receive no compensation from the journal. However, their funding bodies may require them to publish in scientific journals. The paper is submitted to the journal office, where the editor considers the paper for appropriateness, potential scientific impact and novelty. If the journal's editor considers the paper appropriate, the paper is submitted to scholarly peer review . Depending on

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3780-440: The average number of citations an article receives. Traditionally, the author of an article was required to transfer the copyright to the journal publisher. Publishers claimed this was necessary in order to protect authors' rights, and to coordinate permissions for reprints or other use. However, many authors, especially those active in the open access movement, found this unsatisfactory, and have used their influence to effect

3870-648: The case that removing such statues, and erasing names, runs the risk of "whitewashing history", and stated "Instead of removing painful reminders, perhaps these should be supplemented". The article caused a large outcry and was quickly modified by Nature. The article was largely seen as offensive, inappropriate, and by many, racist. Nature acknowledged that the article as originally written was "offensive and poorly worded" and published selected letters of response. The editorial came just weeks after hundreds of white supremacists marched in Charlottesville, Virginia , in

3960-686: The composition, structure, properties and change of matter . Chemistry is chiefly concerned with atoms and molecules and their interactions and transformations, for example, the properties of the chemical bonds formed between atoms to create chemical compounds . As such, chemistry studies the involvement of electrons and various forms of energy in photochemical reactions , oxidation-reduction reactions , changes in phases of matter , and separation of mixtures . Preparation and properties of complex substances, such as alloys , polymers , biological molecules, and pharmaceutical agents are considered in specialized fields of chemistry. Earth science –

4050-512: The content. While it does, to an extent, provide free online access to articles, it is not a true open access scheme due to its restrictions on re-use and distribution. On 15 January 2015, details of a proposed merger with Springer Science+Business Media were announced. In May 2015 it came under the umbrella of Springer Nature , by the merger of Springer Science+Business Media and Holtzbrinck Publishing Group 's Nature Publishing Group , Palgrave Macmillan , and Macmillan Education . Since 2011,

4140-466: The cost for a print subscription, although this may reflect the number of people who will be using the license—while a print subscription is the cost for one person to receive the journal; a site-license can allow thousands of people to gain access. Publications by scholarly societies , also known as not-for-profit-publishers, usually cost less than commercial publishers, but the prices of their scientific journals are still usually several thousand dollars

4230-399: The cost of journals, especially as they see these payments going to large for-profit publishing houses. To allow their researchers online access to journals, many universities purchase site licenses , permitting access from anywhere in the university, and, with appropriate authorization, by university-affiliated users at home or elsewhere. These may be quite expensive, sometimes much more than

4320-407: The data discussed supports the conclusion offered and the implications suggested. Novelty is also key: existing work must be appropriately considered and referenced, and new results improving on the state of the art presented. Reviewers are usually unpaid and not a part of the journal staff—instead, they should be "peers", i.e. researchers in the same field as the paper in question. The standards that

4410-670: The development of Nature were the Quarterly Journal of Science and Scientific Opinion , established in 1864 and 1868, respectively. The journal most closely related to Nature in its editorship and format was The Reader , created in 1863; the publication mixed science with literature and art in an attempt to reach an audience outside of the scientific community, similar to Popular Science Review . These similar journals all ultimately failed. The Popular Science Review survived longest, lasting 20 years and ending its publication in 1881; Recreative Science ceased publication as

4500-411: The editor, followed by peer review (in which other scientists, chosen by the editor for expertise with the subject matter but who have no connection to the research under review, will read and critique articles), before publication. In the case of Nature , they are only sent for review if it is decided that they deal with a topical subject and are sufficiently ground-breaking in that particular field. As

4590-491: The exact terminology and definitions vary by field and specific journal, but often include: The formats of journal articles vary, but many follow the general IMRAD scheme recommended by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors . Such articles begin with an abstract , which is a one-to-four-paragraph summary of the paper. The introduction describes the background for the research including

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4680-438: The experiment or calculation to verify the results, or so that they could evaluate whatever the research article's findings were. Each such journal article also becomes part of the permanent scientific record. Articles in scientific journals can be used in research and higher education. Scientific articles allow researchers to keep up to date with the developments of their field and direct their own research. An essential part of

4770-452: The field and advanced students. In some subjects this is inevitable given the nature of the content. Usually, rigorous rules of scientific writing are enforced by the editors; however, these rules may vary from journal to journal, especially between journals from different publishers. Articles are usually either original articles reporting completely new results or reviews of current literature. There are also scientific publications that bridge

4860-419: The field, journal and paper, the paper is sent to 1–3 reviewers for evaluation before they can be granted permission to publish. Reviewers are expected to check the paper for soundness of its scientific argument, including whether the author(s) are sufficiently acquainted with recent relevant research that bears on their study, whether the data was collected or considered appropriately and reproducibly, and whether

4950-399: The following: Scientific journal articles are not usually read casually like a person would read a magazine. Whereas magazine articles can be read in a more casual manner, reading an article in a scientific periodical requires a lot more concentration. Reading an article in a scientific journal usually entails first reading the title, to see if it was related to the desired topic. If it was,

5040-407: The following: (Note: Astronomy should not be confused with astrology , which assumes that people's destiny and human affairs in general correlate to the apparent positions of astronomical objects in the sky – although the two fields share a common origin, they are quite different; astronomers embrace the scientific method , while astrologers do not.) Chemistry – branch of science that studies

5130-400: The founder of Nature , was a professor at Imperial College . He was succeeded as editor in 1919 by Sir Richard Gregory . Gregory helped to establish Nature in the international scientific community. His obituary by the Royal Society stated: "Gregory was always very interested in the international contacts of science, and in the columns of Nature he always gave generous space to accounts of

5220-502: The gap between articles and books by publishing thematic volumes of chapters from different authors. Many journals have a regional focus, specializing in publishing papers from a particular geographic region, like African Invertebrates . In the 17th century, scientists wrote letters to each other, and included scientific ideas with them. Then, in the mid-17th century, scientists began to hold meetings and share their scientific ideas. Eventually, they led to starting organizations, such as

5310-454: The initial rejection (but eventual acceptance) of Stephen Hawking 's black-hole radiation . In June 1988, after nearly a year of guided scrutiny from its editors, Nature published a controversial and seemingly anomalous paper detailing Jacques Benveniste and his team's work studying water memory . The paper concluded that less than a single molecule of antibody diluted in water could trigger an immune response in human basophils , defying

5400-473: The journal as either letters or news articles. The papers that have been published in this journal are internationally acclaimed for maintaining high research standards. Conversely, due to the journal's exposure, it has at various times been a subject of controversy for its handling of academic dishonesty, the scientific method , and news coverage. Fewer than 8% of submitted papers are accepted for publication. In 2007, Nature (together with Science ) received

5490-669: The journal has published Nature's 10 "people who mattered" during the year, as part of their annual review. According to Science , another academic journal, being published in Nature has been known to carry a certain level of prestige in academia. In particular, empirical papers are often highly cited, which can lead to promotions, grant funding, and attention from the mainstream media. Because of these positive feedback effects, competition among scientists to publish in high-level journals like Nature and its closest competitor, Science , can be very fierce. Nature ' s impact factor ,

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5580-696: The journal remains, as established at its founding, research scientists; editing standards are primarily concerned with technical readability. Each issue also features articles that are of general interest to the scientific community, namely business, funding, scientific ethics, and research breakthroughs. There are also sections on books, arts, and short science fiction stories. The main research published in Nature consists mostly of papers (articles or letters) in lightly edited form. They are highly technical and dense, but, due to imposed text limits, they are typically summaries of larger work. Innovations or breakthroughs in any scientific or technological field are featured in

5670-422: The journal split into Nature Physical Sciences (published on Mondays), Nature New Biology (published on Wednesdays), and Nature (published on Fridays). In 1974, Maddox was no longer editor, and the journals were merged into Nature . Starting in the 1980s, the journal underwent a great deal of expansion, launching over ten new journals. These new journals comprise Nature Research, which was created in 1999 under

5760-419: The latest research and more obscure topics are only accessible through scientific articles. In a scientific research group or academic department it is usual for the content of current scientific journals to be discussed in journal clubs . Public funding bodies often require the results to be published in scientific journals. Academic credentials for promotion into academic ranks are established in large part by

5850-594: The latest research, as well as news reports from Nature 's editors and journalists. The Nature Podcast was founded – and the first 100 episodes were produced and presented – by clinician and virologist Chris Smith of Cambridge and The Naked Scientists . Nature Portfolio actively supports the self-archiving process and in 2002 was one of the first publishers to allow authors to post their contributions on their personal websites, by requesting an exclusive licence to publish, rather than requiring authors to transfer copyright. In December 2007, Nature Publishing Group introduced

5940-450: The most important or most-used titles. There is usually a delay of several months after an article is written before it is published in a journal, making paper journals not an ideal format for announcing the latest research. Many journals now publish the final papers in their electronic version as soon as they are ready, without waiting for the assembly of a complete issue, as is necessary with paper. In many fields in which even greater speed

6030-409: The name Nature Publishing Group and includes Nature , Nature Research Journals , Stockton Press Specialist Journals and Macmillan Reference (renamed NPG Reference). In 1996, Nature created its own website and in 1999 Nature Publishing Group began its series of Nature Reviews . Some articles and papers are available for free on the Nature website, while others require the purchase of premium access to

6120-467: The next step is to read the abstract (or summary or conclusion, if the abstract is missing), to see if the article is worth reading. Then, if it seems like reading it would be worthwhile, the reader would then read the whole article. Publishing research results is an essential part of helping science to advance. If scientists are describing experiments or calculations, they should also explain how they did them so that an independent researcher could repeat

6210-423: The number and impact of scientific articles published. Many doctoral programs allow for thesis by publication , where the candidate is required to publish a certain number of scientific articles. Articles tend to be highly technical, representing the latest theoretical research and experimental results in the field of science covered by the journal. They are often incomprehensible to anyone except for researchers in

6300-560: The number of popular science periodicals doubled from the 1850s to the 1860s. According to the editors of these popular science magazines, the publications were designed to serve as "organs of science", in essence, a means of connecting the public to the scientific world. Nature , first created in 1869, was not the first magazine of its kind in Britain. One journal to precede Nature was Recreative Science: A Record and Remembrancer of Intellectual Observation , which, created in 1859, began as

6390-663: The past (see list of scientific journals ) . Most journals are highly specialized, although some of the oldest journals such as Science and Nature publish articles and scientific papers across a wide range of scientific fields. Scientific journals contain articles that have been peer reviewed , in an attempt to ensure that articles meet the journal's standards of quality and scientific validity . Although scientific journals are superficially similar to professional magazines (or trade journals), they are actually quite different. Among other things, scientific journals' papers' authors are experts who must cite everything (and have

6480-547: The physical law of mass action . The paper excited substantial media attention in Paris, chiefly because their research sought funding from homeopathic medicine companies. Public inquiry prompted Nature to mandate an extensive and stringent experimental replication in Benveniste's lab, through which his team's results were refuted. Before publishing one of its most famous discoveries, Watson and Crick 's 1953 paper on

6570-443: The physical laws of matter, energy and the fundamental forces of nature govern the interactions between particles and physical entities (such as planets, molecules, atoms or the subatomic particles). Some of the basic pursuits of physics, which include some of the most prominent developments in modern science in the last millennium, include: Astronomy – science of celestial bodies and their interactions in space. Its studies include

6660-489: The placement and maintenance of statues honouring scientists with known unethical, abusive and torturous histories. Specifically, the editorial called on examples of J. Marion Sims , the 'Father of gynecology' who experimented on African American female slaves who were unable to give informed consent, and Thomas Parran Jr. who oversaw the Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment . The editorial as written made

6750-617: The public throughout the world, in a fashion that conveys their significance for knowledge, culture and daily life. Many of the most significant scientific breakthroughs in modern history have been first published in Nature . The following is a selection of scientific breakthroughs published in Nature , all of which had far-reaching consequences, and the citation for the article in which they were published. In 2017, Nature published an editorial entitled "Removing Statues of Historical figures risks whitewashing history: Science must acknowledge mistakes as it marks its past". The article commented on

6840-772: The rapid dissemination capability, and availability, on the Internet. In tandem with this is the speeding up of peer review, copyediting, page makeup, and other steps in the process to support rapid dissemination. Other improvements, benefits and unique values of electronically publishing the scientific journal are easy availability of supplementary materials (data, graphics and video), lower cost, and availability to more people, especially scientists from non-developed countries. Hence, research results from more developed nations are becoming more accessible to scientists from non-developed countries. Moreover, electronic publishing of scientific journals has been accomplished without compromising

6930-462: The reader's computer will need to be integrated. Many journals are electronically available in formats readable on screen via web browsers , as well as in portable document format PDF , suitable for printing and storing on a local desktop or laptop computer. New tools such as JATS and Utopia Documents provide a 'bridge' to the 'web-versions' in that they connect the content in PDF versions directly to

7020-475: The results under the same conditions described in the paper or at least similar conditions and produce similar results with similar measurements of the same measurand or carried out under changed conditions of measurement. While the ability to reproduce the results based only on details included in the article is expected, verification of reproducibility by a third party is not generally required for publication. The reproducibility of results presented in an article

7110-490: The site. As of 2012, Nature claimed an online readership of about 3 million unique readers per month. On 30 October 2008, Nature endorsed an American presidential candidate for the first time when it supported Barack Obama during his campaign in America's 2008 presidential election . In October 2012, an Arabic edition of the magazine was launched in partnership with King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology . As of

7200-411: The standards of the refereed, peer review process. One form is the online equivalent of the conventional paper journal. By 2006, almost all scientific journals have, while retaining their peer-review process, established electronic versions; a number have moved entirely to electronic publication. In a similar manner, most academic libraries buy the electronic version and purchase a paper copy only for

7290-532: The time it was released, it had about 10,000 subscribers. On 2 December 2014, Nature announced that it would allow its subscribers and a group of selected media outlets to share links allowing free, "read-only" access to content from its journals. These articles are presented using the digital rights management system ReadCube (which is funded by the Macmillan subsidiary Digital Science), and does not allow readers to download, copy, print, or otherwise distribute

7380-494: The weak interaction theory of beta decay . Nature rejected the paper because it was considered too remote from reality. Fermi's paper was published by Zeitschrift für Physik in 1934. The journal apologised for its initial coverage of the COVID-19 pandemic in which it linked China and Wuhan with the outbreak, which may have led to racist attacks. From 2000 to 2001, a series of five fraudulent papers by Jan Hendrik Schön

7470-428: The world, and by affording them an opportunity of discussing the various Scientific questions which arise from time to time. This was later revised to: First, to serve scientists through prompt publication of significant advances in any branch of science, and to provide a forum for the reporting and discussion of news and issues concerning science. Second, to ensure that the results of science are rapidly disseminated to

7560-470: Was retracted due to concerns raised regarding some of the panels shown in a figure, making it the most-cited retracted paper ever. In 1999, Nature began publishing science fiction short stories. The brief " vignettes " are printed in a series called "Futures". The stories appeared in 1999 and 2000, again in 2005 and 2006, and have appeared weekly since July 2007. Sister publication Nature Physics also printed stories in 2007 and 2008. In 2005, Nature

7650-1024: Was awarded the European Science Fiction Society 's Best Publisher award for the "Futures" series. One hundred of the Nature stories between 1999 and 2006 were published as the collection Futures from Nature in 2008. Another collection, Futures from Nature 2 , was published in 2014. Nature is edited and published in the United Kingdom by a division of the international scientific publishing company Springer Nature that publishes academic journals, magazines , online databases, and services in science and medicine. Nature has offices in London, New York City, San Francisco, Washington, D.C., Boston , Tokyo, Hong Kong, Paris, Munich , and Basingstoke . Nature Portfolio also publishes other specialized journals including Nature Neuroscience , Nature Biotechnology , Nature Methods ,

7740-608: Was conceived, born, and raised to serve polemic purpose." Many of the early editions of Nature consisted of articles written by members of a group that called itself the X Club , a group of scientists known for having liberal, progressive, and somewhat controversial scientific beliefs for their time. Initiated by Thomas Henry Huxley , the group consisted of such important scientists as Joseph Dalton Hooker , Herbert Spencer , and John Tyndall , along with another five scientists and mathematicians; these scientists were all avid supporters of Darwin's theory of evolution as common descent ,

7830-505: Was one of the world's most cited scientific journals by the Science Edition of the 2022 Journal Citation Reports (with an ascribed impact factor of 50.5), making it one of the world's most-read and most prestigious academic journals . As of 2012, it claimed an online readership of about three million unique readers per month. Founded in autumn 1869, Nature was first circulated by Norman Lockyer and Alexander MacMillan as

7920-437: Was published in Nature . The papers, about semiconductors , were revealed to contain falsified data and other scientific fraud. In 2003, Nature retracted the papers. The Schön scandal was not limited to Nature ; other prominent journals, such as Science and Physical Review , also retracted papers by Schön. In 2024, a paper titled " Pluripotency of mesenchymal stem cells derived from adult marrow," published in 2002,

8010-407: Was seen as a way of enabling researchers who were not as well-known to have their papers published in journals that were more prestigious. Though it was originally done by mailing copies of papers to reviewers, it is now done online. The authors of scientific articles are active researchers instead of journalists; typically, a graduate student or a researcher writes a paper with a professor. As such,

8100-478: Was the journalistic qualities of Nature that drew readers in; "journalism" Maddox states, "is a way of creating a sense of community among people who would otherwise be isolated from each other. This is what Lockyer's journal did from the start." In addition, Maddox mentions that the financial backing of the journal in its first years by the Macmillan family also allowed the journal to flourish and develop more freely than scientific journals before it. Norman Lockyer ,

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