Nature is a prominent British
scientific journalIn academic publishing, a scientific journal is a periodical publication intended to further the progress of science, usually by reporting new research. There are thousands of scientific journals in publication, and many more have been published at various points in the past...
, first published on 4 November 1869. Most scientific journals are now highly specialized, and
Nature is among the few journals (the other weekly journals
ScienceScience is the academic journal of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and is considered one of the world's most prestigious scientific journals. The peer-reviewed journal, first published in 1880 is circulated weekly and has a print subscriber base of around 130,000...
and
Proceedings of the National Academy of SciencesThe Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, usually referred to as PNAS, is the official journal of the United States National Academy of Sciences...
are also prominent examples) that still publish
original researchOriginal research is research that is not exclusively based on a summary, review or synthesis of earlier publications on the subject of research. This material is of a primary source character. The purpose of the original research is to produce new knowledge, rather than to present the existing...
articles across a wide range of
scientificScience is in its broadest sense to any systematic knowledge-base or prescriptive practice that is capable of resulting in a prediction or predictable type of outcome...
fields. There are many fields of scientific research in which some important new advances and original research are published as either
articleAn article is a stand-alone section of a larger written work. These nonfictional prose compositions appear in magazines, newspapers, academic journals, the Internet or any other type of publication....
s or letters in
Nature.
Research
scientistA scientist, in the broadest sense, is any person who engages in a systematic activity to acquire knowledge or an individual that engages in such practices and traditions that are linked to schools of thought or philosophy. In a more restricted sense, a scientist is an individual who uses the...
s are the primary audience for the journal, but summaries and accompanying articles make many of the most important papers understandable for the general public and to scientists in other fields. Toward the front of each issue are
editorialEditorials are featured in many newspapers and magazines, usually written by the senior editorial staff or publisher of the publication. Additionally, most print publications feature an editorial, or letter from the editor, sometimes followed by a Letters to the Editor section...
s, news and feature articles on issues of general interest to scientists, including current affairs, science funding, business, scientific
ethicsEthics is a branch of philosophy which seeks to address questions about morality, such as what the fundamental semantic, ontological, and epistemic nature of ethics or morality is , how moral values should be determined , how a moral outcome can be achieved in specific situations , how moral...
and research breakthroughs. There are also sections on books and arts. The remainder of the journal consists mostly of research articles, which are often dense and highly technical. Due to strict limits on the length of articles, in many cases the printed text is actually a summary of the work in question with many details relegated to accompanying
supplementary material on the journal's website.
In 2007
Nature (together with
ScienceScience is the academic journal of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and is considered one of the world's most prestigious scientific journals. The peer-reviewed journal, first published in 1880 is circulated weekly and has a print subscriber base of around 130,000...
) received the
Prince of Asturias AwardThe Prince of Asturias Awards is a series of annual prizes given in Spain by the Fundación Príncipe de Asturias to individuals, entities and/or organizations from around the world who make notable achievements in the sciences, humanities, or public affairs...
for Communications and Humanity.
Scientific magazines and journals preceding Nature
Nineteenth-century Britain was home to a great deal of scientific progress; particularly in the latter half of the 19th century, Britain underwent enormous technological and industrial changes and advances. The most respected scientific journals of this time were the refereed journals of the
Royal SocietyThe Royal Society of London for the Improvement of Natural Knowledge, known simply as the Royal Society, or even the Royal, is a learned society for science that was founded in 1660 and is considered by most to be the oldest such society still in existence...
, which had published many of the great works from
Isaac NewtonSir Isaac Newton FRS was an English physicist, mathematician, astronomer, natural philosopher, alchemist, and theologian who is perceived and considered by a substantial number of scholars and the general public as one of the most influential men in history...
,
Michael FaradayMichael Faraday, FRS was an English chemist and physicist who contributed to the fields of electromagnetism and electrochemistry....
through to early works from
Charles DarwinCharles Robert Darwin FRS was an English naturalist who realised and presented compelling evidence that all species of life have evolved over time from common ancestors, through the process he called natural selection...
. In addition, during this period, the number of popular science periodicals doubled from the
1850s- Industry :* Distinction between coats and jackets begins to blur* Production of steel revolutionized by invention of the Bessemer process* Benjamin Silliman fractionates petroleum by distillation for the first time* First transpacific telegraph cable laid...
to the
1860sThe 1860s were an extremely turbulent decade in the world, with numerous cultural, social, and political upheavals in Europe and America. Revolutions were prevalent in Germany and the Ottoman Empire. The abolition of slavery in America led to the breakdown of the Atlantic Slave Trade, which was...
. 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. One journal to precede
Nature was titled
Recreative Science: A Record and Remembrancer of Intellectual Observation, which, created in 1859, began as a
natural historyNatural history is the scientific research of plants or animals, leaning more towards the observational than experimental methods of study, and encompasses more research that is published in magazines than in academic journals. Grouped among the natural sciences, Natural history is the systematic...
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 later to the
Student and Intellectual Observer of Science, Literature, and Art. While
Recreative Science had attempted to include more physical sciences such as
astronomyAstronomy is the scientific study of celestial objects and phenomena that originate outside the Earth's atmosphere...
and
archaeologyArchaeology or archeology is the science that studies human cultures through the recovery, documentation, analysis, and interpretation of material culture and environmental data, including architecture, artifacts, biofacts, and landscapes...
, the
Intellectual Observer broadened itself further to include literature and art as well. Similar to
Recreative Science was the scientific journal titled
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 the development of
Nature were titled the
Quarterly Journal of Science and
Scientific Opinion, founded in 1864 and 1868, respectively. The journal most closely related to
Nature in its editorship and format was titled
The Reader, created in 1864; 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 was the longest to survive, lasting 20 years and ending its publication in 1881;
Recreative Science ceased publication as 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.
The creation of Nature
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 a line by
William WordsworthWilliam Wordsworth was a major English Romantic poet who, with Samuel Taylor Coleridge, helped to launch the Romantic Age in English literature with the 1798 joint publication Lyrical Ballads....
: "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 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 ClubThe X Club was a dining club of nine men who supported the theories of natural selection and academic liberalism in late 19th-century England. Thomas Henry Huxley was the initiator: he called the first meeting for November 3, 1864...
, a group of scientists known for having liberal, progressive, and somewhat controversial scientific beliefs relative to the time period. Initiated by Thomas Henry Huxley, the group consisted of such important scientists as
Joseph HookerJoseph Hooker was a career United States Army officer, fought in the Mexican-American War, and was a major general in the Union Army during the American Civil War....
,
Herbert SpencerHerbert Spencer was an English philosopher, prominent classical liberal political theorist, and sociological theorist of the Victorian era....
, and
John TyndallJohn Tyndall FRS was a prominent 19th century physicist. His initial scientific fame arose in the 1850s from his study of diamagnetism. Later he studied thermal radiation, and produced a number of discoveries about processes in the atmosphere...
, along with another five scientists and mathematicians; these scientists were all avid supporters of Darwin’s theory of evolution, 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 MaddoxSir John Royden Maddox, FRS was a British science writer. He was an editor of Nature for 22 years, from 1966-1973 and 1980-1995.-Academics and honors:...
, editor of
Nature from 1966 to 1973 as well as from 1980 to 1995, suggested at a celebratory dinner for the journal’s centennial edition that perhaps it 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.
Nature in the 20th century
Nature underwent a great deal of development and expansion during the 20th century, particularly during the latter half of the 90s.
Editors
In 1919, Sir Richard Gregory followed Sir Norman Lockyer to become the second editor of the journal. 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 the activities of the International Scientific Unions.” Norman Lockyer, was also the founder of Nature and was a professor at Imperial College. During the years 1945 to 1973, editorship of
Nature changed three times, first to A.J.V. Gale and L.J.F. Brimble in 1945 (who in 1958 became the sole editor), then to Sir
John MaddoxSir John Royden Maddox, FRS was a British science writer. He was an editor of Nature for 22 years, from 1966-1973 and 1980-1995.-Academics and honors:...
in 1965, and finally to David Davies in 1973. In 1980, Sir
John MaddoxSir John Royden Maddox, FRS was a British science writer. He was an editor of Nature for 22 years, from 1966-1973 and 1980-1995.-Academics and honors:...
returned as editor and retained his position until 1995. Dr.
Philip CampbellDr Philip Campbell is the Editor-in-Chief of Nature, the prominent scientific journal and is also Editor-in-Chief of the Nature Publishing Group.- Professional career :...
has since become Editor-in-chief of all
Nature publications.
Nature’s expansion and development
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. Starting in the 1980’s, the journal underwent a great deal of expansion, launching over ten new journals. These new journals comprise the Nature Publishing Group, which was created in 1999 and includes
Nature, Nature Research Journals, Stockton Press Specialist Journals and Macmillan Reference (renamed NPG Reference).
In 1997,
Nature created its own website, www.nature.com, and in 1999 Nature Publishing Group began its series of
Nature Reviews. Some articles and papers are available for free on the Nature Web site. Others require the purchase of premium access to the site.
Nature claims a readership of over 300,000 senior scientists and executives and over 600,000 total readers. The journal has a circulation of around 65,000 but studies have concluded that on average a single copy is shared by as many as 10 people.
First presidential candidate endorsement
On October 30, 2008,
Nature made its first ever endorsement for a US presidential candidate when it declared its support for
Barack ObamaBarack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office, as well as the first president born in Hawaii...
.
Publishing in Nature
Having an article published in
Nature is very prestigious, and the articles are often highly cited, which can lead to promotions, grant funding, and attention from the mainstream media. Because of these
positive feedbackPositive feedback, sometimes referred to as "cumulative causation", refers to a situation where some effect causes more of itself. A system undergoing positive feedback is unstable, that is, it will tend to spiral out of control as the effect amplifies itself....
effects, competition among scientists to publish in high-level journals like
Nature and its closest competitor,
ScienceScience is the academic journal of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and is considered one of the world's most prestigious scientific journals. The peer-reviewed journal, first published in 1880 is circulated weekly and has a print subscriber base of around 130,000...
, can be very fierce. Natures
impact factorThe impact factor, often abbreviated IF, is a measure reflecting the average number of citations to articles published in science and social science journals. It is frequently used as a proxy for the relative importance of a journal within its field, with journals with higher impact factors deemed...
, a measure of how many citations a journal generates in other works, was 29.273 in 2005 (as measured by
Thomson ISIThe Institute for Scientific Information was founded by Eugene Garfield in 1960. It was acquired by Thomson Scientific & Healthcare in 1992, became known as Thomson ISI and now is part of the Healthcare & Science business of the multi-billion dollar Thomson Reuters Corporation.ISI offered...
), among the highest of any science journal.
As with most other professional scientific journals, articles undergo an initial screening by the editor, followed by
peer reviewPeer review is the process of subjecting an author's scholarly work, research, or ideas to the scrutiny of others who are experts in the same field. Peer review requires a community of experts in a given field, who are qualified and able to perform impartial 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 a consequence, the majority of submitted articles are rejected without review.
According to Natures original
mission statementA mission statement is a formal short written statement of the purpose of a company or organization. The mission statement should guide the actions of the organization, spell out its overall goal, provide a sense of direction, and guide decision-making...
:
This was revised in 2000 to:
Landmark papers
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.
- Wave nature of particles —
- The neutron
The neutron is a subatomic particle with no net electric charge and a mass slightly larger than that of a proton.Neutron are usually found in atomic nuclei. The nuclei of most atoms consist of protons and neutrons, which are therefore collectively referred to as nucleons. The number of protons in a...
—
- Nuclear fission
In nuclear physics and nuclear chemistry, nuclear fission is a nuclear reaction in which the nucleus of an atom splits into smaller parts, often producing free neutrons and lighter nuclei, which may eventually produce photons...
—
- The structure of DNA
Deoxyribonucleic acid is a nucleic acid that contains the genetic instructions used in the development and functioning of all known living organisms and some viruses. The main role of DNA molecules is the long-term storage of information...
—
- First molecular protein
Proteins are organic compounds made of amino acids arranged in a linear chain and folded into a globular form. The amino acids in a polymer chain are joined together by the peptide bonds between the carboxyl and amino groups of adjacent amino acid residues...
structure (myoglobinMyoglobin is a single-chain globular protein of 153 amino acids, containing a heme prosthetic group in the center around which the remaining apoprotein folds. It has eight alpha helices and a hydrophobic core. It has a molecular weight of 16,700 daltons, and is the primary oxygen-carrying pigment...
) —
- Plate tectonics
Plate tectonics is a theory which describes the large scale motions of Earth's lithosphere...
—
- First cloning
Cloning in biology is the process of producing populations of genetically-identical individuals that occurs in nature when organisms such as bacteria, insects or plants reproduce asexually. Cloning in biotechnology refers to processes used to create copies of DNA fragments , cells , or organisms...
of a mammalMammals are a class of vertebrate animals whose females are characterized by the possession of mammary glands while both males and females are characterized by sweat glands, hair, three middle ear bones used in hearing, and a neocortex region in the brain.Mammals are divided into three main...
(Dolly the sheepDolly was a female domestic sheep remarkable in being the first mammal to be cloned from an adult somatic cell, using the process of nuclear transfer. She was cloned by Ian Wilmut, Keith Campbell and colleagues at the Roslin Institute near Edinburgh in Scotland. She was born on 5 July 1996 and she...
) —
- The human genome
The human genome is the genome of Homo sapiens, which is stored on 23 chromosome pairs. Twenty-two of these are autosomal chromosome pairs, while the remaining pair is sex-determining...
—
Peer review anomalies
A series of five fraudulent papers by
Jan Hendrik SchönJan Hendrik Schön is a German physicist who briefly rose to prominence after a series of apparent breakthroughs that were later discovered to be fraudulent...
were published in
Nature in the 2000–2001 period. The papers, about
superconductivitySuperconductivity is a phenomenon occurring in certain materials generally at very low temperatures, characterized by exactly zero electrical resistance and the exclusion of the interior magnetic field . It was discovered by Heike Kamerlingh Onnes in 1911. Like ferromagnetism and atomic spectral...
, were revealed to contain falsified data and other scientific fraud. In 2003 the papers were retracted by
Nature. The Schön Scandal was not limited to
Nature. Other prominent journals such as
ScienceScience is the academic journal of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and is considered one of the world's most prestigious scientific journals. The peer-reviewed journal, first published in 1880 is circulated weekly and has a print subscriber base of around 130,000...
and
Physical ReviewPhysical Review is an American scientific journal, publishing research on all aspects of physics. It is published by the American Physical Society .- History :...
also retracted Schön's papers.
Before publishing one of its most famous discoveries,
Watson and CrickWatson and Crick refers to the duo of James D. Watson and Francis Crick who, using x-ray data collected by Rosalind Franklin, proposed the double helix structure of the DNA molecule in 1953...
's 1953 paper on the structure of DNA,
Nature did not send the paper out for peer review at all.
John MaddoxSir John Royden Maddox, FRS was a British science writer. He was an editor of Nature for 22 years, from 1966-1973 and 1980-1995.-Academics and honors:...
,
Natures editor, stated that "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 FermiEnrico Fermi was an Italian physicist most noted for his work on the development of the first nuclear reactor, and for his contributions to the development of quantum theory, nuclear and particle physics, and statistical mechanics...
submitted his breakthrough paper on the weak interaction theory of beta decayIn nuclear physics, beta decay is a type of radioactive decay in which a beta particle is emitted. In the case of electron emission, it is referred to as beta minus , while in the case of a positron emission as beta plus...
. Nature
turned down the paper because it was considered too remote from reality. Fermi's paper was published by Zeitschrift für PhysikThe European Physical Journal is a joint publication of EDP Sciences, Springer and the Societa Italiana di Fisica. It arose in 1998 as a merger and continuation of Acta Physica Hungarica, Anales de Fisica, Czechoslovak Journal of Physics, Il Nuovo Cimento, Journal de Physique, Portugaliae Physica...
in 1934, and finally published by Nature
5 years later, after Fermi's work had been widely accepted.
When Paul LauterburPaul Christian Lauterbur was an American chemist who shared the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2003 with Peter Mansfield for his work which made the development of magnetic resonance imaging possible.Dr...
and Peter MansfieldSir Peter Mansfield, FRS, , is a British physicist who was awarded the 2003 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his discoveries concerning magnetic resonance imaging . The Nobel Prize was shared with Paul Lauterbur, who also contributed to the development of MRI...
won a Nobel Prize in Physiology or MedicineThe Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine is awarded once a year by the Swedish Karolinska Institute. It is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the will of Alfred Nobel in 1895, awarded for outstanding contributions in Physics, Chemistry, Literature, Peace, and Physiology or Medicine...
for research initially rejected by Nature
and published only after Lauterbur appealed the rejection, Nature
acknowledged more of its own missteps in rejecting papers in an editorial titled "Coping with Peer Rejection":
Publication of
Nature
and related journals
Nature is edited and published in the United Kingdom by
Nature Publishing GroupNature Publishing Group is an international publishing company that publishes scientific journals. It is a division of Macmillan Publishers Ltd, which in turn is owned by the Georg von Holtzbrinck Publishing Group. NPG's flagship title is Nature, a highly-cited weekly multidisciplinary journal...
, a subsidiary of
Macmillan PublishersMacmillan Publishers Ltd, also known as The Macmillan Group, is a privately-held international publishing company owned by Georg von Holtzbrinck Publishing Group. It has offices in 41 countries worldwide and operates in more than thirty others....
which in turn is owned by the
Georg von Holtzbrinck Publishing GroupVerlagsgruppe Georg von Holtzbrinck is a Stuttgart-based publishing holding company which owns publishing companies worldwide. Holtzbrinck has published everything from Salman Rushdie's Satanic Verses to classics by Agatha Christie, Jean-Paul Sartre, Ernest Hemingway and John Updike.Newspapers...
. Nature has offices in
London[]London is the capital of England and the United Kingdom. It has been a major settlement for two millennia, and the history of London goes back to its founding by the Romans, when it was named Londinium. London's core, the ancient City of London, the 'square mile', retains its medieval boundaries...
,
New York CityNew York is the most populous city in the United States, and the center of the New York metropolitan area, which is among the most populous urban areas in the world. A leading global city, New York exerts a powerful influence over worldwide commerce, finance, culture, fashion and entertainment...
,
San FranciscoSan Francisco is the fourth most populous city in California and the 12th most populous city in the United States, with a 2008 estimated population of 808,976. It is the eighth most densely populated city in the U.S. and is the financial, cultural, and transportation center of the larger San...
,
Washington, D.C.Washington, D.C. , formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, the District, or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States, founded on July 16, 1790...
, Boston,
Tokyo, officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan and is located on the eastern side of the main island Honshū. The twenty-three special wards of Tokyo, each governed as a city, cover the area that was once the city of Tokyo in the eastern part of the prefecture, totaling over 8 million people....
,
Hong KongHong Kong , officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, is a highly autonomous territory of the People's Republic of China, facing Guangdong to the north and the South China Sea to the east, west and south...
,
ParisParis is the capital of France and the country's most populous city. It is situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
,
MunichMunich is the capital city of Bavaria, Germany. It is located on the River Isar north of the Bavarian Alps. Munich is the third largest city in Germany, after Berlin and Hamburg...
, and
BasingstokeBasingstoke is a town in northeast Hampshire, England. It lies across a valley at the source of the River Loddon. It is southwest of London, northeast of Southampton, southwest of Reading, and northeast of the county town, Winchester. In 2006 it had an estimated population of 80,477...
. Nature Publishing Group also publishes other specialized journals including
Nature NeuroscienceNature Neuroscience is a scientific journal published by Nature Publishing Group, the publisher of Nature. Its focus is original research papers relating specifically to neuroscience...
, Nature Biotechnology,
Nature Methods
, the Nature Clinical Practice
series of journals, Nature Structural & Molecular Biology
and the Nature Reviews
series of journals.
Presently, each issue of Nature
is accompanied by the Nature Podcast featuring highlights from the issue and interviews with the articles' authors and the journalists covering the research. It is presented by Adam Rutherford and Kerri Smith, and features interviews with scientists on the latest research, as well as news reports from Nature's editors and journalists. It also incorporates regular slots called the 'PODium', a weekly 60-second opinion slot, and the 'Sound of Science', a regular slot featuring science-related music or other scientific audio recordings. It was formerly presented by
Chris SmithDr Chris Smith - "the Naked Scientist" - is a medical doctor and a clinical lecturer in virology at Cambridge University where he is a fellow of Queens' College...
of Cambridge University and
the Naked ScientistsThe Naked Scientists is a one-hour audience-interactive science radio talk show, broadcast live by the BBC in the East of England, and internationally as a podcast. The programme was created by Cambridge University clinical lecturer Chris Smith...
.
In 2007, Nature Publishing Group began publishing Clinical Pharmacology & Therapeutics
, “the official journal of the American Society of Clinical Pharmacology & Therapeutics” and Molecular Therapy
, the American Society of Gene Therapy’s official journal, as well as the International Society for Microbial Ecology (ISME) Journal
. Nature Publishing Group launched Nature Photonics
in 2007 and Nature Geoscience
in 2008. Nature Chemistry published its first issuehttp://www.nature.com/nchem/journal/v1/n1/index.html in April 2009.
Nature Publishing Group 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 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.
Nature family of journals
In addition to Nature
itself, there are three families of Nature
-branded journals published by the Nature Publishing GroupNature Publishing Group is an international publishing company that publishes scientific journals. It is a division of Macmillan Publishers Ltd, which in turn is owned by the Georg von Holtzbrinck Publishing Group. NPG's flagship title is Nature, a highly-cited weekly multidisciplinary journal...
:
- Research journals:
Nature BiotechnologyNature Biotechnology is an academic journal covering the science and business of biotechnology.Nature Biotechnology is a continuation of Bio/technology , which was founded in 1983 and renamed in 1996. It is published monthly by the Nature Publishing Group, a division of Macmillan Publishers Ltd...
Nature Cell BiologyNature Cell Biology is a cell biology journal published by the Nature Publishing Group....
Nature Chemical BiologyNature Chemical Biology published by the Nature Publishing Group, USA, is an international monthly scientific journal publishing top-tier original research and commentary at the interface between chemistry and biology. The 2008 ISI impact factor for Nature Chemical Biology is 14.612, according to...
Nature Chemistry
Nature GeneticsNature Genetics is a scientific journal concerning genetics. It is published by Nature Publishing Group, and was founded in 1992. The 2008 impact factor is 30.259. Its sister journal is Nature Reviews Genetics.- External links :...
Nature GeoscienceNature Geoscience is a scientific journal published by Nature Publishing Group, publisher of the flagship journal Nature. Publishing new research in earth sciences as well as relevant work in related disciplines, the first issue was published in January 2008.- See also :* List of scientific...
(launched in January 2008)
Nature Immunology
Nature MaterialsNature Materials is a monthly multi-disciplinary journal aimed at bringing together cutting-edge research across the entire spectrum of materials science. The journal’s Impact Factor of 23.132 for 2008 places Nature Materials first among materials science journals...
Nature MedicineNature Medicine is an academic journal publishing research articles, reviews, news and commentaries in the biomedical area, including both basic research and early-phase clinical research. Topics covered include cancer, cardiovascular disease, gene therapy, immunology, vaccines and neuroscience...
Nature Methods
Nature NanotechnologyNature Nanotechnology, published by Nature Publishing Group, was launched in October 2006. The journal covers all areas of nanoscience and nanotechnology, including chemistry, physics, materials science, the life sciences and engineering, and also the application of nanotechnology in a wide range...
(Launched in October 2006)
Nature NeuroscienceNature Neuroscience is a scientific journal published by Nature Publishing Group, the publisher of Nature. Its focus is original research papers relating specifically to neuroscience...
Nature PhotonicsNature Photonics, published by the Nature Publishing Group , is a scientific journal publishing original research related to optoelectronics, laser science, imaging, communications and other areas of photonics...
(Launched in January 2007 ; ISSN 1749-4885 ; EISSN 1749-4893 ; website)
Nature PhysicsNature Physics, published by the Nature Publishing Group, is a scientific journal focusing on pure and applied physics. The journal was launched in October 2005....
Nature Chemistry
Nature Structural and Molecular Biology
Protocol:
Nature ProtocolsNature Protocols, published by the Nature Publishing Group, is an on-line scientific journal publishing methods in a recipe-style format. The journal was launched in June 2006 and the content includes both classical methods and cutting-edge techniques relevant to the study of biological problems....
(Launched in June 2006, journal homepage)
Reviews journals:
Nature Reviews CancerNature Reviews Cancer is a monthly review journal covering the field of oncology....
Nature Reviews Drug DiscoveryNature Reviews Drug Discovery is a review journal with an emphasis on drug discovery and development. With an impact factor of 23.308 in 2007 it is the leading journal in pharmacology/pharmacy and biotechnology/applied microbiology areas....
Nature Reviews GeneticsNature Reviews Genetics [ISSN 1471-0056] is a monthly review journal in genetics and covers the full breadth of modern genetics. The journal publishes review and perspective articles written by experts in the field subject to peer review and copy editing to provide authoritative coverage of topics...
Nature Reviews ImmunologyNature Reviews Immunology is a monthly review journal covering the field of immunology. The journal also publishes "Research Highlight" articles, which are short summaries written by the editors that describe recent hot research papers. The journal has a 2008 impact factor of 32.7.-External...
Nature Reviews MicrobiologyLaunched in October 2003, Nature Reviews Microbiology [ISSN 1740-1526 EISSN 1740-1534] is part of the Nature Publishing Group. The journal publishes reviews and perspectives that help to integrate the various disciplines, bridging fundamental research and its clinical, industrial and environmental...
Nature Reviews Molecular Cell BiologyNature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology is a leading monthly review journal published by Nature Publishing Group. As its title suggests, it covers a broad range of topics within two distinct disciplines: molecular biology, the study of endogenous macromolecules, and cell biology, the structures,...
Nature Reviews NeuroscienceNature Reviews Neuroscience is a review journal covering neuroscience. Its 2008 impact factor is 25.94. The journal covers the following areas:*Biochemical signalling in neurons*Cellular and molecular neuroscience*Neural development...
Nature Clinical PracticeNature Clinical Practice is a peer-reviewed family of journals for clinicians, published by Nature Publishing Group, delivering "timely, authoritative interpretations of key research developments and translating the latest findings into clinical practice"....
journals:
Nature Clinical Practice Cardiovascular MedicineNature Clinical Practice Cardiovascular Medicine, a peer-reviewed journal for cardiologists, delivers timely interpretations of key research developments, translating the latest findings into clinical practice...
Nature Clinical Practice Endocrinology and Metabolism
Nature Clinical Practice Gastroenterology and HepatologyNature Clinical Practice Gastroenterology & Hepatology, is a peer-reviewed journal for clinicians. It provides physicians with authoritative and timely interpretations of key developments in the field, translating the latest findings into clinical practice...
Nature Clinical Practice NeurologyNature Clinical Practice Neurology, a peer-reviewed journal for neurologists, delivers timely interpretations of key research developments, translating the latest findings into clinical practice...
Nature Clinical Practice NephrologyNature Clinical Practice Nephrology, a peer-reviewed medical journal for nephrologists, edited by Robert W. Schrier MD.Coverage includes all areas concerned with prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of disorders of the kidney in the adult and child, including hypertension, infection/inflammation,...
Nature Clinical Practice OncologyNature Clinical Practice Oncology, a peer-reviewed journal for oncologists, delivers timely interpretations of key research developments, translating the latest findings into clinical practice...
Nature Clinical Practice RheumatologyNature Clinical Practice Rheumatology, a peer-reviewed journal for clinicians, published by the Nature Publishing Group.Coverage includes prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of conditions of the joints, muscle, bones, blood vessels, and connective tissue, including systemic autoimmune disease,...
Nature Clinical Practice UrologyNature Clinical Practice Urology, a peer-reviewed journal for urologists, delivers timely interpretations of key research developments, translating the latest findings into clinical practice...
Nature Online Publications:
- Nature China
Nature China is an online publication by Nature Publishing Group that highlights the best research being produced in Hong Kong and Mainland China in science and medicine. The international website was launched in January 2007. The Chinese website was launched in 25th of April 2007...
(Launched in January 2007)
- Nature India
Nature India is an online publication by Nature Publishing Group that highlights research being produced in India in science and medicine. The international website was launched in February 2008.- Aims and scope :...
(Launched in February 2008)
External links