Nature is a prominent British
scientific journal, first published on 4 November 1869. Most scientific journals are now highly specialized, and
Nature is among the few journals (the other weekly journals
Science and
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences are also prominent examples) that still publish
original research articles across a wide range of
scientific fields. There are many fields of
scientific research in which some important new advances and original research are published as either
articles or letters in
Nature.Research
scientists 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
editorials, news and feature articles on issues of general interest to scientists, including current affairs, science funding, business, scientific
ethics 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. Because of 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
Science) received the
Prince of Asturias Award for Communications and Humanity.
History
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 Society, which had published many of the great works from
Isaac Newton,
Michael Faraday through to early works from
Charles Darwin. In addition, during this period, the number of popular science periodicals doubled from the
1850s to the
1860s.
[ Barton, "Just Before Nature," p. 3] 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.
, 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 history magazine and progressed to include more physical observational science and technical subjects and less natural history.
[ Barton, "Just Before Nature," p. 7] 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.
[ Barton, "Just Before Nature," p. 6] While
Recreative Science had attempted to include more physical sciences such as
astronomy and
archaeology, 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[ Barton, "Just Before Nature," p. 13], 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,
[Browne, Charles Darwin: The Power of Place, p. 248] taking its name from 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 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 relative to the time period.
Initiated by
Thomas Henry Huxley, the group consisted of such important scientists as
Joseph 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, 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 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.”
["The Nature Centenary Dinner," p. 13] 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 and early 21st centuries
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.
["Nature Publishing Group: History", retrieved November 15, 2006] 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 Maddox in 1965, and finally to David Davies in 1973.
In 1980, Sir
John Maddox returned as editor and retained his position until 1995. Dr.
Philip Campbell 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.
On October 30, 2008,
Nature endorsed an
American presidential candidate for the the first time when it supported
Barack Obama during his campaign in
America's 2008 presidential election.
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 feedback effects, competition among scientists to publish in high-level journals like
Nature and its closest competitor,
Science, can be very fierce.
Natures impact factor, a measure of how many citations a journal generates in other works, was 29.273 in 2005 (as measured by Thomson ISI), 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 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 statement: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.
Peer review anomalies
A series of five fraudulent papers by
Jan Hendrik Schön were published in
Nature in the 2000–2001 period. The papers, about
superconductivity, 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
Science and
Physical Review also retracted Schön's papers.
Before publishing one of its most famous discoveries,
Watson and Crick's 1953 paper on the structure of DNA,
Nature did not send the paper out for peer review at all.
John Maddox,
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 Fermi submitted his breakthrough paper on the weak interaction theory of beta decay. Nature
turned down the paper because it was considered too remote from reality. Fermi's paper was published by Zeitschrift für Physik in 1934, and finally published by Nature
5 years later, after Fermi's work had been widely accepted.
When Paul Lauterbur and Peter Mansfield won a Nobel Prize in 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 journalsNature
is edited and published in the United Kingdom by Nature Publishing Group, a subsidiary of Macmillan Publishers which in turn is owned by the Georg von Holtzbrinck Publishing Group. Nature has offices in London, New York City, San Francisco, Washington, D.C., Boston, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Paris, Munich, and Basingstoke. Nature Publishing Group also publishes other specialized journals including Nature 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 Smith of Cambridge University and the Naked Scientists.
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 Group:
Research journals:
*
Nature Photonics (Launched in January 2007 ; ISSN 1749-4885 ; EISSN 1749-4893 ; )Protocol:
Reviews journals:
Nature Online Publications':
