Coordinates	9°1′48″N38°44′24″N
title	Nature
cover
editor	Philip Campbell
discipline	Interdisciplinary
abbreviation	Nature
publisher	Nature Publishing Group
country	United Kingdom
frequency	Weekly
history	1869–present
impact	36.101
impact-year	2010
website	http://www.nature.com/nature/index.html
link1	http://www.nature.com/nature/current_issue.html
link1-name	Online access
link2	http://www.nature.com/nature/archive/index.html
link2-name	Online archive
rss	http://feeds.nature.com/nature/rss/current
oclc	01586310
coden	NATUAS
issn	0028-0836
eissn	1476–4687 }}

''Nature'', first published on 4 November 1869, is ranked the world's most cited interdisciplinary journal by the Science Edition of the ''2010 Journal Citation Reports'' . 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 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 are intended to make many of the most important papers understandable to scientists in other fields and the educated general public. Towards 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, often 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. 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, 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. 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 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 later 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, 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 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 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, 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.” 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

Norman Lockyer, the founder of ''Nature'', was a professor at Imperial College. He was succeeded in 1919 by Richard Gregory, 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." 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 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 1980s, 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 about 424,000 total readers. The journal has a circulation of around 53,000 but studies have concluded that on average a single copy is shared by as many as 8 people.

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.

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. ''Nature'''s impact factor, a measure of how many citations a journal generates in other works, was 34.480 in 2009 (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 ''Nature'''s 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.

Wave nature of particles —

The neutron —

Nuclear fission —

The structure of DNA —

First molecular protein structure (myoglobin) —

Plate tectonics —

Pulsars —

The ozone hole —

First cloning of a mammal (Dolly the sheep) —

The human genome —

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, ''Nature'''s 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 journals

''Nature'' 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'', ''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 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 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 issue 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. 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.

Bibliography

(1953). "Richard Arman Gregory, 1864–1952." ''Obituary Notices of Fellows of the Royal Society'' 8(22).

(1970). "The 'Nature' Centenary Dinner." ''Notes and Records of the Royal Society of London'' 25(1).

(2006). "Nature Publishing Group: History." Retrieved 15 November 2006, from NPG.nature.com

(2006). "About the journal: Nature." Retrieved 20 November 2006, from Nature.com

Browne, J. (2002). ''Charles Darwin: The Power of Place''. New York, Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.

Partington, John S. (2008). ''H. G. Wells in Nature, 1893–1946: A Reception Reader''. Frankfurt: Peter Lang.

References

External links

An electronic version of the first issue from 1869

Nature archive, 1869–present

The ''Nature Reviews'' website

''Nature Clinical Practice'' website

Interview with Timo Hannay, director of web publishing for Nature Publishing Group

History of the journal ''Nature''

Peer review policy for Nature journals

Editorial policies for Nature journals

Category:English-language journals Category:Multidisciplinary scientific journals Category:Nature Publishing Group academic journals Category:Publications established in 1869 Category:Weekly journals

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