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Nature is one of the most prominent scientific journals, first published on 4 November 1869. Although most scientific journals are now highly specialized, Nature is idiosyncratic (along with other weekly journals such as Science and Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences) in still publishing original research articles across a wide range of scientific fields. In most fields of scientific research, many of the most important new advances each year are published as articles in Nature while significant work published elsewhere is often reported in Nature as letters.
Nature was first established in the United Kingdom in 1869 by Sir Norman Lockyer. Prior to the existence of Nature several scientific journals were in circulation in the United Kingdom, including the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, which is one of the world's longest running scientific journals. The relatively progressive, controversial nature of the journal’s first articles and writers may have contributed to its success, as many early publications included evolutionary theory and Darwinism, at the time a divisive issue due to its radical nature and its religious implications.[1] Former editor Sir John Maddox has suggested that it was Nature’s more journalistic style of writing and publication that allowed for its triumph.[2]
HistoryScientific magazines and journals preceding NatureNineteenth-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. [3] The most respected scientific journals of this time were the referreed 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.[4] 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.[5] Nature, first created in 1869, was most certainly 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 expand its contents over the course of its existence to include more physical observational science and technical subjects and less natural history.[6] This broadening of content could be detected in the journal’s name changes 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.[7] Recreative Science attempted, as mentioned, to include more physical sciences such as astronomy and archaeology, while Intellectual Observer broadened itself further to include literature and art along with the science of the era.[8] Similar to Recreative Science was the scientific journal titled Popular Science Review, created in 1862.[9] Although its subject matter was very similar to Recreative Science, Popular Science Review attempted to keep readers more informed on the progress of the numerous scientific branches by creating subsections titled ‘Scientific Summary’ or ‘Quarterly Retrospect,’ in which book reviews and commentary were included to update the audience on the latest scientific works and publications.[10] 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.[11] 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.[12]
The creation of NatureImage:Nature cover, November 4, 1869.jpg First title page, November 4, 1869 Not long after the conclusion of The Reader, a former editor, Norman Lockyer, decided to create a new scientific journal titled Nature.[14] First owned and published by Alexander MacMillan, Nature, the first edition of which was created in November 1869, was similar to its predecessors in its attempt to “provide cultivated readers with an accessible forum for reading about advances in scientific knowledge.”[15] How, then, was Nature able to outlast other scientific journals created at the same time in England and become arguably one of the most prestigious scientific journals in modern society? 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.”[16] 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.[17] 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.[18] 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.”[19] 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.[20] Whatever the cause, Nature has thrived for well over a hundred years and continues to publish relevant and substantial scientific papers. Nature in the 20th centuryNature underwent a great deal of development and expansion during the 20th century, particularly during the latter half of the 1900s. EditorsIn 1919, Sir Richard Gregory followed Sir Norman Lockyer to become the second editor of the journal.[21] Gregory helped to establish Nature in the international scientific community; as it is stated in his obituary by the Royal Society, “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.”[22] 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.[23] In 1980, Sir John Maddox returned as editor and retained his position until 1995, at which point he retired and Dr. Philip Campbell became Editor-in-chief of all Nature publications, a position that he still holds today.[24] Important events in Nature’s expansion and developmentIn 1970, Nature first opened its Washington office; other branches opened in New York, Tokyo, Munich, Paris, San Francisco, and Boston in 1985, 1987, 1987, 1989, 2001, and 2004, respectively. Starting in the 1980’s, the journal underwent a great deal of expansion, launching over ten new journals; in 1983, Nature created Bio/technology, which was later renamed Nature Biotechnology, while Nature Genetics, Nature Structure Biology, Nature Medicine, Nature Neuroscience, Nature Cell Biology, and Nature Immunology were developed in 1992, 1994, 1995, 1998, 1999, and 2000, respectively. These now comprise 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; Nature Reviews Neuroscience, Nature Reviews Cell Biology, and Nature Reviews Genetics were the first to be published in 1999, with many others to follow in later years, including Nature Reviews Cancer and Nature Reviews Technology, both of which were first published in 2001, as well as Nature Reviews Drug Discovery, which was initiated in 2002, and Nature Reviews Microbiology, which was developed in 2003.[25] Publishing in NatureHaving an article published in Nature is very prestigious, and the articles are often highly cited, leading 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 for 2005 was 29.273 (as measured by Thomson ISI). 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 mission statement:
Landmark papersThe following is a selection of scientific breakthroughs published in Nature, all of which had far-reaching consequences.
Peer reviewDue to the intense competition to publish in Nature and the subsequent large volumes of submitted manuscripts, errors in peer review are inevitable due to human error. There are a number of famous cases in Nature where such anomalies in the peer-review process occurred. Famous Nature papers that were fraudulent or incorrect
Landmark papers rejected by Nature, and published elsewhere
Published Nature papers that were not peer reviewed
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, Paris, Munich, and Basingstoke. Nature Publishing Group also publishes other specialized journals including Nature Neuroscience, Nature Biotechnology, Nature Methods, Nature Clinical Practice, Nature Structural & Molecular Biology and the Nature Reviews series of journals. Presently, each issue of Nature is accompanied by the Nature Podcast [1] presented by Naked Scientist, Chris Smith. The podcasts feature highlights from the issue and interviews with the articles' authors and the journalists covering the research. Nature Publishing Group plans to initiate Clinical Pharmacology & Therapeutics, “the official journal of the American Society of Clinical Pharmacology & Therapeutics,” in 2007; Nature Publishing Group also plans to publish Molecular Therapy, intended to be the American Society of Gene Therapy’s official journal, as well as Nature Photonics and the International Society for Microbial Ecology (ISME) Journal, all of which will launch in 2007. In 2008, Nature Geoscience is slated to commence publication.[28] As of 2005, Nature has only partially responded to the challenge from the Public Library of Science and its supporters, who in 2001 signed a petition calling for all scientists to pledge that from September of 2001 they would discontinue submission of papers to journals which did not make the full-text of their papers available to all, free and unfettered after a six-month period from publication. Nature's response was to allow authors to self-archive their original submission, after an embargo date, for example on the arXiv.org e-print archive. Nature family of journalsIn addition to Nature itself, there are three families of Nature-branded journals published by the Nature Publishing Group:
Notes
References
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