Chances of publication in nature?
Sangeetha Surianarayanan
Sunday, 24 May 2009 12:58 UTC
What are the chances of publication in Nature paper or in any other high impact journal when one solidly disproves the earlier findings in a Nature paper for example?
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Replies
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Sangeetha,
this is probably not the best place to ask this question, as this forum is primarily about good scientific writing. If this is a general question (and not about a manuscript you have written), you could try the Ask the Nature Editor forum.
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Of course, if such a challenger writes their paper well, that’s icing on the cake.
Martin’s right, that you’ll probably get more answers elsewhere, but I will anticipate by saying that all high-impact journals are more than happy to print well-supported, innovative and state-of-the-art science. So any “solid disproof” of findings in a given journal will be published if they fulfill all the criteria of publication. To save others the trouble of posting it, here are the criteria for Nature – I am sure you can find the equivalent for other journals you may have in mind, as they are pretty similar.
“The criteria for publication of scientific papers (Articles and Letters) in Nature are that they:
- report original scientific research (the main results and conclusions must not have been published or submitted elsewhere)
- are of outstanding scientific importance
- reach a conclusion of interest to an interdisciplinary readership."
Thus, a rebuttal (unless there is some true added value that advances the field in a ground-breaking way, or evidence of misdoing on the part of the first authors) might not fulfill the criterion of originality. And if you are a physicist, the rebuttal needs to make a marine biologist care (or vice-versa – interdisciplinary). Otherwise, if the finding is truly of outstanding importance there are what editors always like to call “more specialized journals” where it can still attract plenty of attention.
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Heather, I am sure you will understand if I add a disclaimer here to your response – to point out that you aren’t on the staff of Nature or employed by Nature Publishing Group, which might not be obvious to Sangeetha (or other readers of this thread).
Hence that your comments here and your interpretation of Nature policy are your personal opinion, rather than expressions by a member of Nature staff.Best wishes
Maxine. -
A welcome disclaimer that is, too. I’m a run-of-the-mill scientist and have no interest in promoting any particular journal, just common sense since I enjoy reading good journals (and the good writing therein). So, back to the first reply and its redirection.
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Hi all,
Thanks for the suggestions and comments.Of course, this is a general question I would like to know.
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