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Nature is one of the oldest and most reputable scientific journals, first published on November 4, 1869. Although most scientific journals are now highly specialized, Nature is almost unique (along with the journal Science) in still publishing original research articles across a wide range of scientific fields. In most fields of scientific research, some of the most important new advances each year are usually published as short articles in Nature.
Research scientists are the primary audience for the journal, but article summaries in the front of the journal make many of the most important articles accessible for the general public. Also toward the front of each issue are editorials and 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.
Having an article published in Nature is very prestigious, and invariably the articles are highly cited, leading to promotions, grant funding, and attention from the mainstream media. Because of these benefits, competition among scientists to publish in high-level journals like Nature and its closest competitor, Science, can be very fierce. However, as a professional scientific journal, all articles undergo rigorous peer review before publication, 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 the article before publication. The author or authors of the article must then respond to the referees' comments by changing the article or performing additional experiments, or the editor may choose to reject the article entirely.
Publication
Nature was founded in 1869 by Sir Joseph Norman Lockyer, an astronomer and physicist best known as the co-discoverer of helium. Lockyer was also the first editor of the journal from its founding until 1919.
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, Paris, Munich, and Basingstoke. Nature Publishing Group also publishes other specialized journals including Nature Neuroscience, Nature Biotechnology, Nature Methods, Nature Structural & Molecular Biology and the Nature Reviews series of journals.
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