tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2135284651117634504.post3670912631193752345..comments2023-09-23T08:27:07.212-07:00Comments on Prof Zeki's Musings: Impact factors...in defence of "Nature" and "Science"Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2135284651117634504.post-83900127368710728292014-04-29T10:15:12.069-07:002014-04-29T10:15:12.069-07:00Nature and Science do indeed provide a fantastic s...Nature and Science do indeed provide a fantastic service. I always enjoy the 'front matter' in these journals, they often host the highest quality reviews and the 'commentary' pieces on specific papers are especially welcome.<br /><br />They are also useful as a speedy (but flawed) indicator of the importance of a particular article. If I am looking for some papers on a <i>new</i> topic -- or only have time to read 1 or 2 papers in a particular area -- a paper published in Science or Nature will often be more interesting to me than a paper published in 'The Scandanavian Journal of 2nd Rate Medical Advances' (or some other obscure journal). Of course, if I am looking for a paper on a very specific topic, or looking into a topic in more depth, I will gladly read articles from other journals as well.<br /><br />I'm sure others use the journal a paper is published in as a way to quickly judge whether a paper might be worth reading or not, and I don't feel this is really such a terrible thing to do.Joseph Mastershttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16591929133117431947noreply@blogger.com