Quick publishing for embryonic stem cell research (without embryos)
I was under the assumption that the publishing of papers in top of the line subscription journals like Nature, Cell and Science was a long and sluggish process that could take from months. But the latest research in stem cells seems to have access to the fast lane.
On the stands this week (in Cell and Science), two recent and independent papers demonstrating the capacity to induce pluripotency in human somatic cells present their results similar to those found in studies performed last year on mice by the same authors (Thomson et al, 2007; Yamanaka et al, 2007).
These papers were submitted at the end of October and within 20 days they were revised and now published. Ba-da-bing ba-da-boom!
I’ll certainly get back to these papers this week, but for now I recommend David Hamilton’s great piece over at VentureBeat Life Sciences.
Related posts:
I was under the assumption that the publishing of papers in top of the line subscription journals like Nature, Cell and Science was a long and sluggish process that could take from months
Quite the opposite — as has been true for a long time. The highest-profile journals almost always move faster than most of the second-tier journals. That’s one reason they are high profile — people who know they have a hot story aren’t afraid to send it to them. What’s more, Science and Nature and Cell will also listen to your requests to move quickly, if you tell them your competitors are about to publish elsewhere. (They won’t necessarily accept your request, but they will listen.) They don’t want to get scooped any more than you do.
Again, these journals are top-tier journals because they publish the most exciting science. It’s exciting because it’s out first. The journals have a strong interest in getting things published before they are scooped; if they move slowly, top work gets sent elsewhere and the journal’s prestige drops.
The 20-day turnaround here is unusual, but far from unique, even in the pre-electronic days.