Science is thepeer-reviewedacademic journal of theAmerican Association for the Advancement of Science[A 2][1] (AAAS) and one of the world's top academic journals.[2] It was first published in 1880, is currently circulated weekly and has a subscriber base of around 130,000. Because institutional subscriptions and online access serve a larger audience, its estimated readership is over 400,000 people.[3]
Science is based in Washington, D.C., United States, with a second office inCambridge, UK.
The major focus of the journal is publishing important original scientific research and research reviews, butScience also publishes science-related news, opinions onscience policy and other matters of interest to scientists and others who are concerned with the wide implications of science and technology. Unlike mostscientific journals, which focus on a specific field,Science and its rivalNature cover the full range ofscientific disciplines. According to theJournal Citation Reports,Science's 2023impact factor was 44.7.[4]
Studies of methodological quality and reliability have found that some high-prestige journals includingScience "publish significantly substandard structures", and overall "reliability of published research works in several fields may be decreasing with increasing journal rank".[5]
Although it is the journal of the AAAS, membership in the AAAS is not required to publish inScience. Papers are accepted from authors around the world. Competition to publish inScience is very intense, as an article published in such a highly cited journal can lead to attention and career advancement for the authors. Fewer than 7% of articles submitted are accepted for publication.[6]
Title page of the first volume of the resurrected journal (February–June 1883)
Science was founded by New York journalist John Michels in 1880 with financial support fromThomas Edison and later fromAlexander Graham Bell.[7][8] (Edison received favorable editorial treatment in return, without disclosure of the financial relationship, at a time when his reputation was suffering due to delays producing the promised commercially viable light bulb.)[9] However, the journal never gained enough subscribers to succeed and ended publication in March 1882. Alexander Graham Bell and Gardiner Greene Hubbard bought the magazine rights and hired young entomologistSamuel H. Scudder to resurrect the journal one year later. They had some success while covering the meetings of prominent American scientific societies, including the AAAS.[A 3] However, by 1894,Science was again in financial difficulty and was sold to psychologistJames McKeen Cattell for$500 (equivalent to $18,170 in 2024).[citation needed]
After Cattell's death in 1944, the journal lacked a consistent editorial presence until Graham DuShane became editor in 1956. In 1958, under DuShane's leadership,Science absorbedThe Scientific Monthly, thus increasing the journal's circulation by over62% from 38,000 to more than 61,000.[A 6] PhysicistPhilip Abelson, a co-discoverer ofneptunium, served as editor from 1962 to 1984. Under Abelson the efficiency of the review process was improved and the publication practices were brought up to date.[A 6] During this time, papers on theApollo program missions and some of the earliest reports on AIDS were published.[A 7]
In February 2001, draft results of thehuman genome were simultaneously published byNature andScience withScience publishing theCelera Genomics paper andNature publishing the publicly fundedHuman Genome Project. In 2007,Science(together withNature) received thePrince of Asturias Award for Communications and Humanity.[17] In 2015,Rush D. Holt Jr., chief executive officer of the AAAS and executive publisher ofScience, stated that the journal was becoming increasingly international: "[I]nternationally co-authored papers are now the norm—they represent almost 60 percent of the papers. In 1992, it was slightly less than 20 percent."[18]
The latest editions of the journal are available online, through the main journal website, only to subscribers, AAAS members, and for delivery toIP addresses at institutions that subscribe; students, K–12 teachers, and some others can subscribe at a reduced fee. However, research articles published after 1997 are available for free (with online registration) one year after they are published i.e.delayed open access.[A 1] Significant public-health related articles are also available for free, sometimes immediately after publication. AAAS members may also access the pre-1997 Science archives at theScience website, where it is called "Science Classic". Institutions can opt to add Science Classic to their subscriptions for an additional fee. Some older articles can also be accessed viaJSTOR andProQuest.
The journal also participates in initiatives that provide free or low-cost access to readers in developing countries, includingHINARI, OARE,AGORA, andScidev.net.
Other features of theScience website include the free "ScienceNow" section with "up to the minute news from science",[19] and "ScienceCareers", which provides free career resources for scientists and engineers.Science Express (Sciencexpress) provides advance electronic publication of selectedScience papers.[20]
^Lemonick, Michael D. (March 7, 2011)."Alien Life Discovered in a Meteorite! Or Maybe No". Time magazine online. Archived fromthe original on March 9, 2011. RetrievedOctober 3, 2011.The paper, meanwhile, had been published in Science, one of the world's top scientific journals, which gave it even more apparent gravitas.
^"Thomas A. Edison and the Founding of Science: 1880".Science.105 (2719):142–148. February 7, 1947.Bibcode:1947Sci...105..142..doi:10.1126/science.105.2719.142.PMID17813458.a weekly journal devoted mainly to physical science and invention, entitled Science, and Mr. [A. Graham] Bell purchased from Mr. John Michels for $5,000 the title and good will of this journal. Continuity of the publication was not, however, maintained, and the present journal [Science] dates from 1883. Mr. Thomas A. Edison had been responsible for the foundation of the earlier Science
^Grosvenor, Edwin S; Wesson, Morgan (2016).Alexander Graham Bell. New Word City.ISBN978-1612309842.In 1881, the old rivalry between Bell and Thomas Edison spilled over into the field of publishing. Science Magazine had been founded the year before with funding from Edison, but the frugal inventor soon tired of the deficits and withheld support. Bell had written for the magazine and respected its editorial quality. He felt that Science, like the British Nature, appealed to a broad audience interested in current research. In 1882, he and Gardiner Hubbard acquired the rights to Science and hired as editor a respected young entomologist and writer named Sam Scudder, who happened to be a Hubbard cousin.
^Baron, David (2017).American Eclipse. Liveright. p. 224.ISBN9781631490163.
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