Posts on Sat Jan 29 2000 by Stevan Harnad and on Sun Jan
30 2000 by Brigitte Stemmer, provided an interesting
comparison of Nature's vs. Science's embargo policies.
Those messages contain links that are now out of date.
However, the policies of Nature and Science seem not to
have changed much over the past two years.
NATURE:
Nature embargo policy:
Communication between scientists
http://www.nature.com/nature/author/embargo.html
"Nature does not wish to hinder communication between
scientists. For that reason, different embargo guidelines
apply to work that has been discussed at a conference or
displayed on a preprint server and picked up by the
media as a result. (Neither conferences nor preprint
servers constitute prior publication.)"
See also:
Nature Guide to Authors
November 2001
5.2 Prepublicity.
http://www.nature.com/nature/submit/gta/index.html#5.2
"Contributions submitted to, in press with or published in
Nature must not be posted on any web site, with the
following exception. Preprints may be posted on recognized
preprint servers if the server is identified to the editor
on submission of the paper, and if the content of the
paper has not been advertised to the media (see Nature
390, 427; 1997 for further details)"
And:
Nature 390, 427 (1997)
Preprints and Nature
http://www.nature.com/cgi-taf/DynaPage.taf?file=/nature/journal/v390/n6659/full/390427b0_fs.html
"There is no conflict between preprint circulation and
submission to Nature - we only request that submitting
authors inform us where and when a preprint has been
placed on a server."
SCIENCE
The Science Contributors FAQ
9. What about manuscripts that have been posted online
before submission?
http://www.sciencemag.org/feature/contribinfo/faq/prioronline_faq.shtml
"We do not consider manuscripts that have been
previously published elsewhere, including those
published on the Web. Posting of a paper on the
Internet may be considered prior publication that
could compromise the originality of the Science
submission. Thus, if you are planning to submit
your paper to Science, it should not be posted
online."
"We allow posting of manuscript copies of papers at
not-for-profit publicly funded World Wide Web archives
immediately upon publication. We also provide a free
electronic reprint service to authors that allows access
to their formatted and proofed paper on Science Online."
The embargo policies of Nature continue to be less
restrictive than those of Science, in relation to
preprints posted at preprint servers.
Jim Till
University of Toronto
Received on Tue Jan 29 2002 - 02:28:09 GMT