Comments on: How to Give an Interesting Research Talk?

By: James

James — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 00:53:31 +0000

I didn’t know labs had that kind of support, but I can see how it would make sense if they’re turning out enough high impact papers. (Now I want one!)

By: Amy

Amy — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 00:33:26 +0000

I worked in a Nobel laureate’s lab, and they had a full-time editor on staff for the group who prepared all manuscripts for publication. (I’m not sure how common that is.)

By: James

James — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 20:06:58 +0000

I’d like to think I’d be psyched enough about actually getting published anyway to put in my maximum effort at making the paper readable, but since I not yet a first author on anything, let alone a Science or Nature paper, I’m in no position to say that definitively.

I hadn’t thought about whether there might be a difference in the skillset/goals of the editors at the highest tier journals. It’s a good point.

If I had more time today I’d try to track down some authors who’d published in both Science/Nature and good but more field specific journals like Plant Cell and Genome Research and see how the writing compared.

By: Greg

Greg — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 05:14:38 +0000

Great post. A lot of people do not recognize communication as a set of skills that needs to be practiced and refined just like any other.

I was just admiring how well written a paper in Nature is and thought that some people really have this science writing thing down pat. There is definitely a higher portion of elegantly papers (with regards to how it is presented) in higher tier journals. Is that why they get accepted or do people just put more effort into it when dealing with the big shots? Good question.

Or do the editors play a big role?