A Nature publication. Who doesn’t aspire that? To many scientists, it has become an almost mythical achievement. The opportunity to get first-hand information from a Senior Editor at Nature wasn’t wasted on the GRE2007 participants − this workshop was fully booked right away. And for good reason; Chris Gunter, Senior Editor and specialised in genetics and genomics, is really down to earth and very open on the workings behind the scenes.

Jedi mind trick

Central to Gunter’s presentation are several tips for success. Treat editors as resources and use them as such. Keep up with the literature and select your journal carefully; ask yourself if Nature is really the best journal for your specific paper. Some of the things she mentions sound surprisingly obvious, but apparently are not. For example, to prepare your paper well (!) and to use the format requested by Nature. According to Gunter, that also works as a ‘Jedi mind trick’. Making your paper look like a Nature article gets referees in the right mood. Also take care of your cover letter and use it to explain the appeal of your work to a broad audience and to suggest referees. She recommends senior scientists to teach their students how to review papers. It’s something you have to learn. Finally, Gunter recommends active participation in the science community. Don’t be isolated, but look around and make sure you know what’s going on and who’s doing what.

Big leap forward

Most important of all is that your claims are supported by sound data. The second criterion is the degree of advancement. Is it an incremental advancement or a big leap forward −at Nature, the latter is the target. These two elements are primarily responsible for the high percentage of rejection; 70-80% of all submissions are sent back without review within a week. Should that happen, don’t panic. There is always a next time. And if you feel seriously mistreated, there is room for appeal. Put forward sound arguments though, don’t come up with celebrity endorsements or guesses at the referees’ identity accompanied by personal threats. The best example of what NOT to do is an appeal letter that was once sent to a female editor. It stated: ‘please send my paper on to a male editor’. Wonder what happened to that appeal...


[Esther Thole]