Sciences (journal)

Sciences (journal)
Title	Sciences
Discipline	Multidisciplinary sciences

Sciences (journal) is a multidisciplinary scholarly periodical covering research across natural and applied sciences. Established to provide a venue for rapid communication and synthesis, it publishes original research, reviews, and commentaries spanning fields from astrophysics to zoology. The journal aims to bridge disciplinary divides and reach audiences involved with institutions such as the Royal Society, National Academy of Sciences, European Research Council, Max Planck Society, and Chinese Academy of Sciences.

History

The journal was founded amid debates about open dissemination and reproducibility that involved stakeholders including Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Wellcome Trust, Carnegie Institution for Science, and national funding agencies such as the National Institutes of Health and European Commission. Early editorial discussions referenced models promoted by publishers like Elsevier, Springer Nature, Wiley-Blackwell, Taylor & Francis Group, and nonprofit venues such as Public Library of Science and eLife. Launch events featured participants from universities such as Harvard University, Stanford University, University of Cambridge, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and University of Oxford, and policy dialogues with representatives from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. Over time the title adjusted policies in response to initiatives like the Budapest Open Access Initiative, the Plan S framework, and recommendations from the Committee on Publication Ethics.

Scope and Content

The journal's scope includes subjects represented in departments at institutions such as California Institute of Technology, Imperial College London, ETH Zurich, Peking University, and University of Tokyo. It solicits manuscripts on topics ranging from experimental work tied to facilities like the Large Hadron Collider and observatories such as Hubble Space Telescope and ALMA to field studies referencing locations like the Galápagos Islands, Sahara Desert, Amazon Rainforest, Great Barrier Reef, and Mount Everest. Featured methodologies often draw on infrastructure and collaborations including CERN, NASA, European Space Agency, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and US Geological Survey. The journal has published studies that intersect with programs or projects like Human Genome Project, Climate Change 2007–2013 reports by IPCC, Manhattan Project (historical context), Apollo program (historical context), and international efforts such as Trans-Pacific Partnership (policy-related analyses) or scientific partnerships among BRICS nations.

Editorial Board and Peer Review

Editorial governance has included scholars affiliated with academic bodies such as Princeton University, Yale University, Columbia University, University of California, Berkeley, Johns Hopkins University, and research organizations like Salk Institute for Biological Studies and Los Alamos National Laboratory. The peer review process is informed by standards advocated by Committee on Publication Ethics and practices debated at meetings hosted by American Association for the Advancement of Science, Royal Society of Chemistry, and National Research Council (United States). Reviewers and editors have included signatories to manifestos and reports produced by groups such as DORA (Declaration on Research Assessment), and the journal has adopted guidance consistent with recommendations from International Committee of Medical Journal Editors for transparency in authorship and conflicts, with administrative oversight that mirrors the governance structures used by institutions like Wellcome Trust and European Molecular Biology Laboratory.

Abstracting and Indexing

The journal is abstracted and indexed in major bibliographic and citation databases operated by organizations such as Clarivate, Elsevier (Scopus indexing), and specialized services run by entities like PubMed Central affiliates and the Directory of Open Access Journals. It also appears in aggregated platforms managed by consortia including Jisc, library catalogues at institutions like Bibliothèque nationale de France, Library of Congress, and discovery services used by university systems such as SUNY and University of California system.

Impact and Reception

Reception among academics has referenced comparative metrics produced by Clarivate Analytics and analyses similar to those by Nature Index and Scopus CiteScore. Commentaries in forums run by publishers like Nature (journal), Science (journal), and platforms such as arXiv and bioRxiv have discussed the journal’s role alongside long-established titles including Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, The Lancet, Cell (journal), and Physical Review Letters. Policy-makers in organizations like the European Commission and funders such as Gates Foundation have cited articles from the journal in white papers, while debates about access and reproducibility have involved stakeholders from OpenAI-adjacent research discussions and technology firms like Google and Microsoft Research when computational methodologies are central.

Publication Model and Access

The journal's publication model has evolved in dialogue with advocates and institutions such as Public Library of Science, OpenAIRE, Creative Commons, and funding agencies including National Science Foundation and European Research Council. Decisions about article processing charges, repository deposition, and licensing reflect policies shaped by agreements similar to those negotiated in transformative deals between academic consortia (e.g., Projekt DEAL) and major publishers like Elsevier and Springer Nature. The platform for hosting content interoperates with standards promulgated by CrossRef, ORCID, and the Open Researcher and Contributor ID initiative, and it participates in archiving arrangements comparable to those managed by Portico and CLOCKSS.

Category:Academic journals