<p>generally, how much data is "enough" for one to publish a paper? do journals select articles based on the amount of data or does the overall significance of the work weigh in equally? furthermore, how does the article review/editing process work at a journal of the calibre of nature?</p>
<p>you need to have enough data to prove your point, nature selects its papers based on interest of results, not on quality of the data (as can be seen by the relatively higher number of retractions in nature papers). Nature and Science papers are really short, so there isn't much room for a lot of data. If you go to their websites there is a section for authors that will talk about the review process.</p>
<p>Uhh... the way you (OP) phrase the question, it sounds like you don't have any experience with publishing.</p>
<p>You're aiming for a Nature paper on your first try? That ain't gonna happen.</p>
<p>actually, i don't have any knowledge of the review process. i was wondering if publishing in nature had more to do with amount of data as opposed to other factors.</p>
<p>i don't think i'm at a point where i can aim for a nature paper by myself. obviously, my pi is aiming for a nature paper. maybe when i'm out of graduate school i can do the same, however, i'm assuming most on this forum live and die by their pi.</p>
<p>ic.</p>
<p>Umm. My impression is that Nature-type papers are basically tantamount to a PhD work. So you're looking at like 3+ years of work on it. This is just one frame of reference opinion.</p>
<p>Publishing in higher end journals depends on a number of factors:
1) novelty of the data (i.e. does your findings answer a fundamental question such as what controls metastasis, or refute a previously held conception).
2) rigor of the experiments (can you prove your conclusion from 50 different ways)
3) politics (who are the editors/reviewers in charge of the manuscript? how is his/her relationship with your boss? is your boss a superstar? Has your boss published in this journal before?)
4) luck, aka not getting scooped. </p>
<p>The process of publishing involves:
1) electronic submission
2) editor reads it and decide if it is interesting/good enough for further action, or automatic rejection.
3) If further action is decided, the paper is sent to 2 or 3 peer reviewers, they give their opinion, usually their options are: a) acceptance with no revisions (almost NEVER happens), b) acceptance with minor revisions, c) no decision until major revisions are done, d) rejection.
4) editor will then pool together the opinion of the reviewers and make the final decision.</p>