Science is a weekly peer-reviewed academic journal of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). It was founded by New York journalist John Michaels in 1880 with financial support from Thomas Edison and later from Alexander Graham Bell. Because of limited success the journal ceased publication in March 1882, only to be reestablished a year later by entomologist Samuel H. Scudder who was able to keep the journal going until 1894, when it was sold to psychologist James McKeen Cattell for $500.
Science became the journal of AAAS in 1900, and in 1944 when Cattell died, ownership of Science was transferred to AAAS. The journal has featured articles from notable scientists such as Albert Einstein and Edwin Hubble. The journal (along with Nature) received the Prince of Asturias Award in 2007 for Communications and Humanity. As of May 2012, the editor-in-chief is Bruce Alberts.
The journal mainly focuses on publishing important original scientific research and research reviews, but also publishes science-related news, opinions on science policy and other matters of interest to scientists and those interested in the aspects of science and technology. Unlike most scientific journals, which focus on a specific field, Science covers all aspects of science in all scientific fields.
While Science has become a significant journal and is one of the top science journals in the world, it has not been without controversy. In 2002, Science withdrew eight papers authored by Jan Hendrik Schön after it was discovered that he had fabricated much of his data. And another article published in 2002 on the neurotoxicity of the drug MDMA caused controversy when a mix-up of vials caused the paper to be retracted the following year. Papers published in 2006 by Hwang Woo-suk on cloning of human embryos were withdrawn by Seoul National University due to apparent scientific fraud.
Full-text articles are available online to AAAS members from the journal’s website. Online versions of full-text archive articles are not generally available to the public. However, the Science website also gives free access to some articles a year after their publication. Access to all articles on the Science website is free if the request comes from an IP address of a subscribing institution. Articles older than 5 to 6 years are available via JSTOR and recent articles older than 12 months are available via ProQuest.
The website features a ScienceNow section with “up-to-the-minute news from science,” and access to the Science of Aging Knowledge Environment. Knowledge Environments are an attempt to utilize Internet-based technologies to enhance access to scientific information and improve the effectiveness of information transfer. The former Signal Transduction Knowledge Environment (STKE) is now known as Science Signaling.
Image Caption: 2010 cover of the journal Science. Credit: Wikipedia
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