On April 8, Doctor Philip Campbell gave a special lecture on “Challenges for High-Impact Journals and Those Who Publish in Them.” The lecture was held from 2:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. at the Fusion Hall of KAIST Institute (KI) Building (E4), and President Sung Mo Kang gave welcoming speech. Many KAIST students and faculty attended the lecture.
 
▲ Doctor Philip Campbell said that the role of editors is to add value to scientific research
Doctor Philip Campbell is the editor-in-chief of Nature and of Nature Publishing Group. His areas of responsibility include the editorial content and management of Nature, and assurance of long-term quality of all of the group’s publications. Following his research in upper atmospheric physics, he previously held office as Physical Sciences Editor of Nature, and then, in 1988, the founding editor of Physics World, the international magazine of the United Kingdom (UK) Institute of Physics. He returned to take on his current role in 1995.
 
The lecture was mainly about the challenges and controversial incentives authors, editors, and those responsible for researchers’ careers face when publishing scientific papers. He first started the lecture by explaining the process of how papers get evaluated by editors of Nature. He also mentioned some reasons for editorial rejection and qualities of strong contenders, which interested many participants. As he explained the mechanics of peer review, he emphasized that a good reviewer should be happy to involve younger people. Towards the end of the lecture, he once again mentioned the importance of laboratory training and supervision in order to improve the field of science.
 

He described the role of editors as adding value to scientific research by selecting, editing, distributing, giving permanence and credit, and assisting the scientific community. He explained the dilemma and position editors face, as they can have great impact on researchers’ careers and incentives. However, editors must make their own decisions without any prejudice or pressure according to firm principles. 

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