Posts on Sat Jan 29 2000 by Stevan Harnad and on Sun Jan 30 2000 by Brigitte Stemmer, provided an interesting comparison of Nature's vs. Science's embargo policies.
Those messages contain links that are now out of date. However, the policies of Nature and Science seem not to have changed much over the past two years. NATURE: Nature embargo policy: Communication between scientists http://www.nature.com/nature/author/embargo.html "Nature does not wish to hinder communication between scientists. For that reason, different embargo guidelines apply to work that has been discussed at a conference or displayed on a preprint server and picked up by the media as a result. (Neither conferences nor preprint servers constitute prior publication.)" See also: Nature Guide to Authors November 2001 5.2 Prepublicity. http://www.nature.com/nature/submit/gta/index.html#5.2 "Contributions submitted to, in press with or published in Nature must not be posted on any web site, with the following exception. Preprints may be posted on recognized preprint servers if the server is identified to the editor on submission of the paper, and if the content of the paper has not been advertised to the media (see Nature 390, 427; 1997 for further details)" And: Nature 390, 427 (1997) Preprints and Nature http://www.nature.com/cgi-taf/DynaPage.taf?file=/nature/journal/v390/n6659/full/390427b0_fs.html "There is no conflict between preprint circulation and submission to Nature - we only request that submitting authors inform us where and when a preprint has been placed on a server." SCIENCE The Science Contributors FAQ 9. What about manuscripts that have been posted online before submission? http://www.sciencemag.org/feature/contribinfo/faq/prioronline_faq.shtml "We do not consider manuscripts that have been previously published elsewhere, including those published on the Web. Posting of a paper on the Internet may be considered prior publication that could compromise the originality of the Science submission. Thus, if you are planning to submit your paper to Science, it should not be posted online." "We allow posting of manuscript copies of papers at not-for-profit publicly funded World Wide Web archives immediately upon publication. We also provide a free electronic reprint service to authors that allows access to their formatted and proofed paper on Science Online." The embargo policies of Nature continue to be less restrictive than those of Science, in relation to preprints posted at preprint servers. Jim Till University of Toronto
