You Pick One

The rat study, "Multiple SHANK3 Gene-Editing Methods," was the main paper. It could be divided into five subsidiary papers, with each of the five lab researchers, including Han Meng, writing one as his doctoral dissertation at Yanda.

Everyone went about their own work, advancing both the main paper and the subsidiary papers. Where should they publish the main paper, "Multiple SHANK3 Gene-Editing Methods in Rats"?

Shen Qi's suggestion was to choose among Nature, Science, and Cell. "Personally, I lean more toward Nature because it has a higher impact factor. When I was a student, my advisor told me that if you couldn't decide which journal to submit to, you should pick the one with the highest impact factor in its field. Of course, Science and Cell are also options. You five can vote. The journal with the most votes wins."

When a research team could freely choose among Nature, Science, and Cell, it meant that the team was no ordinary one.

The five lab researchers had studied the papers Shen Qi had published before, and he seemed particularly fond of Nature.

Mathematics was hard to get published in Nature because of the field's particular nature.

But in physics and chemistry, Shen Qi had published most of his papers in Nature, including several solo papers.

"Nature really is a good journal, but shouldn't we keep a low profile?" Cui Hualin said anxiously.

Cui Hualin had been unable to complete his doctorate in the United States for special reasons, and had hurried back to China on the eve of his defense.

The other four had been in much the same situation. Han Meng had fled Canada, and Wu Junqiang had slipped out of Britain.

Through biotechnology, Du Yuan had temporarily transformed himself into a woman. He traveled with a women's tour group,