Some of the most important and innovative work of the last 150 years has appeared on the pages of Science and Nature, thus contributing to the birth and development of many disciplines, including Electromagnetism, Relativity, Quantum Theory, Genetics, Biochemistry and Astronomy. Accordingly, in 2001, the international community learned of the description of the human genome from the pages of both publications. These journals subject the articles they publish to strict screening processes carried out by experts, placing them in their current leading position.

The journal Science was founded in 1880 in New York, USA, with financial support from American inventor Thomas Edison, and later from Alexander Graham Bell. Having become the official journal of the American Association for the Advancement of Sciences in 1900, its foremost objective is to publish scientific findings and research across a wide range of disciplines. Its pages also contain articles dealing with science policy and other matters related to science and technology. Published weekly, its headquarters are in Washington D.C., USA, with another office in Cambridge, United Kingdom. It has a board of reviewing editors, composed of more than one hundred leading scientists worldwide and of the more than 12,000 top-notch scientific manuscripts submitted, less than 8% are accepted for publication. Its impact factor for 2005, as measured by Thomson Scientific, was 30.927.