3 ms·

I did't know anything about the journal. I must admit, that something titled "Journal of Natural Products" didn't inspire much confidence. But it does look like

I did't know anything about the journal. I must admit, that something titled "Journal of Natural Products" didn't inspire much confidence. But it does look like it has been around for quite a long while, and has a respectable impact factor for a specialized journal too.

cstross 5y ago
It's a pharmacognosy journal: not crank/fringe at all. (Pharmacognosy is the study of drugs of natural origin -- about half our small molecule pharmaceuticals are either extracted from or synthetic but based on modifications of drugs of botanic origin.)
- RC_ITR 5y ago
  Classic example of scientific terms overlapping with common terms and confusing the hell out of lay people. People hate when scientists use jargon (often with good reason), but how many times will I have to listen to the 'all food is organic, it was once alive' joke?
gpcr1949 5y ago
Journal of Natural Products is a great journal when it comes to natural products, for example when you elucidate the structure of a complex novel natural product this is a good journal to publish it in (alternatives being eg organic letters). I follow natural products chemistry and together with nat prod rep this is one of the journals where I will make sure to not miss any abstract, this is a top of the line journal in it;s niche. However in natural products chemistry there is the tendency to inflate the importance of measured biological activity, often you will see it reported this or that new compound is cytotoxic against some random cancer cell line but when you read the fine print the compounds are weak and/or not selective. Often this later can prove as the justification of a total synthesis attempt or as the starting point for optimization into an actually potent drug (which does not succeed that often).

3 ms·

I did't know anything about the journal. I must admit, that something titled "Journal of Natural Products" didn't inspire much confidence. But it does look like

by jonnycomputer 5y ago

cstross 5y ago
It's a pharmacognosy journal: not crank/fringe at all. (Pharmacognosy is the study of drugs of natural origin -- about half our small molecule pharmaceuticals are either extracted from or synthetic but based on modifications of drugs of botanic origin.)
- RC_ITR 5y ago
  Classic example of scientific terms overlapping with common terms and confusing the hell out of lay people. People hate when scientists use jargon (often with good reason), but how many times will I have to listen to the 'all food is organic, it was once alive' joke?
gpcr1949 5y ago
Journal of Natural Products is a great journal when it comes to natural products, for example when you elucidate the structure of a complex novel natural product this is a good journal to publish it in (alternatives being eg organic letters). I follow natural products chemistry and together with nat prod rep this is one of the journals where I will make sure to not miss any abstract, this is a top of the line journal in it;s niche. However in natural products chemistry there is the tendency to inflate the importance of measured biological activity, often you will see it reported this or that new compound is cytotoxic against some random cancer cell line but when you read the fine print the compounds are weak and/or not selective. Often this later can prove as the justification of a total synthesis attempt or as the starting point for optimization into an actually potent drug (which does not succeed that often).