The Problem with Reality

摘要

The problem with reality is that there is no musical score. When opening a door or sauntering around a corner you can't tell whether fortune or disaster lies ahead because there is no background music to set the scene. Violins don't sound when meeting a stranger who later becomes an intimate friend; an organ doesn't bellow a forewarning melody when disaster lurks. In reality, there are quieter, sometimes hidden signs of big events. For example, while we were busy going about our usual business, the impact factor for scientific journals was published for 1999. We missed the dramatic drum roll and exclamations or surprise. While the Journal had been the highest impact publication in electrochemistry with an impact factor of 1.994 (1997), and 2.110 (1998), its value shot up to 2.598 in 1999. It also happens to be the largest publisher in the field with 752 articles in 1999 (75 percent more than the next largest journal in this field). The most surprising statistic was the journal with the second highest impact factor in electrochemistry. Appearing for the first time in the Citation Index, Electrochemical and Solid-State Letters, (letters-style companion to the Journal) was the next highest impact journal in electrochemistry with an impact factor of 1.662 (221 articles in 1999). If this were a movie, surely there would have been a piece by John Williams blaring in the background.