The other day I was talking to some scientists at a meeting, and one of them told me that some journals take advantage of the announcement of the Nobel Prize to send you an e-mail highlighting the papers from the Laureates that they have had the privilege to publish.

I don’t know about you but such a marketing strategy strikes me as somewhat cheeky. I don’t think there are plans to do the same here at NPG but, if other publishing firms are currently entertaining a similar strategy, here’s an idea to turn it on its head — send e-mails highlighting the papers from the Laureates that your journal has REJECTED and the name of the publication where they were ultimately published.

Hey! Maybe one could even use this information to develop some sort of journal ranking that could complement the infamous impact factors.

It’s a shame that confidentiality issues get in the way of such an idea because, if you were to send such an e-mail, people would surely be talking about your journal…