Chapter 876: Using a Nature Article as Bait (1k)

"Metal?"

Li Yabo was obviously stunned for a moment.

His previous research, including the paper that is currently completing the experimental data, all studied carbon fiber reinforced composite (CFRP) plates of different thicknesses, and Chang Haonan had never mentioned changing the research object before. How come he suddenly changed to metal materials?

Looking at the bewildered Li Yabo, Chang Haonan explained with a smile:

"At first, I was going to continue with my original idea and study the processing of carbon-based composites."

"But recently I thought about it for a while and found that according to the energy transfer theory of electrons and lattices, the relationship between the laser and the processed material will be affected by characteristic parameters such as electronic thermal conductivity, lattice thermal conductivity, and electroacoustic coupling coefficient. However, carbon fiber, even after multiple layers, is still too anisotropic, which is a huge problem for controllable processing."

"On the contrary, metals, including alloy materials, are more suitable as the starting point for our research because their electrothermal properties have been studied relatively clearly. We should start with the easy ones and then move on to the difficult ones..."

In fact, he had another reason that he didn't mention.

At this moment, even industry leaders such as the United States, Japan, and Germany are relatively conservative in the application of CFRP materials.

Especially in the field of aerospace, it is almost always used as the icing on the cake.

China's research accumulation in the field of CFRP materials is even weaker, and the level of commercialization is almost completely blank.

Except for some low-grade experimental products, aviation-grade products are almost 100% dependent on imports.

Related papers and patents are also in a relatively chaotic state.

In this case, spending a lot of effort to develop a new processing method for CFRP will not be very effective, at least in the short term.

But metal is different.

Apart from anything else, the air film holes on the inner wall of the turbine and combustion chamber of the WS-10 are still waiting for new technologies to improve production efficiency.

As for why Li Yabo was unaware of this matter...

Because Chang Haonan figured this out while he was waiting for the right temperature window in Hailar.

There was no time to inform him.

"But I have basically finished writing my paper..."

Li Yabo felt a little overwhelmed:

"Should we also take metal materials as research objects and add some content?"

"That's not necessary. Please send me the article and submit it as soon as possible if there are no major problems."

Chang Haonan waved his hand:

"The main purpose of your paper is, first, to meet graduation requirements, and second, to make the industry misjudge our specific research direction."

Hearing this, Li Yabo and Yao Mengna both looked puzzled.

Chang Haonan had never told anyone the second reason before.

But now.

No need to hide anymore.

"There will be a lot of noise about this topic in the future, and it will definitely not be hidden."

Chang Haonan explained:

"Our country's hard power in the field of lasers is still much weaker than that of developed countries. If we allow others to determine our technical route in a very short time, they will most likely be able to catch up with us."

Previously, his research on laser processing was basically at the level of interest and technical reserves, so naturally it was mainly based on this laboratory, with the help of Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics at most.

But now that this topic has been linked to the production finalization of the WS-10, he, as the chief designer of the model, must mobilize all relevant resources at his disposal.

However, the technical reserves in this area of ​​the Aviation Industry Corporation of China or the entire Science and Technology Commission system are relatively weak.

It will definitely involve the Chinese Academy of Sciences and even universities in other systems.

If a large number of people are involved, even if the goal is as high as the two bombs and one satellite, some news will definitely leak out.

Moreover, the act of keeping a secret is itself a form of information—

"You are sneaking around like that, you must be doing something big!"

Instead of doing this, it would be better to admit openly that we are researching laser processing.

As long as we provide a little guidance in some of the more detailed areas, perhaps we can achieve better results.

"But……"

Yao Mengna next to her raised her eyebrows:

"That paper...isn't it going to be published in Nature?"

In the academic circle, especially in academic fields that are strongly related to applications, it is not particularly uncommon to cause trouble to competitors through papers or patents.

As long as you don't engage in academic fraud, no one can say anything.

But using a Nature article to do this...

It is very rare.

After all, if you just write a paper casually, there is a high probability that it will not be published in Nature.

If we invest too many resources in a direction that we know is wrong, we will end up hurting our own side while hurting the enemy.

However, Chang Haonan nodded:

"You can't catch a wolf without sacrificing a lamb. It is because people have this kind of inertia of thinking that it is easier to take advantage of them. The longer they are misled and the more deeply they are misled, the more beneficial it will be for our future development."

"Besides, this paper didn't take up too much of my energy. The equipment wasn't in place during this period, so I couldn't do any in-depth experiments. As for the previous investment, I'll just treat it as a training exercise for Li Yabo..."

"..."

"..."

Yao Mengna and Li Yabo were both speechless.

You just practiced and published an article in Nature. Who can you complain to?

In fact, for a normal research group, even for the Torch Laboratory, the investment from the school headquarters is not low.

But whether it is low or not is relative.

Now that laser processing has climbed up the big tree of the WS-10 project, the previous expenditure of a few million is naturally nothing.

Even if it's just used as bait, it's still a huge profit.

……

A month later.

London, England.

Macmillan Publishing Company.

For China, the 2001 Spring Festival holiday had just begun, and most people, including Chang Haonan, had gone to rest.

But Europeans don't celebrate the Spring Festival, and the Christmas holidays have long ended.

Therefore, the Nature editorial department has returned to its usual busy state.

As one of the two most prestigious journals in the field of natural sciences in the world, it receives a large number of submissions from research institutions around the world every day.

After all, there is hardly any scientific researcher who has never dreamed of publishing in Nature.

The number of papers in each issue of Nature and the number of issues the journal itself can publish are strictly limited.

This remains true even in the digital age.

This is in stark contrast to some journals that, in order to earn page fees, have frantically increased the amount of journals after they have gone electronic and are no longer restricted by the length of the paper version.

This ensures the influence and authority of the journal to a great extent.

But it is not good news for editors.

Because with the opening of online submission channels, the number of manuscripts has almost increased by an order of magnitude in recent years.

Among them, the number of people who can break through the numerous barriers and finally be published may not even be one in a thousand...

This is because the field of natural sciences has higher requirements for experiments, which inherently excludes most amateur scientists.

Otherwise, it might be even lower...

So, for the editorial staff, it is actually a bit boring...

"Ugh……"

Senior editor Paul Nicholson tossed the twentieth paper he had read today into the recycling bin, then sighed and got up to make himself a cup of black tea.

"what happened?"

Fanny Black, who was sitting opposite, looked up:

"Have you received any ridiculous article request yet?"

It is true that Nature is a top journal.

But no matter how top-notch you are, you are still part of the academic circle.

Although there are few cases where people use external means such as personal connections, economic interests or political pressure to ask the editorial department to directly accept the manuscript, they do exist.

This is the case to which Black is referring.

"That's not it."

Nicholson returned to his seat with the cup in hand:

"It's just that I've seen 10 papers this morning claiming to have discovered a single-layer carbon atom material..."

"..."

Blake didn't answer, but just smiled helplessly.

She had encountered similar experiences before.

If you want to publish in Nature, it is definitely impossible without some groundbreaking content.

But some authors put too much groundbreaking content in the abstract rather than the conclusion...

One look at the abstract reveals that each person has achieved Nobel Prize-level results.

Look at the content again...

Even though these editors are not professional researchers, they can see that there are many loopholes in it.

While talking, Blake also clicked on a manuscript classified as "carbon-based materials" and quickly scanned the abstract.

"Hey... I've also written one."

“Although I didn’t discover a single layer of carbon atoms, I did solve the problem of the unpredictable laser thermal effect in the processing of carbon-based composite materials…”

However, when she said this, her voice suddenly stopped.

Nicholson raised his head and gave him a questioning look.

"and many more……"

Blake raised her hand and pushed back her loose blonde hair.

This is her habitual action when she is thinking.

"The data in this article...seems to be able to fit?"

"Ah?"

Nicholson, who was about to open the next paper, immediately put down his teacup and walked behind Blake.

Then he was stunned.

The fit of this curve to the data seems too good to be true.

“Isn’t it adjusted by the data?”

Nicholson frowned immediately.

In theory, editors and even reviewers are not responsible for the authenticity of the data in the paper.

But if you encounter something particularly outrageous, you still need to pay attention to it.

"First, let's take a look at who the author is?"

He suggested again:

“If there have been achievements in this field before, it should still be credible.”

Blake followed his instructions and clicked on the first author's personal information column.

In fact, Nature's review results are also highly influenced by the author's past scientific research results.

In other words, even if the content of the paper remains completely unchanged, the difficulty of getting the paper approved will be greatly reduced if a well-known professor in the industry submits the paper as the corresponding author.

This is not entirely due to academic hegemony, but in most cases, natural science research itself is a gradual process.

There was no movement before, but he made a big move right away.

The possibility is not zero, but at least it is very small.

"Yabo Li... is a complete newcomer, a blank slate."

Blake shook his head and clicked on the corresponding author.

The content loaded on the screen made her stunned:

"Ok?"

Nicholson leaned in front of the screen:

"Haonan Chang... He has published some good papers, but they don't seem to have anything to do with materials science... Is he trying to get his name for free?"

"no……"

Blake raised his hand to stop Nicholson from continuing:

"Is this person the one who was very popular last year... one of the two people who solved the Poincare conjecture?"

"like……"

Nicholson's tone also became serious:

"I'll check..."

He quickly returned to his seat and began typing away on the keyboard.

After a few minutes, the result was obtained:

"Last year, the Chang Haonan was a professor at a university in China called Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics. His contact email address was... So it was really him?"

Blake nodded awkwardly.

But Nicholson was relieved:

"Then just send it to the reviewers. For authors of this level, we have no say in whether the manuscript will be approved or not."

"That's the problem."

Blake showed a distressed expression:

"This paper... says it's about materials science, but about one-third of the paper and at least half of its innovation lies in explaining the basic laws of physics and performing mathematical calculations. I can't think of anyone to review it..."

"It is highly likely that a materials science professor cannot understand mathematics and theoretical physics, a physics professor may not understand mathematics, and a mathematics professor does not understand the actual situation of materials science... I always feel that this paper is awkward no matter which field it is assigned to."

Chang Haonan included a lot of computational materials science content in this paper.

But computational materials science was not yet a popular subject at the time, so even though Black was an editor at Nature, he felt a little overwhelmed for a moment.

"To be honest, it seems more suitable to be submitted to Physical Review..."

She casually complained:

The Physical Review series founded by Cornell University is not as well-known to the public as Nature and Science, but it is definitely an extremely important journal.

In the past half century, 60% of the Nobel Prize-winning papers in physics were published on it.

"But if you really dare to reject the manuscript, the editor-in-chief might kill you..."

Nicholson half-jokingly said:

"This kind of truly groundbreaking paper can only be considered scientific if it is published in Nature."

Blake ignored Nicholson's joke about the names of his own and rival journals and just started looking through the list.

"Have it!"

After a full hour, she suddenly raised her head, and her sharp voice startled Nicholson, who had almost forgotten about it.

The tea was spilled.

"Henry Jeske is a materials physicist, but his research field is more theoretical, so we don't interact much with him. He published an article with a similar style in Physical Review about two years ago."

"Even so..."

The cup of tea just happened to be spilled in a very bad place, so Blake quickly grabbed a piece of paper and started to wipe his pants:

“Do you need a few more reviewers, too?”

Blake didn't care about that anymore and started writing the email directly:

"It doesn't matter. Let Professor Jesk recommend something to us."

"He should be interested in the content of this paper..."