In order to understand the contrast between these early Middle Ages and the atmosphere required by the scientific mentality, we should compared the sixth century in Italy with the sixteenth century. In both centuries the Italian genius was laying the foundations of a new epoch. The history of the three centuries preceding the earlier period, despite the promises for the future introduced by the rise of Christianity, is overwhelmingly infected by the sense of the decline of civilisation. In each...

Among rejected manuscripts, we also hoped to find correlations between citation frequency and other previously studied journal variables. Our data show that neither publication nor circulation volume of the publishing journals was significantly correlated with citation frequency. This finding suggests that higher citation is not related to publication in journals with larger publication or circulation volumes. In contrast, a significant positive correlation was found between the citation...

Reduced ocean water pH, often called “ocean acidification” (a result of elevated carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, which is absorbed by the ocean) can make it difficult for animals to secrete their shells and skeletons. Marine creatures in shallower waters provide nutrients to deep-sea environments, as dead organisms “rain down” to the bottom. Fewer organisms in shallow waters means less food at the bottom.

Louise was an eligible prospect and her marriage was soon arranged at the tender age of 12.  She was to mary Charles, Count of Angouleme who was seventeen years older than she was.  Louise was frightened of marrying such an older man, and expressed her fears to her father who later wrote of them to his second wife.  He writes. “My daughter says she is still too narrow, and does not know whether she might die of it; so much so that she asks every day how big and how long his thing is, and...

The individuals who conduct the work are responsible for identifying who meets these criteria and ideally should do so when planning the work, making modifications as appropriate as the work progresses. We encourage collaboration and co-authorship with colleagues in the locations where the research is conducted. It is the collective responsibility of the authors, not the journal to which the work is submitted, to determine that all people named as authors meet all four criteria; it is not the...