<P> The standards that a journal uses to determine publication can vary widely . Some journals, such as Nature, Science, PNAS, and Physical Review Letters, have a reputation of publishing articles that mark a fundamental breakthrough in their respective fields . In many fields, a formal or informal hierarchy of scientific journals exists; the most prestigious journal in a field tends to be the most selective in terms of the articles it will select for publication, and usually will also have the highest impact factor . In some countries, journal rankings can be utilized for funding decisions and even evaluation of individual researchers, although they are poorly suited for that purpose . </P> <P> There are several types of journal articles; the exact terminology and definitions vary by field and specific journal, but often include: </P> <Ul> <Li> Letters (also called communications, and not to be confused with letters to the editor) are short descriptions of important current research findings that are usually fast - tracked for immediate publication because they are considered urgent . </Li> <Li> Research notes are short descriptions of current research findings that are considered less urgent or important than Letters . </Li> <Li> Articles are usually between five and twenty pages and are complete descriptions of current original research findings, but there are considerable variations between scientific fields and journals--80 - page articles are not rare in mathematics or theoretical computer science . </Li> <Li> Supplemental articles contain a large volume of tabular data that is the result of current research and may be dozens or hundreds of pages with mostly numerical data . Some journals now only publish this data electronically on the Internet . </Li> <Li> Review articles do not cover original research but rather accumulate the results of many different articles on a particular topic into a coherent narrative about the state of the art in that field . Review articles provide information about the topic and also provide journal references to the original research . Reviews may be entirely narrative, or may provide quantitative summary estimates resulting from the application of meta - analytical methods . </Li> <Li> Data papers are articles dedicated to describe datasets . This type of article is becoming popular and journals exclusively dedicated to them have been established, e.g. Scientific Data and Earth System Science Data . </Li> <Li> Video papers are a recent addition to practice of scientific publications . They most often combine an online video demonstration of a new technique or protocol combined with a rigorous textual description . </Li> </Ul> <Li> Letters (also called communications, and not to be confused with letters to the editor) are short descriptions of important current research findings that are usually fast - tracked for immediate publication because they are considered urgent . </Li>

Who is the publisher of a journal article