This Correspondence is in response to a Commentary by Peter Lawrence in Nature on 20 March, 2003. Click here to read this article.

Sir – Peter A. Lawrence (Nature 422, 259–261; 2003) points out in his Commentary that a substantial amount of politics has become commonplace in the scientific-publication enterprise.

In the numerous fields that are a bit less brutal than the highly competitive biomedical sciences, there may be another compelling motivation for authors to seek publication in the highest-ranked journals. The top journals are the most likely to consult top referees successfully, thus providing authors with the most meaningful feedback. The problem of fierce competition and conflicts of interest, although undeniably present, is probably less severe in fields such as the geosciences, and the benefit of receiving timely, top-notch reviews — rather than off-the-point comments from perhaps less qualified referees — should not be underestimated.