# Science (journal)
## Microsim
### Live player
<div class="microsim-player">
<iframe src="https://editor.p5js.org/sciencenibber/full/B7INX7LL9" width="100%" height="620" frameborder="0" sandbox="allow-scripts allow-same-origin"></iframe>
</div>
<div class="microsim-fallback">
<img src="Microsims/thumbs/Science_(journal).png" alt="Science_(journal) microsim poster" style="width:100%;border:1px solid #4445;border-radius:6px;">
<p><em>Live microsim (desktop) · <a href="https://editor.p5js.org/sciencenibber/sketches/B7INX7LL9">open sketch in the p5.js editor</a></em></p>
</div>
**Editor URL:** https://editor.p5js.org/sciencenibber/sketches/B7INX7LL9
**Description (100 words):**
This microsim reframes the **Journal Impact Factor** — the single number by which journals like *Science* are ranked — as what it mathematically is: an arithmetic mean, **JIF = C / P** (citations C to the prior two years' citable items P). Each bar is one paper's citation count, rank-ordered on a log axis. Drag **P** to resize the journal-year and **alpha** to control the citation-skew (smaller alpha = heavier tail). The orange **mean** line sits far above the green **median**: a handful of blockbuster papers (red) inflate the average while the typical paper (blue) is cited only a few times — the well-known reason the JIF poorly summarizes a skewed distribution.
```js
/*
* Science (journal) — Journal Impact Factor & the citation-skew problem
* -------------------------------------------------------------------
* Article : Science (journal)
* Slug : Science_(journal)
* Wikitube: en.wikitube.io/wiki/Science_(journal)
*
* Idea:
* "Science" is one of the world's top peer-reviewed journals. Journals
* are ranked by the Journal Impact Factor (JIF), the single number most
* often quoted as a proxy for prestige. This microsim builds a synthetic
* citation distribution for one journal-year and shows how the JIF — a
* simple arithmetic mean — is dominated by a small tail of heavily-cited
* papers, while the typical (median) paper is cited far less. Sliding the
* skew exponent shows the mean and median diverging.
*
* Canonical equation (the JIF, Garfield 1955 / 1972):
* JIF(Y) = C / P
* where C = citations received in year Y to items published in Y-1 and Y-2
* P = number of citable items published in Y-1 and Y-2
* i.e. the JIF is just the MEAN citations-per-paper over a 2-year window.
*
* Notes:
* - Citation counts per paper are drawn from a Pareto (power-law) law,
* c_i = cMin * (1 - u)^(-1/(alpha-1)), u ~ Uniform(0,1).
* Smaller alpha => heavier tail => mean >> median (more skew).
* - All canvas strings are ASCII only (editor wrapper mishandles Unicode
* inside string/text() arguments — see standards pitfalls log).
*/
const ARTICLE = "Science_(journal)"; // single source of truth for the URL line
p5.disableFriendlyErrors = true; // ship-mode: silence FES console spam
// ---- Controls (built in setup) ----
let pSlider; // P : number of citable papers in the 2-year window
let alphaSlider; // alpha : Pareto tail exponent (skew)
let reshuffleBtn; // redraw a fresh random sample with the same params
// ---- Layout constants (computed in setup from width/height) ----
let MATH_LEFT, MATH_RIGHT, MATH_TOP, MATH_BOTTOM;
// ---- Derived state (rebuilt when params or sample change) ----
let cites = []; // citation count per paper, sorted descending
let totalC = 0; // C : total citations
let meanC = 0; // JIF = C / P
let medianC = 0; // typical paper
let maxC = 0; // tallest bar, for vertical scaling
let seed = 12345; // RNG seed; reshuffle bumps it
function setup() {
pixelDensity(2); // crisp text on retina
createCanvas(720, 520); // standard Wikitube canvas
textFont("system-ui");
// Chart rectangle: leave a band at the bottom for the slider strip + HUD.
MATH_LEFT = 60;
MATH_RIGHT = width - 40;
MATH_TOP = 120;
MATH_BOTTOM = height - 120;
// P : 20..400 citable items; default 250 (Science publishes ~800/yr, but
// the 2-yr citable-item denominator excludes news/editorials).
pSlider = createSlider(20, 400, 250, 10);
pSlider.position(150, height - 84);
pSlider.style("width", "200px");
// alpha : Pareto exponent. 1.2 (very heavy tail) .. 3.0 (mild). Default 2.0,
// close to empirical citation distributions.
alphaSlider = createSlider(1.2, 3.0, 2.0, 0.05);
alphaSlider.position(150, height - 54);
alphaSlider.style("width", "200px");
reshuffleBtn = createButton("reshuffle sample");
reshuffleBtn.position(400, height - 70);
reshuffleBtn.mousePressed(function () { seed = (seed * 1103515245 + 12345) >>> 0; });
}
// Sample one Pareto-distributed citation count.
// Inverse-CDF: c = cMin * (1 - u)^(-1/(alpha-1)).
function paretoSample(alpha, cMin) {
const u = random(); // p5 RNG, seeded each frame
return cMin * Math.pow(1 - u, -1 / (alpha - 1));
}
// Rebuild the citation sample from the current slider values + seed.
function rebuild() {
randomSeed(seed); // deterministic per (seed,params)
const P = pSlider.value();
const alpha = alphaSlider.value();
const cMin = 1; // every citable item gets >= ~1
cites = [];
totalC = 0;
for (let i = 0; i < P; i++) {
const c = Math.floor(paretoSample(alpha, cMin));
cites.push(c);
totalC += c;
}
cites.sort(function (a, b) { return b - a; }); // descending for the chart
meanC = totalC / P; // <-- this IS the JIF
maxC = cites.length ? cites[0] : 1;
const mid = Math.floor(P / 2); // median of the sorted list
medianC = P % 2 ? cites[mid] : (cites[mid - 1] + cites[mid]) / 2;
}
function draw() {
background(252);
rebuild(); // params can change every frame
const P = pSlider.value();
const alpha = alphaSlider.value();
// ---- Reference frame: baseline axis ----
stroke(60);
strokeWeight(1);
line(MATH_LEFT, MATH_BOTTOM, MATH_RIGHT, MATH_BOTTOM); // x-axis (papers)
// ---- Active geometry: the citation bars (rank-ordered, descending) ----
const plotW = MATH_RIGHT - MATH_LEFT;
const plotH = MATH_BOTTOM - MATH_TOP;
const barW = plotW / P;
// Citation distributions are heavy-tailed: one paper can dwarf the rest.
// A linear axis collapses the body to the baseline, so the vertical axis
// is LOGARITHMIC. yOf maps a citation count to a y-pixel via log(1+c).
const logMax = Math.log(1 + maxC);
function yOf(c) { return MATH_BOTTOM - (Math.log(1 + c) / logMax) * plotH; }
noStroke();
for (let i = 0; i < P; i++) {
const yTop = yOf(cites[i]);
// Color tail vs body: top decile in red, the rest in journal blue.
if (i < P * 0.1) fill(220, 60, 60); // the heavily-cited tail
else fill(40, 90, 200); // the typical body
rect(MATH_LEFT + i * barW, yTop, Math.max(barW - 0.5, 0.5), MATH_BOTTOM - yTop);
}
// ---- Mean (JIF) and median guide lines (same log mapping) ----
const yMean = yOf(meanC);
const yMed = yOf(medianC);
stroke(220, 130, 40); // orange = mean / JIF
strokeWeight(2);
line(MATH_LEFT, yMean, MATH_RIGHT, yMean);
stroke(30, 160, 90); // green = median
strokeWeight(2);
line(MATH_LEFT, yMed, MATH_RIGHT, yMed);
noStroke();
fill(220, 130, 40);
textSize(12);
textAlign(LEFT, BOTTOM);
text("JIF = mean = " + meanC.toFixed(2), MATH_LEFT + 6, yMean - 2);
fill(30, 160, 90);
textAlign(LEFT, TOP);
text("median = " + medianC.toFixed(0), MATH_LEFT + 6, yMed + 2);
drawHUD(P, alpha);
}
// ---- HUD: the Wikitube watermark (drawn last, noStroke) ----
function drawHUD(P, alpha) {
noStroke();
// 2a. Top-left title block
fill(20);
textAlign(LEFT, TOP);
textSize(20);
text("Science (journal)", 16, 14);
fill(110);
textSize(12);
text("Wikitube microsim - en.wikitube.io/wiki/" + ARTICLE, 16, 40);
// 2b. Top-right control hints
textAlign(RIGHT, TOP);
textSize(11);
fill(110);
text("sliders: P (citable items), alpha (citation-skew exponent)", width - 16, 14);
text("button: reshuffle the random sample", width - 16, 30);
text("vertical axis is log(citations); bars are papers, rank-ordered", width - 16, 46);
// 2c. Bottom-left readouts (canonical symbols)
textAlign(LEFT, BOTTOM);
textSize(13);
fill(40, 90, 200);
text("P = " + P + " C = " + totalC, 16, height - 100);
fill(220, 130, 40);
text("JIF = C/P = " + meanC.toFixed(2), 360, height - 100);
// Slider labels (left of each slider, right-aligned)
textAlign(RIGHT, CENTER);
textSize(12);
fill(60);
text("P (citable items)", 140, height - 76);
text("alpha (skew)", 140, height - 46);
// 2d. Bottom-right equation footer (ASCII only)
textAlign(RIGHT, BOTTOM);
textSize(11);
fill(80);
text("JIF = C / P (C = cites to items from prior 2 yrs, P = citable items)", width - 16, height - 10);
}
```
## Links (Wikipedia order)
<!-- injected from _registry/childlinks/Science_(journal).json (2026-07-30T02:09:12Z) -->
`AGORA` · `Academic_journal` · `Accelerating_expansion_of_the_universe` · `Adam_Michnik` · `Alain_Touraine` · `Albert_Einstein` · `Alexander_Graham_Bell` · `Alliance_française` · `Alma_Guillermoprieto` · `AlphaFold` · `American_Association_for_the_Advancement_of_Science` · `Annie_Leibovitz` · `Apollo_program` · `Ardipithecus_ramidus` · `Black_hole` · `Breakthrough_of_the_Year` · `British_Council` · `Bruce_Alberts` · `Byung-Chul_Han` · `CNN` · `COVID-19` · `COVID-19_vaccine` · `CRISPR_gene_editing` · `Cambridge` · `Cancer_immunotherapy` · `Caro_and_Cuervo_Institute` · `Celera_Corporation` · `Central_American_University,_San_Salvador` · `Christian_mission` · `Clarivate` · `Claudio_Sánchez-Albornoz` · `Daniel_E._Koshland_Jr.` · `Dante_Alighieri_Society` · `Dark_energy` · `Delayed_open-access_journal` · `Dolly_(sheep)` · `Donald_Kennedy` · `Drosophila_melanogaster` · `EFE` · `Edwin_Hubble` · `El_Espectador` · `El_País` · `El_Tiempo_(Colombia)` · `Emilio_García_Gómez` · `Emilio_Lledó` · [[Evolution]] · `First_observation_of_gravitational_waves` · `Floyd_E._Bloom` · `Fondo_de_Cultura_Económica` · `GLP-1_receptor_agonist` · `GW170817` · `Genetics` · `George_Steiner` · `Gloria_Steinem` · `Goethe-Institut` · `Google` · `Gravitational_lens` · `Gravitational_wave` · `Grupo_Globo` · `Guadalajara_International_Book_Fair` · `Gustavo_Gutiérrez` · `HINARI` · `HIV` · `HPTN_052` · `Hans_Magnus_Enzensberger` · `Hay_Festival` · `Heising-Simons_Foundation` · `Higgs_boson` · `Holden_Thorp` · `Human_Genome_Project` · `Human_genetic_variation` · `Human_genome` · `IP_address` · `Impact_factor` · `Indro_Montanelli` · `Induced_pluripotent_stem_cell` · `Instituto_Camões` · `Instituto_Cervantes` · [[Interdisciplinarity]] · `James_McKeen_Cattell` · `James_Nachtwey` · `James_Webb_Space_Telescope` · `Jean_Daniel` · `Jeremy_M._Berg` · `José_Ferrater_Mora` · `José_Luis_López_Aranguren` · `Journal_Citation_Reports` · `Julián_Marías` · `Leland_Ossian_Howard` · `Lenacapavir` · `Les_Luthiers` · `List_of_scientific_journals` · `Marcia_McNutt` · `Mario_Bunge` · `Marjane_Satrapi` · `María_Zambrano` · `Messier_87` · `Museo_del_Prado` · `Nanocircuitry` · `National_Autonomous_University_of_Mexico` · `National_Geographic_Society` · `Nature_(journal)` · [[Neptunium]] · `Neutron_star_merger` · `Nova_ScienceNow` · `Nuccio_Ordine` · `Open_access` · `Pedro_Laín_Entralgo` · `Peer_review` · `Philip_Abelson` · `Phys.org` · `Poincaré_conjecture` · `Princess_of_Asturias_Awards` · `Protein_structure_prediction` · `Pulitzer_Center` · `Quantum_machine` · `Quino` · `RNA_interference` · `Reinhard_Mohn` · `Renewable_energy` · `Rosetta_(spacecraft)` · `Royal_Society` · `Rush_Holt_Jr.` · `Ryszard_Kapuściński` · `Samuel_Hubbard_Scudder` · `Science_Advances` · `Science_Magazine_(disambiguation)` · `Science_policy` · `Shigeru_Miyamoto` · `Single-cell_sequencing` · `Spirit_(rover)` · `Stem_cell` · `Studio_Ghibli` · `The_Scientific_Monthly` · `Thomas_Edison` · `Thomas_Hunt_Morgan` · `Umberto_Eco` · `Vuelta_(magazine)` · `Václav_Havel` · `Washington_University_in_St._Louis` · [[Wayback_Machine]] · `Web_of_Science` · `Whole_genome_sequencing` · `Wikisource` · `Zygmunt_Bauman`
## From the Real GENERATIVE library
*Science (journal) — placed from the Real G.E.N.E.R.A.T.I.V.E. course library (STEM and Music room). Source: Wikimedia Commons (via Wikipedia article media). [Details & license](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Science_Vol._1_%281880%29.jpg).*
> Science is the peer-reviewed academic journal of the American Association for the Advancement of Science[A 2][1] (AAAS) and one of the world's top academic journals.[2] It was first published in 1880, is currently circulated weekly and has a subscriber base of around 130,000. Because institutional subscriptions and online access serve a larger audience, its ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Science_%28journal%29))
<!-- REAL-GENERATIVE-MEDIA:END -->
> **Room:** [[Telecommunications]] · **Status:** ✅ shipped
## Overview
Science is the peer-reviewed academic journal of the American Association for the Advancement of ScienceA 21 (AAAS) and one of the world's top academic journals.2 It was first published in 1880, is currently circulated weekly and has a subscriber base of around 130,000. Because institutional subscriptions and online access serve a larger audience, its estimated readership is over 400,000 people.3
_(Overview is shorter than 200 words; the pipeline should expand it from textbook context before publishing.)_
## See also
- Room hub: [[Telecommunications]]
- p5.js Editor conventions: P5 JS EDITOR
- Wiki root: MAIN
---
*Scaffolded by `generative-microsim` from row 1 of the Telecommunications sheet on 2026-06-02T14:45:45Z.*
<!-- REAL-GENERATIVE-MEDIA:START -->
<!-- CRAFT-LINK:START g12 -->
*Built to the [[WT!P5_js_Microsim_Master_Class|p5.js Master Class]].*
<!-- CRAFT-LINK:END -->
## Wikipedia : Wikitube
**Strict pair:** [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Science_%28journal%29) : [Wikitube](https://en.wikitube.io/wiki/Science_%28journal%29)
## Previous hub tags
Tree parents: [[Cellular_automaton]] · [[Emergence]] · [[Hydrogen]].
Legacy hubs: `GENERATIVE`.
---
*Sources: 1 legacy note. Minted wave 1, 2026-07-30 (v1.6 order).*