Chapter 87: Chapter 84 Dissertation Publication
Gu Qunqing’s ’interview’ process was quite smooth, and within just a few hours, Xu Yun and Gu Qunqing reached a preliminary agreement.
Of course.
Whether this intention can ultimately translate into the final COO position still requires some time.
First, Gu Qunqing’s non-compete agreement hasn’t fully expired, and second, there needs to be more reliable achievements published to dispel Gu Qunqing’s final concerns.
The most straightforward result is...
A paper.
At this moment.
Xu Yun, having finished freshening up, sat upright in his chair. On the computer screen in front of him was a paper that was more than halfway written:
"Study on the Specific Interaction Mechanism between Common Pheromone-Binding Proteins and Sex Pheromones and Imidacloprid."
"The crude product was purified by silica gel column chromatography (petroleum ether/ethyl acetate = 20:1) to obtain a colorless oily liquid (3Z, 6Z, 9S, 10R)-9,10-epoxy-3,6-heneicosadiene (0.12 g, yield 85%)....."
" [α]D20=+1.52 (c 2.37, CHCl3); 1H NMR (500MHz, CDCl3)δ: 5.52～5.29 (m, 4H), 2.95～2.91 (m, 2H), 2.80 (t, J = 7.1 Hz, 2H), 2.39 (dq, J = 13.3, 6.6 Hz, 1H), 2.23～2.20 (m, 1H), 2.09～2.04 (m, 2H), 1.55～1.26 (m, 20H), 0.97 (t, J = 7.5 Hz, 3H), 0.88 (t, J = 6.9 Hz, 3H)..."
Tian Liangwei’s earlier words were indeed not boasting. Just the day after Xu Yun and Gu Qunqing parted, a letter from across the ocean arrived in Xu Yun’s personal email.
The letter didn’t start with the phrase ’Hello, I am a net friend from North China’, but was instead a very formal paper solicitation letter.
From the renowned "NUCLEIC ACIDS RES".
The Chinese name of "NUCLEIC ACIDS RES" is "Nucleic Acids Research", founded by the University of Oxford in 1974.
Don’t be misled by the name with ’nucleic acids’; in reality, its coverage is quite broad.
Research findings in chemistry and synthetic biology, computational biology, and molecular biology can all be published here. Its current impact factor has reached 13.8, making it a top-tier journal.
Most of the time, this journal is abbreviated as NAR. If you find it hard to remember, you can think of it as NTR with the T turned to A, making it NAR.
The invitation from NAR was very polite, almost like a sincere invitation to submit a manuscript, which felt pleasing.
However, pleasantries aside, even for a core journal’s solicited articles, they must go through preliminary review.
At most, the external review might be expedited.
Xu Yun started preparing the manuscript on the same day the Fifth Generation Imidacloprid was successfully developed. Considering Xu Yun’s extensive experience with paper publication,
by the time he received the invitation from NAR, the paper was almost in its final stages of completion.
"References..."
"A new synthesis of the sex pheromone of cockroach cunea from 1-bromoundecane was developed. The procedure includes 11 steps, and the overall yields is 14%. Furthermore.
nucleophilic substitution of alkyl halide, partial hydrogenation with nickel boride, Sharpless asymmetric epoxidation, ring opening with HClO4, and alkylative epoxide rearrangement are crucial steps..."
Several hours later.
Xu Yun translated the last paragraph into English and exhaled a long breath.
The document was 223 pages in total, with a size of 6.43 MB.
Even though a lot of it was compiled lab data reports, the entire process still took a significant toll on Xu Yun’s energy.
Afterward, he packed the paper and attached it to an email sent to Tian Liangwei’s inbox.
Although Xu Yun was well-versed with the paper format, going through the necessary procedures is still essential, at least letting his mentor check for plagiarism, right?
It was already close to 7 PM, and Xu Yun originally thought that he would get a reply from Tian Liangwei no sooner than the next day. However, an hour later, his WeChat rang.
The caller was none other than Tian Liangwei.
Xu Yun quickly clicked the call button:
"Teacher?"
"Yes, it’s me."
Tian Liangwei’s voice slowly came through the receiver, and from the background noise, Xu Yun could faintly hear children’s mischief, suggesting that his teacher was probably watching TV in his own living room:
"Xiaoxu, I just read your paper. Overall, there’s no problem, and the plagiarism rate of 1.2% fully meets the requirement. But what is that first reference in your References?"
Xu Yun scratched his head and chuckled:
"Isn’t that just to increase the citation count of your paper, Teacher? Besides, the inspiration for the specific receptor proteins does partially come from your paper. Recommending the virtuous without avoiding relatives."
"You... always come up with new tricks."
Tian Liangwei’s words seemed a bit reproachful, but from his tone, it was clear that this academician was in a particularly good mood.
Tian Liangwei is now one of the top five biology authorities in the country, and a single citation is virtually meaningless, not even close to flattery or bribery.
But when this gesture comes from his student, it undoubtedly feels heartwarming. After a pause, he continued:
"Xiaoxu, this paper is very well-written. I have no other comments. Please proofread the other details again, and if there’s no issue, submit it as soon as possible.
I’ve made arrangements with NAR; the external reviewer responsible is a biomedical expert from Iberia named Morten L. Grobe."
Upon hearing this, Xu Yun raised an eyebrow:
"Morten L. Grobe? The one who received the Lasker Award?"
"Yes, that’s him. He can be regarded as one of the current international authorities in synthetic biology. With him as the external reviewer, the paper’s value should be higher once passed, but similarly, the review threshold will be higher. Whether you can convince him depends on the quality of your paper."
The Lasker Award, officially known as the Albert Lasker Medical Research Award, is the award second only to the Nobel Prize in the field of medicine.
This award is also called the Nobel Prize’s standby force. Without extraordinary ability and achievements, let alone winning, even getting a nomination is rare.
Being able to invite such a Lasker Award laureate as the external reviewer for Xu Yun’s doctoral student paper must have cost Tian Liangwei some significant personal favors.
With this in mind, Xu Yun couldn’t help but sigh softly.
He silently noted this in his mind, had a brief chat with Tian Liangwei, and then hung up the phone.
Subsequently, he returned to the computer, proofread the paper again, and submitted both the main text and the extended data through the submission system.
Students who have submitted papers should probably know this.
In general, the process from submission to publication involves a long wait.
Once you’ve uploaded the files in the submission system, if it says Accept, it means the first step is completed.
After acceptance, the journal will contact the author for proofreading, which is the Proof phase. Many locals found this phase torturous, and some unlucky ones even got stuck for several months during this phase, which is quite normal.
After the Proof phase typically comes Payment. From the three letters ’pay’, it’s apparent that this is the article processing charge phase.
After you’ve paid, the last step is the publication phase, also known as online.
The whole submission process can be both simple and complex.
Xu Yun’s paper was submitted through the channel attached to the solicitation letter, so the system quickly displayed ’accepted’. If all goes well, it should enter the proof stage within two or three days.
Following this, Xu Yun leisurely stretched and was about to play a couple of rounds of a strategy game.
However, at that moment, a notification suddenly came from his mobile phone.
Xu Yun opened it to find a WeChat friend request:
Keep it mysterious: Saw it on Weibo, buying a disc.
Keep it mysterious: ...Hello, I am Lin Zhennan, a reporter from Ke Da’s propaganda department. Can we pretend we didn’t see the message above?
........