Chapter 193 The Biggest Rival
"Are you sure that the journal in my hand is the Journal of Mathematics? I think I need a reasonable explanation now."

In the meeting room frequently used by the editorial board of the Annals of Mathematics in Princeton, New Jersey, Holt, the editor-in-chief, sat in the middle and raised the latest issue of Acta Mathematica Sinica in his hand to question the other editors on both sides.

Since the publication of the paper proving the Goldbach conjecture in the Journal of Mathematics, he has become famous in the mathematics community.

The editorial boards of other journals in the mathematics community are naturally also paying attention.

Although Holt was not optimistic about the development of mathematical journals, he believed that a famous mathematician alone could not lead an academic journal to rise.

He expressed great confidence that the Acta Mathematica Sinica could never rival their Annals of Mathematics.

However, due to various reasons, some other editorial board members are still paying attention to the situation of the Journal of Mathematics.

In this way, even if there are new developments in the Journal of Mathematics, we can keep abreast of the trends and take precautions.

And that's why.

At the end of the month, the Journal of Mathematics suddenly published an additional issue, and this issue was delivered to them in the shortest time possible.

Holt turned a blind eye to the editorial board's attention to the Journal of Mathematics.

I didn't ask any special questions.

However, perhaps because the mathematics exchange conference had just been successfully held, and also because of his fear of Xu Yuan's mathematical talent, he could not help but check the journal in his office after seeing it.

At first he didn't take it seriously, thinking that they were just some worthless papers.

After all, no matter how high Xu Yuan's mathematical level is, it is impossible for him to complete a new high-quality mathematical paper in one month.

But the reality was that he was surprised by the quality of the first paper he saw.

I never expected that the quality of papers in an unknown journal like Acta Mathematica Sinica would be no different from that of their Annals of Mathematics.

Just when he thought that papers of this quality were isolated cases, the following papers dealt him another heavy blow.

There is basically no difference in the quality level of the papers included in the entire journal.

If it weren't for the different name on the journal cover, he would have thought he was reviewing and proofreading his own journal.

If he had previously looked down upon the Journal of Mathematics, after reading this latest journal, he suddenly felt tremendous competitive pressure.

Even though he was reluctant to believe it, he had to admit it because of the facts.

The growth rate of the Journal of Mathematics far exceeded his imagination.

In this situation, he could only convene an editorial board meeting to make new plans for the subsequent development of the Annals of Mathematics.

Since the Journal of Mathematics has the potential to grow into a rival, we can only prepare in advance.

The meeting room was very quiet at this moment, and the editors sitting on both sides of the desk remained silent for the time being.

They have naturally read the contents of the latest journal published by the Chinese Journal of Mathematics, and have to admit that the quality of the papers is indeed very high.

The silence lasted for nearly half a minute before an editor with a thick beard took the initiative to start a conversation.

"Yenching University just successfully held a mathematics exchange conference this month, and according to the detailed data released, more than 4,000 mathematicians participated in the mathematics exchange conference."

“Among them are even some Fields Medal winners, world-renowned mathematicians and scholars.”

"I think they took advantage of the opportunity of the conference to accept some high-quality paper submissions."

“But I think it’s impossible to produce this kind of papers continuously.”

After hearing these words, Holt felt mixed emotions, which was completely beyond his expectations.

In order to weaken the influence of this conference, he deliberately mobilized the personal connections of the Annals of Mathematics, hoping that too many mathematicians and scholars would not go to Yenching to attend the conference and provide support.

In fact, their approach is indeed very effective. Take Delignewitten and others from the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton for example, who ultimately did not attend the conference in person due to various reasons.

Although Deligne still insisted on attending the satellite meeting, the role he played was definitely different from being there in person.

But the final result was really unimaginable. Even with such external interference, more than 4,000 scientists were still able to attend the conference.

This scale has obviously far exceeded the previous two International Congresses of Mathematicians.

In addition, there are official organizations such as the International Mathematical Union and the Clay Mathematics Institute to help.

In essence, it is no different from the new Mathematicians' Congress.

No wonder the Journal of Mathematics, as the organizer, can receive so many high-quality mathematical papers.

However, the editor's words also reminded him that, just as the other party said, the ability of the Journal of Mathematics to publish such a high-quality paper was entirely dependent on the Mathematical Exchange Conference.

Now that the conference has concluded successfully, it is obviously impossible for the Chinese Journal of Mathematics to continue to guarantee the high quality of papers.

I believe that when the next issue of the journal is published, the true quality of the Journal of Mathematics will reveal itself.

The thought stayed here, and the worry in his heart suddenly eased a little.

It seems that even if the Annals of Mathematics does not take action, it will not have any substantial impact on them.

The thought stayed here, and he nodded and agreed: "That's right, we really don't have to worry about this."

"The papers they obtained in this way are doomed to be short-lived. I'm afraid the next issue will return to the previous standard."

As he finished speaking, many editors on both sides of the desk began to chime in. "It's just one issue of the journal. It won't have any impact on us."

“We don’t need to pay attention to an unknown journal. Our real competitors are the other three top journals.”

“It is simply stupid to suddenly increase the number of journals at this time and concentrate all high-quality papers in one issue. If I were them, I should publish it in several issues.”

“Xu’s mathematical talent is indeed strong, but it is still too difficult to support a top journal in the field of mathematics.”

……

After listening to the words of the editors, Holt's expression gradually calmed down.

The emotions that had emerged inexplicably returned to calm.

I am very satisfied with the conclusions of the current meeting.

But at this moment, a young man sitting at the end of the right side of the desk suddenly spoke, interrupting the conversation that had originally reached a consensus.

"Mr. Holt."

“I think Acta Mathematica Sinica will definitely become our competitor, and even deserves more attention than several other top journals.”

Almost the moment these words were uttered in the conference room, they immediately attracted the attention of the editorial committee members present.

Some people even refuted it on the spot.

"This is simply nonsense. The quality of the papers in the additional issue of Acta Mathematica Sinica is indeed on par with ours, but how can they become our rivals if they cannot guarantee the number of papers published in the future?"

“Not to mention that it should be given more attention than the other three top mathematics journals.”

It would be fine to say that the growth rate of the Journal of Mathematics is quite astonishing, but I will just keep a closer eye on it in the future.

But to say that Acta Mathematica Sinica attaches more importance than the other three top mathematics journals is completely untenable.

After all, the other three top journals in the field of mathematics have all been established for many years and have achieved their current status through the efforts of mathematicians.

Upon hearing this, Holt glanced at the other party and found that he was a new editorial member who joined the company this year, so he asked a few more questions.

"Tell me your reasons first."

Upon hearing this, the young editor did not immediately answer Holt's question.

Instead, he quickly operated the laptop in front of him with his hands to project a screenshot onto the conference room screen.

After seeing everyone's attention was drawn to him, he said:
"Just a few minutes ago, the official mathematics journal across the street released new news."

“Announced that they will continue to publish additional issues next month and guarantee that the quality of the journal will not be reduced.”

This time, as his words fell, everyone in the conference room froze and looked at each other.

They had just said that it was impossible for the Journal of Mathematics to have papers of the same quality, but they immediately announced a supplement and even promised that the quality would not drop.

Showing his strength so confidently, it doesn't seem like he is lacking in high-quality papers.

And it is impossible to fake such a thing. After all, Dahua has already been released to the mathematics community. If the journal published at that time does not live up to the name, it would be a slap in its own face.

Holt looked at the screenshot on the screen, his face looking grim and only a question mark remained in his mind.

“How many high-quality papers did they actually accept?”

However, the young editor did not finish his output, and before Holt could react, he added another sentence.

"In addition, Xu Yuan's existence is equivalent to a miracle in the mathematical world. Who can guarantee that he will not solve several other Millennium Prize problems?"

"By the time……"

Although the sentence was not completed, the meaning was quite clear.

If Xu Yuan continues to prove the Millennium Prize problem and publishes his paper in the Journal of Mathematics, the status of the Journal of Mathematics in the world will surely be unshakable.

By then, there will no longer be the top five journals in mathematics. The only one with absolute status will be the Acta Mathematica Sinica.

Although the Millennium Prize puzzle is difficult, proving even one of the remaining ones is almost impossible.

But as the young editor said, Xu Yuan's mathematical talent cannot be judged by common sense at all, and it is possible that he can create miracles for the mathematical world.

After all, if he could solve the Goldbach conjecture, it wouldn't be a big deal to prove a Millennium Prize puzzle at the same time.

Faced with what was happening before his eyes, Holt finally sighed and had to accept the fact that the Acta Mathematica Sinica had become their biggest rival.

"Then let's vote by raising our hands."

Finally, after a show of hands by all editorial board members, more than half of them believed that the Journal of Mathematics should be taken seriously and that some of the current mechanisms of the journal should be reformed.

Improve the quality of the papers as much as possible and maintain the influence of the Annals in the mathematics community after losing Xu Yuan.

……

As for ordinary people, they naturally won’t pay too much attention to what happens in academic journals, especially as the Olympics are approaching in August.

However, just when everyone was enthusiastically discussing the Olympics, a big news broke out on the Tiexue forum...

(End of this chapter)