Open science communication: the first year of the UK's Independent Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies

This paper seeks to introduce a strategy of science communication: Total SciComm or all-out science communication. We proposed that to maximize the outreach and impact, scientists should use different media to communicate different aspects of science, from core ideas to methods. The paper uses an example of a debate surrounding a now-retracted article in the Nature journal, in which open data, preprints, social media, and blogs are being used for a meaningful scientific conversation. The case embodied the central idea of Total SciComm: the scientific community employs every medium to communicate scientific ideas and engages all scientists in the process.

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Towards sustainable public engagement (outreach)

New Directions in the Teaching of Physical Sciences ◽

10.29311/ndtps.v0i6.381 ◽

2016 ◽

pp. 41-46

Author(s):

Timothy G Harrison ◽

Dudley E Shallcross

Keyword(s):

Public Engagement ◽

Science Communication ◽

Senior Management ◽

Small Scale ◽

First Year ◽

Financial Cost ◽

The Public ◽

Full Support ◽

Public Engagement In Science ◽

Science Departments

There are myriad benefits to science departments that have a public engagement in science portfolio in addition to any recruitment of new undergraduates. These benefits are discussed in this paper and include: improving congruence between A level and first year undergraduate courses, training in science communication and the breaking down of barriers between the public and universities. All activity requires investment of personnel and incurs a financial cost. Small scale activities may be able to absorb this cost, but ultimately as the portfolio grows this will become an increasing drain on resources. Bristol ChemLabS Outreach has, from the very start, set out to be fully sustainable financially and in terms of personnel. A very important component is the full support of the senior management team. In this paper we discuss how we have achieved this.

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Psychiatric epidemiology: Looking to the future

Practical Psychiatric Epidemiology ◽

10.1093/med/9780198735564.003.0025 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 425-432

Author(s):

Jayati Das-Munshi ◽

Tamsin Ford ◽

Matthew Hotopf ◽

Martin Prince ◽

Robert Stewart

Keyword(s):

Science Communication ◽

Large Scale ◽

New Technologies ◽

Open Science ◽

Psychiatric Epidemiology ◽

Biological Data ◽

Gps Tracking ◽

The Future ◽

The Impact

In this final chapter to the second edition of Practical Psychiatric Epidemiology, developments in psychiatric epidemiology since the first edition are summarized and the editors offer a view on where the future may lie. The themes summarized in this chapter include those related to large-scale datasets or ‘big data’, new technologies and science communication (including data generated through GPS tracking systems and the impact of social media), expanding biological data and biobanks, as well as the impact of globalization, migration, and culture on understanding psychiatric epidemiological principles. The last part of this chapter raises the important issue of open science initiatives. The chapter concludes with a brief discussion on the constancy and ongoing evolution of psychiatric epidemiology.

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Open Science and the Science-Society Relationship

Society ◽

10.1007/s12115-019-00361-w ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 56 (3) ◽

pp. 246-255 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Martin Lakomý ◽

Renata Hlavová ◽

Hana Machackova

Keyword(s):

Public Engagement ◽

Science Communication ◽

Ethical Issues ◽

Current Knowledge ◽

Open Science ◽

Unintended Consequences ◽

Future Research ◽

The Public ◽

Science Society ◽

Scientific Institutions

Abstract Nowadays, the prevailing trend in the science-society relationship is to engage with the broader public, which is beneficial for the public, scientific institutes, scientific findings, and the legitimacy of science as a whole. This article provides a broad review of the rapidly growing research on Open Science and identifies the gaps in the current knowledge for future research. The review focuses on the science-society relationship, such that knowledge from this field is summarised and systematised. Insight into the most salient topics, including science communication, public engagement with science, public cognition of science, and challenges and potential unintended consequences connected to interactions with the public are examined. The first section of the paper focuses on science communication which involves efforts and approaches to inform the public about science by the most effective means. The section on public engagement reviews how scientists and scientific institutions are increasingly involved in direct interactions with the public and different groups of stakeholders to make science more open. The section focusing on public cognition of science provides information about public knowledge, perception, and trust regarding science, which both determines and is formed by public engagement. Last, risks, ethical issues, and data issues connected to the implementation of Open Science principles are reviewed, as there are many unintended consequences of Open Science which are examined by this current research. In conclusion, research covering the science-society relationship is rapidly growing. However, it brings multiple challenges as well as opportunities which are captured and discussed in a variety of existing studies. This article provides a coherent overview of this field in order to bring more comprehensible knowledge to scientists, scientific institutions, and outreach professionals.

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The public-engaged scientists: Motivations, enablers and barriers

Research for All ◽

10.18546/rfa.02.2.09 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 2 (2) ◽

pp. 313-322 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Simona Cerrato ◽

Valentina Daelli ◽

Helena Pertot ◽

Olga Puccioni

Keyword(s):

Science Communication ◽

Public Perception ◽

Professional Training ◽

Institutional Commitment ◽

First Year ◽

The Public ◽

Training Courses ◽

Training Programmes

Why do scientists volunteer to be involved in public engagement in science? What are the barriers that can prevent them participating in dialogue with society? What can be done to facilitate their participation? In this paper we present a case study of the Children's University programme of the International School for Advanced Studies (SISSA) (Trieste, Italy), discussing the three-year experience, and reporting the outcomes of a series of focus groups conducted with the young scientists who volunteered in the programme. Two kinds of motivations emerged. The first is personal, for example volunteers' desire to improve their own communication abilities, or their curiosity for a new activity. The second is related to the perceived role of scientists in society: many volunteers feel a sense of duty and the need to promote science and its importance in society, to have an impact on the public perception of science and to seed the love for science in young people. After the first year of their involvement, volunteers expressed the need to keep improving their communication skills and participating in professional training courses, and agreed that science communication should become part of all standard training programmes of PhDs. In order for the outreach not to remain a sporadic experience, it is essential that a strong institutional commitment exists to promote, recruit, encourage, professionally train and support those involved.

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A New Science for Future

10.14361/9783839452653 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Simon David Hirsbrunner

Keyword(s):

Computational Modeling ◽

Computer Modeling ◽

Digital Technology ◽

Science Communication ◽

Open Science ◽

Climate Impact ◽

Climate Risks ◽

New Science ◽

Modeling Practices ◽

Climate Impact Research

Building on concepts from Science & Technology Studies, Simon David Hirsbrunner investigates practices and infrastructures of computer modeling and science communication in climate impact research. The book characterizes how scientists calculate future climate risks in computer models and scenarios, but also how they circulate their insights and make them accessible and comprehensible to others. By discussing elements such as infrastructures, visualizations, models, software and data, the chapters show how computational modeling practices are currently changing in light of digital transformations and expectations for an open science. A number of inventive research devices are proposed to capture both the fluidity and viscosity of contemporary digital technology.

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Open science in the making: preliminary remarks on the putative effects of specialised online portals on scholarly collaboration and community building

Journal of Science Communication ◽

10.22323/2.17020304 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 17 (02) ◽

pp. C04

Author(s):

Dirk Hommrich

Keyword(s):

Conceptual Framework ◽

Science Communication ◽

Community Building ◽

Open Science ◽

Information Services ◽

Scholarly Community ◽

Online Systems ◽

Online Networks ◽

Research Questions ◽

Scholarly Collaboration

This commentary introduces a preliminary conceptual framework for approaching putative effects of scholarly online systems on collaboration inside and outside of academia. The first part outlines a typology of scholarly online systems (SOS), i.e., the triad of specialised portals, specialised information services and scholarly online networks which is developed on the basis of nine German examples. In its second part, the commentary argues that we know little about collaborative scholarly community building by means of SOS. The commentary closes with some remarks on further research questions regarding the putative impact of such systems on science communication and scholarly community building.

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Open Access of COVID-19-related publications in the first quarter of 2020: a preliminary study based in PubMed

F1000Research ◽

10.12688/f1000research.24136.2 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 9 ◽

pp. 649

Author(s):

Olatz Arrizabalaga ◽

David Otaegui ◽

Itziar Vergara ◽

Julio Arrizabalaga ◽

Eva Méndez

Keyword(s):

Open Access ◽

Open Science ◽

Scientific Production ◽

The Other ◽

First Year ◽

Pubmed Central ◽

Research Context ◽

Research Publications ◽

Preliminary Study

Background: The COVID-19 outbreak has made funders, researchers and publishers agree to have research publications, as well as other research outputs, such as data, become openly available. In this extraordinary research context of the SARS CoV-2 pandemic, publishers are announcing that their coronavirus-related articles will be made immediately accessible in appropriate open repositories, like PubMed Central (PMC), agreeing upon funders’ and researchers’ instigation. Methods: This work uses Unpaywall, OpenRefine and PubMed to analyse the level of openness of the papers about COVID-19, published during the first quarter of 2020. It also analyses Open Access (OA) articles published about previous coronavirus (SARS CoV-1 and MERS CoV) as a means of comparison. Results: A total of 5,611 COVID-19-related articles were analysed from PubMed. This is a much higher amount for a period of 4 months compared to those found for SARS CoV-1 and MERS during the first year of their first outbreaks (337 and 125 articles, respectively). Regarding the levels of openness, 97.4% of the SARS CoV-2 papers are freely available; similar rates were found for the other coronaviruses. Deeper analysis showed that (i) 68.3% of articles belong to an undefined Bronze category; (ii) 72.1% of all OA papers don’t carry a specific license and in all cases where there is, half of them do not meet Open Access standards; (iii) there is a large proportion that present a copy in a repository, in most cases in PMC, where this trend is also observed. These patterns were found to be repeated in most frequent publishers: Elsevier, Springer and Wiley. Conclusions: Our results suggest that, although scientific production is much higher than during previous epidemics and is open, there is a caveat to this opening, characterized by the absence of fundamental elements and values on which Open Science is based, such as licensing.

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An Editor's Guide to Writing and Publishing Science

10.1093/oso/9780198804789.001.0001 ◽

2019 ◽

Author(s):

Michael Hochberg

Keyword(s):

Science Communication ◽

Open Science ◽

Chief Editor ◽

Early Career ◽

Discussion Groups ◽

Wide Range ◽

Challenges And Opportunities ◽

Postdoctoral Researchers ◽

Writing Science ◽

Scientific Fields

Scientists must communicate their work through clear writing and publish it where it will be read. To succeed, you need method, but also need to understand the worlds of journals, publishers and science evaluation. The Editor’s Guide to Writing and Publishing Science provides a comprehensive approach to how to write engaging papers, and strategies for publishing where they will be read and have impact. Drawing on decades of experience as a scientist, mentor and chief editor, Michael Hochberg offers a unique, authoritative view on writing science and into the little-known worlds of journals and publication. Succeeding in science means being a citizen of science, and The Editor’s Guide educates the reader in some of the most pressing issues and possible solutions, and provides key references for deeper exploration. Developing one’s career does not mean careerism, and Hochberg provides guidelines and advice for young researchers to engage in the craft of science, forge collaborations, contribute to the scientific commons as a peer reviewer and interact through social media. Understanding the challenges and opportunities in publishing is only possible with knowledge of how science communication is changing, and the reader is introduced to the important, emerging world of Open Science. Written in a practical and accessible way for students, postdoctoral researchers, early-career scientists and professionals across a wide range of scientific fields, The Editor’s Guide is a powerful tool for learning and improving individual skills, and can be the basis for discussion groups, or used as a text for dedicated classroom courses.

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