Cutting through the noise during crisis by enhancing the relevance of research to policymakers

Background:It is widely recognised that policymakers use research deemed relevant, yet little is understood about ways to enhance perceived relevance of research evidence. Observing policymakers' access of research online provides a pragmatic way to investigate predictors of relevance.Aims and objectives:This study investigates a range of relevance indicators including committee assignments, public statements, issue prevalence, or the policymaker's name or district.Methods:In a series of four rapid-cycle randomised control trials (RCTs), the present work systematically explores science communication strategies by studying indicators of perceived relevance. State legislators, state staffers, and federal staffers were emailed fact sheets on issues of COVID (Trial 1, N = 3403), exploitation (Trial 2, N = 6846), police violence (Trial 3, N = 3488), and domestic violence (Trial 4, N = 3888).Findings:Across these trials, personalising the subject line to the legislator's name or district and targeting recipients based on committee assignment consistently improved engagement. Mentions of subject matter in public statements was inconsistently associated, and state-level prevalence of the issue was largely not associated with email engagement behaviour.Discussion and conclusions:Together, these results indicate a benefit of targeting legislators based on committee assignments and of personalising the subject line with legislator information. This work further operationalises practical indicators of personal relevance and demonstrates a novel method of how to test science communication strategies among policymakers. Building enduring capacity for testing science communication will improve tactics to cut through the noise during times of political crisis.

When do data visualizations persuade? The impact of prior attitudes on learning about correlations from scatterplot visualizations

Data visualizations are vital to scientific communication on critical issues such as public health, climate change, and socioeconomic policy. They are often designed not just to inform, but to persuade people to make consequential decisions (e.g., to get vaccinated). Are such visualizations persuasive, especially when audiences have beliefs and attitudes that the data contradict? In this paper we examine the impact of existing attitudes (e.g., positive or negative attitudes toward COVID-19 vaccination) on changes in beliefs about statistical correlations when viewing scatterplot visualizations with different representations of statistical uncertainty. We find that strong prior attitudes are associated with smaller belief changes when presented with data that contradicts existing views, and that visual uncertainty representations may amplify this effect. Finally, even when participants' beliefs about correlations shifted their attitudes remained unchanged, highlighting the need for further research on whether data visualizations can drive longer-term changes in views and behavior. © 2023 ACM.

The Impact of Communicating Advocacy and Scientific Uncertainty on a Scientist's Trustworthiness

A central aspect of scientific knowledge is scientific uncertainty. When scientists touch upon political issues, there are two contrary expectations: One is that scientists communicate in a straightforward manner and give a direct, concrete suggestion. The other is that they communicate in a way that carefully considers the pros and cons as well as the current state of (non-) knowledge. This 2x2 experimental study investigated how disclosing scientific uncertainty affects the perceived trustworthiness of a scientist when they express either their motive to inform or their motive to advocate. All participants (N = 503) read an interview with a scientist about the usefulness of further vaccinations against COVID-19. In the interview, uncertainty was explicitly addressed (vs. not). Furthermore, the scientist either disclosed their motive to advocate or their motive to merely inform about research results. Results showed that the scientist was perceived as more trustworthy (i. e., having more expertise, integrity, and benevolence) when they communicated uncertainty than when they did not. However, contrary to our expectations, the effect of the scientist's expressed motive to advocate (vs. to inform) on trustworthiness did not depend on whether uncertainty was explicitly addressed or not.

Newspaper Coverage and Framing of Bats, and Their Impact on Readership Engagement.

The media is a valuable pathway for transforming people's attitudes towards conservation issues. Understanding how bats are framed in the media is hence essential for bat conservation, particularly considering the recent fearmongering and misinformation about the risks posed by bats. We reviewed bat-related articles published online no later than 2019 (before the recent COVID19 pandemic), in 15 newspapers from the five most populated countries in Western Europe. We examined the extent to which bats were presented as a threat to human health and the assumed general attitudes towards bats that such articles supported. We quantified press coverage on bat conservation values and evaluated whether the country and political stance had any information bias. Finally, we assessed their terminology and, for the first time, modelled the active response from the readership based on the number of online comments. Out of 1095 articles sampled, 17% focused on bats and diseases, 53% on a range of ecological and conservation topics, and 30% only mention bats anecdotally. While most of the ecological articles did not present bats as a threat (97%), most articles focusing on diseases did so (80%). Ecosystem services were mentioned on very few occasions in both types (< 30%), and references to the economic benefits they provide were meagre (< 4%). Disease-related concepts were recurrent, and those articles that framed bats as a threat were the ones that garnered the highest number of comments. Therefore, we encourage the media to play a more proactive role in reinforcing positive conservation messaging by presenting the myriad ways in which bats contribute to safeguarding human well-being and ecosystem functioning.

Promoting Science Literacy and Awareness across the Globe: the Role of Scientists as Science Ambassadors

Science literacy has many personal and societal benefits that allows for better informed decision-making. Although the importance of science literacy is recognized globally, there are many challenges associated with its promotion. Scientists are more frequently engaging with nonscientific audiences through public outreach activities and with increasing support from institutions and professional societies. This is especially true regarding microbiologists and other related professionals since the start of the global 2019 coronavirus disease pandemic heightened the need to convey novel and rapidly evolving scientific information to lay audiences. The means by which professionals engage with these audiences affect the efficacy of the relay of scientific information. One method of engagement is the "ambassador approach," which aims to establish dialogue among different groups of people and scientists. In this perspective article, we discuss this approach, highlighting activities for the promotion of science literacy organized by the American Society for Microbiology Ambassador Program and similar programs of other scientific societies. We discuss the benefits and challenges of implementing an ambassador approach, propose potential improvements that could be made to existing programs promoting science literacy, and ultimately advocate for increased implementation of science ambassador programs.

SciComm Optimizer for Policy Engagement: a randomized controlled trial of the SCOPE model on state legislators' research use in public discourse.

BACKGROUND: While prior work has revealed conditions that foster policymakers' use of research evidence, few studies have rigorously investigated the effectiveness of theory-based practices. Specifically, policymakers are most apt to use research evidence when it is timely, relevant, brief, and messaged appropriately, as well as when it facilitates interactive engagement. This study sought to experimentally evaluate an enhanced research dissemination intervention, known as the SciComm Optimizer for Policy Engagement (SCOPE), implemented during the COVID-19 pandemic among US state legislators. METHODS: State legislators assigned to health committees and their staff were randomized to receive the SCOPE intervention. This involved providing academic researchers with a pathway for translating and disseminating research relevant to current legislative priorities via fact sheets emailed directly to officials. The intervention occurred April 2020-March 2021. Research language was measured in state legislators' social media posts. RESULTS: Legislators randomized to receive the intervention, relative to the control group, produced 24% more social media posts containing research language related to COVID-19. Secondary analyses revealed that these findings were driven by two different types of research language. Intervention officials produced 67% more COVID-related social media posts referencing technical language (e.g., statistical methods), as well as 28% more posts that referenced research-based concepts. However, they produced 31% fewer posts that referenced creating or disseminating new knowledge. CONCLUSIONS: This study suggests that strategic, targeted science communication efforts may have the potential to change state legislators' public discourse and use of evidence. Strategic science communication efforts are particularly needed in light of the role government officials have played in communicating about the pandemic to the general public.

A Challenge for Media and Communication Studies: the Covid-19 Pandemic

Katarzyna Kopecka-Piech and Bar tlomiej Lodzki's edited volume, The Covid-19 Pandemic as a Challenge for Media and Communication Studies, could be of great utility to science communication scholars and teachers. The studies with contained within it address two overarching research questions. First, how have media and communication reality changed during the first wave of the Covid-19 pandemic in Europe? Second, how were media and communication studied effectively through that period? The volume features 17 individual studies calling on myriad methods and case examples. This diversity of approaches allows the editors to also address an important, implicit third question. In essence: what has it been like to conduct worthwhile, meaningful, and robust research under such unusual and extreme global circumstances?Each chapter is thorough, detailed and of a high technical standard. This is a book that would likely best serve experienced readers more than novices. The entire compendium bears clear witness to the dynamic nature of social research playing out against a context of enormous global instability.

Science Communication and Media: A Review on Contents of Internet News Sites for Domestic Vaccine

Science communication can be defined as an aim-oriented exchange of information about science between related parties and aims to spread science and scientific culture. When science communication is considered at the macro-social level, media plays a significant role in ensuring communication between scientists, science institutions, and society. The functions of media in social communication and the fact that it is the main source of information in accessing science require the examination of science communication activities which carried out through media. This study has focused on science communication activities carried out by the media. News that is about the domestic vaccine developed for COVID-19 on Turkey's most visited internet news sites have been examined by conducting content analysis technique. This research aimed to reveal the science communication practices of internet news sites by determining the purposes of science communication and the themes and contents of news. According to the findings obtained from the research, explanation and information themes are used extensively in science communication news. The aims of informing, legitimizing, forming public opinion, and directing to be vaccinated have been the most focused science communication purposes. It has also been observed that the aims of science communication and the themes of news differ according to the time variable.

"You Can Do Better Than That!”: Tweeting Scientists Addressing Politics on Climate Change and Covid‐19

Climate change and the Covid‐19 pandemic are global challenges in which scientists play a crucial role, and immediate political actions are necessary. However, in contrast to climate change, strong governmental actions have been taken during the pandemic. While climate change has been on the public agenda for several decades, the pandemic is a rather new issue. In such cases, social media offer scientists the potential to disseminate scientific results to the public and express calls to action and their personal views towards politics. Thus far, little is known about the extent to which scientists make use of this option. In this study, we investigated the similarities and differences between visible German climate experts and visible German Covid‐19 experts regarding advocacy and assessments of policies and political actors on Twitter. We conducted a manual content analysis of tweets (N = 5,915) from 2021 of the most visible climate experts (N = 5) and the most visible Covid‐19 experts (N = 5). The results show that climate experts addressed politics more often than Covid‐19 experts in their tweets. The selected climate experts more often expressed negative evaluations, the degradation of competence and blaming. The Covid‐19 experts, however, made more political calls for action. We assume that an issue's history and context will affect scientists' public assessments of politics. Our comparative study provides insight into the interrelations between science and politics in digital communication environments and elucidates visible scientists' communication behaviours towards different socio‐scientific issues. © 2023 by the author(s);licensee Cogitatio Press (Lisbon, Portugal). This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY).

How Do Multiple Actors Conduct Science Communication About Omicron on Weibo: A Mixed‐Method Study

This article explores science communication about Omicron on Weibo by eight actors from November 2021 to June 2022. Regarding the themes of vaccines, symptoms, and medicines, we examined the actors' communication with content analysis, presented the interactions of different actors using social network analysis, and assessed the impact of weibos on public sentiment using SnowNLP and descriptive statistics. The results showed that scientists are still the most important actors, focusing on science issues and using contrasting and contextual frames. Central‐level media play an essential mediating role, relaying scientific knowledge. Science communication on Weibo had a positive impact on public sentiment. © 2023 by the author(s);licensee Cogitatio Press (Lisbon, Portugal). This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY).

Covid‐19 Research in Alternative News Media: Evidencing and Counterevidencing Practices

The Covid‐19 pandemic has been accompanied by an excess of accurate and inaccurate information (infodemic) that has prevented people from finding reliable guidance in decision‐making. Non‐professional but popular science communicators —some with a political agenda—supply the public with scientific knowledge regarding Covid‐19. This kind of communication represents a worrisome force in societal discourses on science‐related political issues. This article explores online content (N = 108 articles) of two popular German "alternative news” media (NachDenkSeiten and PI News) that present and evaluate biomedical research concerning Covid‐19. Using thematic analysis, we investigated how scientific evidence was presented and questioned. Regarding the theoretical background, we drew on the concept of "evidencing practices” and ideas from argumentation theory. More specifically, we studied the use of the following three evidencing and counterevidencing practices: references to Data/Methods, references to Experts/Authorities, and Narratives. The results indicate that the studied alternative news media generally purport to report on science using the same argumentation mechanisms as those employed in science journalism in legacy media. However, a deeper analysis reveals that argumentation directions mostly follow preexisting ideologies and political agendas against Covid‐19 policies, which leads to science coverage that contradicts common epistemic authorities and evidence. Finally, we discuss the possible implications of our findings for audience views and consider strategies for countering the rejection of scientific evidence. © 2023 by the author(s);licensee Cogitatio Press (Lisbon, Portugal).

(Mis)information, sources and credibility: Targeting youth in public health response to COVID-19 in Uganda

This chapter investigates the status of urban youths' knowledge of the COVID-19 pandemic and related prevention measures;their sources of information about COVID-19 and their trust in sources of information about COVID-19;credibility of urban youths' sources of information about COVID-19;related prevention measures and the effect of the above on urban youths' attitudes towards the adoption of preventive measures against COVID-19. An online survey and three focus group interviews were conducted to collect data. Results indicated that although the majority of young people in urban Uganda were knowledgeable about COVID-19, they also held various misconceptions about it yet this presence of cognitive dissonance, did not negatively affect their adoption of preventive measures. Instead, it worked as a motivator to find more information for change. © 2022 by Angella Napakol, Elizabeth Kitego and Carol Azungi Dralega.

Editorial: Science Communication in the Digital Age—New Actors, Environments, and Practices

Digitalization challenges science communication in theoretical as well as methodological ways. It raises questions on how scientists, organizations, and institutions, as well as citizens and actors from other fields communicate about science and how science communication affects politics and the public. This thematic issue presents a collection of articles attempt-ing to tackle digitalization's challenge for science communication research. In this editorial, we provide a short overview of the included articles. Additionally, we outline some future avenues that research could follow to examine further the implications that digital channels could have for science communication. © 2023 by the author(s);licensee Cogitatio Press (Lisbon, Portugal).

How do Researchers Use Social Media for Science Communication?

This study provides an overview of social media usage among researchers in Malaysia and examines factors affecting their use for science communication. The online questionnaire gathered the opinions of 425 researchers from over 20 science disciplines. The descriptive analysis highlighted usage preferences for 10 commonly used social media, while statistical analysis in particular MANOVA and correlation analysis, identified significant factors influencing researchers' social media use. Up to 62% of respondents believe that social media is more effective in reaching the public, compared to other media. WhatsApp, Facebook, YouTube, Google Scholar, and ResearchGate are routinely used or perceived as beneficial to use. However, Twitter, Instagram, WordPress, and LinkedIn are seldom used because they are less preferred for science communication. Seniority, perceived importance, and perceived credibility are significantly correlated with both intention and actual use. Meanwhile, age and experience are significantly correlated with actual use, but not the intention. Researchers are likely to post and share more on social media if they believe that science communication is important or if they are credible enough to present a scientific consensus. This study offered important insights into the perceptions, concerns, and factors influencing their use for science communication. By determining the perceptions, concerns and motivators affecting researchers, the findings shed light on effective ways to promote researchers' use of social media to communicate scientific knowledge. © The Author(s) 2023.

Using General Messages to Persuade on a Politicized Scientific Issue

Politics and science have become increasingly intertwined. Salient scientific issues, such as climate change, evolution, and stem-cell research, become politicized, pitting partisans against one another. This creates a challenge of how to effectively communicate on such issues. Recent work emphasizes the need for tailored messages to specific groups. Here, we focus on whether generalized messages also can matter. We do so in the context of a highly polarized issue: extreme COVID-19 vaccine resistance. The results show that science-based, moral frame, and social norm messages move behavioral intentions, and do so by the same amount across the population (that is, homogeneous effects). Counter to common portrayals, the politicization of science does not preclude using broad messages that resonate with the entire population.

Making It Matter: Increasing Student-Perceived Value of Microbiology through Reflective and Critical News Story Analysis.

Even before coverage and updates on COVID-19 became a daily event in mainstream news, mass media was already full of science-focused current events stories. While relevant to our everyday lives, many popular press science articles overstate conclusions, misstate details or, at worst, purposefully spread disinformation. This iterative news analysis and writing intervention was designed to increase the visibility of real-world applications of microbiology in current events (including and beyond the 2019 coronavirus disease [COVID-19] pandemic), thereby engaging students and cultivating motivation through a positive perception of course content in accordance with expectancy-value theory. This intervention can be scaled and has been successfully used in both large- and small-enrollment microbiology classes as an active learning strategy. Students engage in science literacy at multiple levels, starting with identifying credible sources, then summarizing news articles, relating them to course content, conveying the main ideas to lay audiences, identifying in turn misleading or omitted ideas, and finally writing potential exam questions on the topic. This multifaceted analysis allows students to interact with material at many different levels in a self-directed manner as students seek out and choose articles to share with their peers. To date, anecdotal evidence suggests positive gains in student interest and perceived value of studying science.

Decision-makers' experiences with rapid evidence summaries to support real-time evidence informed decision-making in crises: a mixed methods study.

BACKGROUND: There is a clear need for research evidence to drive policymaking and emergency responses so that lives are saved and resources are not wasted. The need for evidence support for health and humanitarian crisis is even more pertinent because of the time and practical constraints that decision-makers in these settings face. To improve the use of research evidence in policy and practice, it is important to provide evidence resources tailored to the target audience. This study aims to gain real-world insights from decision-makers about how they use evidence summaries to inform real-time decision-making in crisis-settings, and to use our findings to improve the format of evidence summaries. METHODS: This study used an explanatory sequential mixed method study design. First, we used a survey to identify the views and experiences of those who were directly involved in crisis response in different contexts, and who may or may not have used evidence summaries. Second, we used the insights generated from the survey to help inform qualitative interviews with decision-makers in crisis-settings to derive an in-depth understanding of how they use evidence summaries and their desired format for evidence summaries. RESULTS: We interviewed 26 decision-makers working in health and humanitarian emergencies. The study identified challenges decision-makers face when trying to find and use research evidence in crises, including insufficient time and increased burden of responsibilities during crises, limited access to reliable internet connection, large volume of data not translated into user friendly summaries, and little information available on preparedness and response measures. Decision-makers preferred the following components in evidence summaries: title, target audience, presentation of key findings in an actionable checklist or infographic format, implementation considerations, assessment of the quality of evidence presented, citation and hyperlink to the full review, funding sources, language of full review, and other sources of information on the topic. Our study developed an evidence summary template with accompanying training material to inform real-time decision-making in crisis-settings. CONCLUSIONS: Our study provided a deeper understanding of the preferences of decision-makers working in health and humanitarian emergencies about the format of evidence summaries to enable real-time evidence informed decision-making.

Prolific non-research authors in high impact scientific journals: meta-research study.

Journalistic papers published in high impact scientific journals can be very influential, especially in hot fields. This meta-research analysis aimed to evaluate the publication profiles, impact, and disclosures of conflicts of interest of non-research authors who had published > 200 Scopus-indexed papers in Nature, Science, PNAS, Cell, BMJ, Lancet, JAMA or New England Journal of Medicine. 154 prolific authors were identified, 148 of whom had published 67,825 papers in their main affiliated journal in a non-researcher capacity. Nature, Science, and BMJ have the lion's share of such authors. Scopus characterized 35% of the journalistic publications as full articles and another 11% as short surveys. 264 papers had received more than 100 citations. 40/41 most-cited papers in 2020-2022 were on hot COVID-19 topics. Of 25 massively prolific authors with > 700 publications in one of these journals, many were highly-cited (median citations 2273), almost all had published little or nothing in the Scopus-indexed literature other than in their main affiliated journal, and their influential writing covered diverse hot topics over the years. Of the 25, only 3 had a PhD degree in any subject matter, and 7 had a Master's degree in journalism. Only the BMJ offered conflicts of interest disclosures for prolific science writers in its website, but even then only 2 of the 25 massively prolific authors disclosed potential conflicts with some specificity. The practice of assigning so much power to non-researchers in shaping scientific discourse should be further debated and disclosures of potential conflicts of interest should be emphasized.

COVID-19 Making "Idols”: The Birth of Celebrity Scientists in China

A number of medical experts have become famous overnight in China since the outbreak of COVID-19. This research investigates four representative Chinese scientists by employing search analytics of the Baidu index (from December 2019 to May 2020) and content analysis of answers and commentaries on the Zhihu website (from January 2020 to May 2020). We find that the four scientists present different images and spark unprecedented publicity. In particular, the key to the transformation from scientists into public intellectuals is to demonstrate moral responsibility in public images, or to realize humorous and effective communication with the public. The birth of celebrity scientists has not only reshaped the public's traditional perception of scientists but also played a crucial role in the governance of pandemic risks by guiding the public's behavior and offering scientific ways to cope with risks. © 2023 National Science and Technology Council, Taiwan.

Unofficial Vaccine Advocates: Technical Communication, Localization, and Care by COVID-19 Vaccine Trial Participants: TCQ

This article reports on an interview-based study with COVID-19 vaccine trial participants (n = 40) and addresses three strategies participants used to localize vaccine communication for their communities: (1) presenting embodied evidence, (2) demystifying clinical research, (3) operationalizing relationships. These strategies contribute to understandings of embodiment, relationships, and localization in technical and professional communication (TPC). They also show how participants used TPC to resist dominant individualist approaches to health and to practice collective care.