Effective communications strategies to increase the impact of environmental health research

Environmental Health

Comment

Rebecca E. Fuoco¹  Carol F. Kwiatkowski²  Arlene Blum³  Linda S. Birnbaum⁴ 

[1] Green Science Policy Institute, Berkeley, CA, USA;Green Science Policy Institute, Berkeley, CA, USA;Department of Biological Sciences, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, USA;Green Science Policy Institute, Berkeley, CA, USA;Department of Cell and Molecular Biology, University of California, Berkeley, USA;Scientist Emeritus, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, Research Triangle Park, NC, USA;Nicholas School of the Environment, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA;

关键词: Science communication;    Media;    Scholarly impact;    Policy;    Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS);   

DOI  :  10.1186/s12940-023-00997-6

 received in 2022-09-09, accepted in 2023-06-02,  发布年份 2023

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundPer- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are the subject of a growing body of research with the potential to positively impact public and ecological health. However, to effect positive change, findings must be communicated beyond the scientific community.ObjectiveWe sought to (a) evaluate the relationships between communications strategy, media attention, and scholarly citations of PFAS research and (b) offer guidance for researchers and communications professionals who would like to publicize future work and increase its impact.MethodsWe analyzed 273 peer-reviewed epidemiological studies on PFAS human health impacts with publication years 2018–2020, as collected by a pre-existing database. We investigated whether a press release was issued, open-access status, abstract and press release readability, timing of publication and press release distribution, journal impact factor, study type and sample size, statistical significance of finding(s), number of scholarly citations, and the Altmetric Attention Score (a measure of media attention).DiscussionOf papers reporting a statistically significant association with health harm, those with a press release received 20 times more media attention (as assessed by Altmetric scores) than those that did not. However, only 6.2% of all papers and 7.8% of significant papers issued one. Among papers with a press release, media attention was positively correlated with better abstract and press release readability and speed in issuing the press release. Scholarly citations were positively correlated with media attention, presence of a press release, and open-access status.ConclusionMost papers with significant findings on PFAS are published without a press release and receive little or no media attention. This reduces the likelihood that important research is reaching the public and decisionmakers who can translate science into action. Issuing a press release and receiving media attention also appear to increase scholarly citations. We provide recommendations for authors to increase the reach and impact of future papers.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© The Author(s) 2023