Podcast: What’s It Like Pretending to Live on Mars?

We spoke with science writer Kate Greene about her experiences on a 4-month-long Mars analog mission.

The Case Against the Doctors: Gender, Authority, and Critical Science Writing in the 1960s

In the 1960s, widespread popular-cultural deference to the authority of science and medicine in the United States began to wane as a generation of journalists and activists reevaluated and criticized researchers and physicians. This article uses the career of feminist journalist Barbara Seaman to show the role that the emerging genre of critical science writing played in this broader cultural shift. First writing from her position as a mother, then as the wife of a physician, and finally as a credentialed science writer, Seaman advanced through distinct categories of journalistic authority throughout the 1960s. An investigation of Seaman’s early years in the profession also vividly demonstrates the roles that gender and professional expertise played in both constricting and permitting new forms of critique during this era.

Self-Plagiarism in AAAS Science Article about Pubpeer’s President, Brandon Stell

In publishing ethics, self-plagiarism or text recycling is subject to a correction or retraction. This paper examines a high-profile case of ethical exceptionalism in the publishing status quo. Jennifer Couzin-Frankel, a science writer for the magazine Science, published by The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), was the first reporter to publicly reveal the identity of Brandon Stell, the President of The PubPeer Foundation, which owns PubPeer, a science whistle-blower website. The AAAS is a Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) member publisher. Couzin-Frankel published two articles, one of which self-plagiarized (i.e., the use of text written by the same person but not properly cited, or acknowledged) about 25% of text in the other article. Couzin-Frankel has also employed nested self-citation, which is the citation of a separate part of a paper such as a table or text box, to give the impression of a separate publication. These aspects call into question how strictly information is vetted and edited at AAAS’s Science. Despite alerting the AAAS, this heavily self-plagiarized paper has not been corrected or retracted. How then do the AAAS and COPE justify the continued publication of both texts?

Big Science, Small Package: The Joys of Writing Science for Kids

Science writer Ilima Loomis, author of the new book Eclipse Chaser, shares her secrets for translating science speak for young audiences.

Advanced instructions for imparting knowledge: Getting scientists heard amidst the noise of fake news

A compacted re-print of an article by science writer Matthias Plüss, Swiss Science Magazine ‘Horizons’ of 05/06/2018 – DOI: https://doi.org/10.1051/epn/2019507 It’s getting more and more difficult for experts to get their arguments across to a broad public. We investigate why, and offer six suggestions for improving things.

Andrey Ilyich Zemskov -a scientist, analyst and science writer

The review of Andrey Zemskov’s research, library and information activities is dedicated to his 80-th anniversary. Andrey Zemskov, Candidate of Science (Physics and Mathematics), is a leading researcher of RNPLS&T. The reviewer comments on the celebrant’s several publications that reflect many vectors of his studies. The importance of his efforts in selecting and translating foreign science articles and in reviewing proceedings of international professional conferences is emphasized. The attached bibliography comprises the key A. Zemskov’s publications in the “Scientific and Technical Libraries” Journal within the topics: E-libraries, open access, and bibliometrics.