Latest publications

Feb 11, 2026 Editorial
Editorial | Science Communication pursing the “unexpected places”

by Fabio Ribeiro, Sónia Silva and Thaiane Oliveira

Space is also communication. Widely regarded as an urban and daily space philosopher, Henri Lefebvre (1974) argued that space, as a physical dimension, is a shared platform to induce ower and lifestyle options, through a general social agreement. As such, Lefebreve proposed three perspectives: 1) conceived space (planned, technical, institutional); 2) perceived space (deeply rooted in daily practices); 3) living spaces (associated with symbolic and sentimental experiences). Years later, Michel de Certeau’s (1980) proposition of space as a “stable order”, “planned” and practice-oriented was then also studied by Marc Augé (1992), suggesting the concept of “non-places”, defined as the total absence of identity, relationships and historical meaning. Airports, shopping centres, hotels, walking circuits, just to name a few, were the symbol of such a lack of interaction, guided by visual and informative signs. Circulation, income and consumption are the key figures of these “non-spaces”. 

Volume 25 • Issue 2 • 2026 • Science communication in Unexpected Places (Unexpected places)

Feb 11, 2026 Article
Back for the future: public engagement with climate science through a multimodal STEM escape room

by Amanda Jane Mathieson, Edward Duca and Joseph Roche

Research has explored escape rooms for their education potential but there is a notable lack of literature in the public engagement context. This paper illustrates findings from three editions of Back for the Future, a climate-themed STEM escape room delivered both online and in person, with and without COVID-19 restrictions. We demonstrate that escape rooms can engage those who normally do not seek out science in an enjoyable experience that may foster future engagement. Players become immersed in the game environment, losing track of time and can succeed in the activity regardless of their science background. We also propose that self-determination theory, science capital and flow are beneficial concepts for designing games that enhance engagement for a variety of audience groups. Finally, we hope to provide useful and generalisable recommendations for delivering impactful STEM escape rooms in unexpected places (and perhaps with unexpected limitations).

Volume 25 • Issue 2 • 2026 • Science communication in Unexpected Places (Unexpected places)

Feb 11, 2026 Article
Exploring Chemistry: the impact of an interactive chemistry model on student motivation in non-formal education spaces

by Ariane Carolina Rocha, Ana Carolina Steola and Ana Cláudia Kasseboehmer

The negative image of Chemistry that students have, associated with chemophobia, reflects the decontextualized way in which the subject is often taught. This study investigates how an interactive chemistry model, developed for a science communication exhibition, can influence high school students’ perception and motivation to learn chemistry. Based on the Theory of Self-Determination, the chemistry model illustrates Advanced Oxidation Processes in a safe, interactive and accessible way. The exhibition was visited by 250 public high school students. Data was collected based on the responses of the participants who answered the Intrinsic Motivation Inventory questionnaire and took part in semi-structured interviews conducted as part of the study. The results obtained showed that the interactive chemistry model exerted a positive impact on the following intrinsic motivation factors: interest, perceived competence, effort, value, pressure/tension, and perceived choice. The science communication activity also stimulated the participants’ interest in pursuing university education, reinforcing the role of non-formal education in helping overcome chemophobia.

Volume 25 • Issue 2 • 2026 • Science communication in Unexpected Places (Unexpected places)

Feb 11, 2026 Article
Engaging science: audience perceptions of informal science communication on Arabic YouTube channels

by Omar Daoudi and Muhammad Awais

This study investigates the emotional and cognitive responses of Arabic-speaking audiences to informal science communication on YouTube. Focusing on three prominent Arabic YouTube channels that provide science content, @Da7ee7, @NidhalG, and @Espitalia, the study analyzes their communication styles to explore how stylistic differences shape audience engagement and perception. The study classifies the channels into three distinct communicative styles; humorous, academic, and conversational to examine variation in audience responses. Employing computational content analysis, the study applies LDA topic modeling and sentiment analysis to examine emotional and cognitive engagement in user comments. Results show that humorous content is associated with stronger positive emotions and cognitive activation, whereas academic and conversational styles evoke more mixed reactions. Topics like space science and artificial intelligence elicit complex emotions such as confusion and admiration. Addressing a key gap in Arabic-language science communication, the study reveals how style and topic shape public engagement in culturally specific digital spaces.

Volume 25 • Issue 2 • 2026 • Science communication in Unexpected Places (Unexpected places)

Feb 11, 2026 Article
Scrolling through science: how accurate is science content on TikTok

by Ricardo Morais and Clara Eloïse Fernandes

TikTok has become a popular platform for science communication, particularly among younger audiences, allowing creators to reach broader audiences. However, concerns about the accuracy of science content shared on the platform have emerged, prompting this study to investigate the reliability of informal science communication by popular creators. Informal science communication is the casual sharing of scientific information on platforms like TikTok. The main objective is to assess how well this content adheres to established scientific principles and avoids misinformation. By analysing videos from creators with significant followings, we will evaluate their adherence to scientific accuracy and identify factors that influence it, such as the creators' backgrounds and platform algorithms. The findings will highlight trends in the accuracy of content, with some creators producing reliable information while others risk spreading misinformation. Ultimately, the research will provide recommendations for enhancing the accuracy of science content on TikTok, promoting critical thinking among viewers, and advancing informed science communication on social media.

Volume 25 • Issue 2 • 2026 • Science communication in Unexpected Places (Unexpected places)

Feb 11, 2026 Article
Improvised Theatre for Public Engagement with the Climate Crisis in Rural Irish Communities

by Claire A. Murray Dr, Gesche Kindermann Dr, Paola Serrano Bravo, Katy Schutte, Fergus McAuliffe, Amanda Jane Mathieson, Ruth Graham and Jessamyn A. Fairfield

Engaging the public with the climate crisis has proven challenging due to both the technical complexity of the issue and the strong emotions evoked. “Doom and gloom” approaches run the risk of provoking backlash, despair or overwhelm, none of which support constructive action. Here we used unscripted theatre to make room for both scientific content and affective responses, towards enhancing agency in rural communities at the greatest risk of negative impacts from climate change, who are often excluded from scientific, engagement, and policy discussions. We developed a travelling improvised theatre show called ‘We Built This City on Rock and Coal’ that toured diverse Irish coastal and island communities. Mixed methods evaluation showed that self-efficacy of improvisers, scientists, and audience members on the topic of climate change increased after taking part, demonstrating the viability of improvised theatre as a science communication strategy and methodology for co-created engagement with societal challenges. 

Volume 25 • Issue 2 • 2026 • Science communication in Unexpected Places (Unexpected places)

Feb 11, 2026 Article
Cultural and communicative pathways in grassroots science and innovation: field research learnings from under-resourced rural India

by Uttaran Dutta

This article examines grassroots innovation in under-resourced regions of rural India, where science communication emerges through culturally resonant and locally grounded practices in informal settings. Drawing on fieldwork with youth and students in underserved communities, the study foregrounds human ingenuity and participatory engagement that organically co-create context-specific solutions. Challenging linear, expert-driven paradigms, it advances a community-centered framework and highlights the potential of informal contexts — marked by linguistic diversity, trust deficits, and infrastructural limitations — to foster alternative modes of science communication. Informed by Indigenous methodologies and decolonial insights, the research critiques top-down models of knowledge transfer and advocates for inclusive, dialogic, and place-based approaches. Integrating insights from communication, cultural, and design studies, the article positions science communication as an equitable and co-creative process. By centering marginalized voices and alternative epistemologies, it reimagines science engagement as a transformative and empowering practice that connects scientific inquiry to lived experience in unexpected yet vital ways.

Volume 25 • Issue 2 • 2026 • Science communication in Unexpected Places (Unexpected places)

Feb 11, 2026 Practice Insight
Glaciers as Classrooms: Designing an Outdoor Lab as a Learning Space on Ice

by Philipp Spitzer, Jan Höper, Martin Gröger and Volker Heck

This article presents the development of a hybrid educational format that integrates an outdoor glacier laboratory with a virtual learning environment. Grounded in Educational Design Research, the project enables students to investigate glacial and climate-related phenomena through hands-on experiments conducted directly on the glacier, complemented by immersive digital tools. Insights from pilot implementations with school classes informed iterative refinement. The approach illustrates how glacier environments can be transformed into accessible and pedagogically coherent learning spaces, promoting climate literacy and student engagement with real-world environmental change.

Volume 25 • Issue 2 • 2026 • Science communication in Unexpected Places (Unexpected places)

Feb 11, 2026 Practice Insight
Three scientists walk into a bar... Approaching new audiences for informal science communication: the project “Plötzlich Wissen!” (Sudden Knowledge!)

by Julia Schnetzer, André Lampe, Inga Marie Ramcke, Kerstin Kremer and Philipp Schrögel

Sudden Knowledge! (Plötzlich Wissen!), a science communication format established through
our own initiative as scientists, implemented science communication in a spontaneous
conversational setting. It combined elements of guerilla science/street science, science busking
and pub science events. Between 2017 and 2020 the project - centered on marine science -
was presented in 16 major German cities. This novel approach, using puppetry and hands-on
experiments sparked interest in science and reached non-academic audiences. During the
COVID19-pandemic, the format transitioned to online livestreaming on the platform twitch.tv,
using video games as entry points for conversations about marine sciences. Between 2020 and
2024 we performed 55 livestreams. Here we outline the development of the format, share
evaluation data and our experiences. Our main goal is to provide practical recommendations for
scientists who are interested in using informal, guerilla style approaches to reach audiences
who might not be reached by traditional science communication strategies.

Volume 25 • Issue 2 • 2026 • Science communication in Unexpected Places (Unexpected places)

Feb 11, 2026 Practice Insight
From the laboratory to the kitchen table? An insight into theory-based game development practices for science communication

by Andreas Siess, Oliver Ruf and Aleksandra Vujadinovic

This practice report aims to outline the idea of science communication as a multidimensional practice that extends beyond the transmission of scientific facts to include the tacit, cultural, and experiential dimensions of science—with a focus on ‘the university’ as an embodiment of the culture of science. Drawing on the idea of ‘kitchen table science communication’, we present a board game designed to foster critical engagement with the implicit norms and structures of academic life among students, their families, and broader publics. Emphasizing science as a complex, adaptive, and culturally situated endeavor, the game serves both as an educational tool and as a medium for participatory meaning-making. Through iterative development and ethnographic testing across diverse academic and informal settings, we explore how playful, narrative-driven formats can open epistemic spaces and promote a more intuitive, affective, and accessible understanding of science. Our findings suggest that games—by embracing abstraction, indeterminacy, and co-creation—offer unique affordances for cultivating science literacy as lived experience rather than codified knowledge.

Volume 25 • Issue 2 • 2026 • Science communication in Unexpected Places (Unexpected places)

Feb 11, 2026 Practice Insight
Exploring science with children from under-represented groups through shared interests: Insights from a decade of practice

by Laura Hobbs, Sarah Behenna, Carly Stevens and Calum Hartley

Through a series of projects dating back to 2015, the Science Hunters programme has delivered eight ‘Minecraft Clubs’ to engage children with Special Educational Needs, care-experienced children, and children in low socioeconomic status areas with science, technology, engineering, and maths. Science concepts are used as themes to build around, rather than the key focus of the activity, which is communal gameplay and having fun. Delivery has been developed through reflective practice, insights from which are drawn upon to extract key takeaways for engaging children with science outside of traditional settings through community-based activities and existing interests. These include drawing on the experiences of those with relevant backgrounds in design and delivery approaches, embedding STEM content rather than making it a primary feature of the activity, seeking and incorporating participants’ input, and having alternative approaches and resources available to facilitate accommodation of different needs and circumstances.

Volume 25 • Issue 2 • 2026 • Science communication in Unexpected Places (Unexpected places)

Feb 11, 2026 Practice Insight
Climate Science on the Farm: Connecting Community to Research Through Movement and Creative Action

by Geoffrey Hunt, Christina Catanese, Jamē McCray and Cassie Meador

Effectively addressing the climate crisis at scale in a timely manner will require novel engagement strategies that move beyond laboratory findings and policy dictates. In this practice insight, we present the Moving Farm Tour, a movement-based, farm- and community-centered exploration of the intersection of art and culture with agriculture and climate change. Through this model, we highlight the use of dance and creative engagement as tangible mechanisms for learning about, sharing, understanding and creating new perspectives. Additionally, we demonstrate the value of not only bringing science (and scientists) out of the lab, but of establishing a visceral, physical connection with place and community. Our collaborative efforts have resulted in a scalable, replicable model that demonstrates how live, interactive experiences are useful for cross-sector learning, broadening perspectives, fostering community building, and inspiring novel approaches to collaboration that can lead to better outcomes for researchers, industries, communities, and the planet.

Volume 25 • Issue 2 • 2026 • Science communication in Unexpected Places (Unexpected places)

JCOM metrics

  • 2024 CiteScore: 3.6
  • 2024 Impact Factor: 1.5 (Q2)

 

Call for papers

Announcing a special issue on "Science Communication in the Arab World"

News and highlights

JCOM moves to CC BY 4.0 International license

Starting in January 2026, articles published in JCOM will be released under the CC BY 4.0 International license. This replaces the previously adopted CC BY-NC-ND license.

This change reinforces JCOM’s commitment to Open Science best practices and compliance with major funders’ requirements, improving the discoverability, reuse, and impact of published research, while ensuring mandatory attribution and full copyright retention by authors.

14th National Conference on Science Communication in Trieste (Italy)
New special issue on emotions in science communication now online 

JCOM has just released a special issue, “Emotions and Science Communication,” bringing together research and practice on how feelings shape public engagement with science. Guest editor Luisa Massarani (with Neta Shaby and Daniel Silva Luna) underscores the need for deeper inquiry: “Despite their significant role, emotions are under-theorised and under-researched in science communication… We hope this special issue inspires others to explore the many facets of emotions in sci-comm and to carry out more studies on the subject.”

The collection features international contributions spanning risk and health communication, environmental topics, and public engagement, offering evidence and tools for practitioners and researchers alike. 

“Greetings from 51 Pegasi b”: How NASA Made Exoplanets into Tourist Destinations

A new JCOM paper analyzes the synergy between artists and scientists in a popular exoplanet science communication campaign

Looking for the perfect vacation? Do you crave late-night fun? PSO J318.5−22, the planet with no star where nightlife never ends, is perfect for you! Prefer some peace and a chance to catch some rays? Kepler-16b, the land of two suns—where your shadow always has company—is waiting!

In 2015, NASA launched an unusual and brilliant exoplanet outreach campaign, offering retro-style posters, virtual guided tours, and even coloring books. The project quickly went viral worldwide. What explains the success of a campaign about a relatively young field of science that—unlike other areas of space research—lacks spectacular imagery?

Ceridwen Dovey, science communicator, writer, filmmaker, and researcher, has just published in the Journal of Science Communication (JCOM) a Practice Insight paper that presents a case study focusing on the Exoplanet Travel Bureau’s poster campaign. Dovey describes the productive working relationships between scientists and artists that produced this standout work and shows how, in contexts like this, artists are not merely in service to science but can also inspire research itself and help scientists clarify their own thinking.

JCOM at PCST 2025

JCOM is at the PCST Conference 2025 in Aberdeen!

Editor-in-Chief Michelle Riedlinger and Deputy Editor Marina Joubert are attending the international gathering to engage with the global science communication community and discuss the evolving role of our field in a world shaped by both tradition and innovation.

In the picture: Michelle Riedlinger, Marina Joubert, Luisa Massarani, and Beatrice Biggio from the JCOM Editorial Office.

Five new members join JCOM editorial board
New Special Issue: Science Communication in the Age of AI
JCOM: First Phase of Janeway Development Completed, Full Migration Done    

SISSA Medialab has successfully completed the first phase of Janeway’s development to meet the specific needs of its journals. As of April 8, 2025, the Journal of Science Communication (JCOM) has finalized its migration to the platform. The transition also includes the launch of JCOM’s new logo, reflecting the journal’s updated digital identity. This milestone marks a crucial step in the broader transition to bring all SISSA Medialab-managed journals onto Janeway, the open-source platform initially developed by the Open Library of Humanities based at Birkbeck, University of London, as part of the Open Libraries of Humanities initiative.

Can a Joke Make Science More Trustworthy?

Authoritative, intelligent, responsible, serious—if you were asked to describe the general figure of a scientist, you would probably use adjectives like these. However, “funny” would likely not be the first word that comes to mind. Scientists, in fact, rarely adopt a humorous tone when communicating with the public, perhaps out of fear of appearing less credible. Yet, a new study published in the Journal of Science Communication (JCOM) suggests exactly the opposite: the use of humor—in this study, specifically in the context of artificial intelligence—can enhance both the likability of scientists and the perceived reliability of the scientific information they convey.

Casa de Oswaldo Cruz (Brazil) establishes a partnership with Journal of Science Communication América Latina

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