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• Date of publication Oct 20, 2025 Category: Article

  Comparing science communication ecosystems: towards a conceptual framework for cross-national research on science communication

  by Liliann Fischer , Mike S. Schäfer , Hannah Schmid-Petri

  This paper proposes a framework to guide cross-national, comparative research on science communication. Current research often relies on ad-hoc criteria for selecting countries (such as geographic proximity) or on pragmatic considerations (like data availability), which may limit the ability to capture broader contexts or identify the cases best suited for analysis. Drawing on the ecosystems concept, we integrate theoretical perspectives on political systems, academic systems, and media systems to identify a set of ideational and structural factors that are essential for understanding country variations in science communication: political system settings, the role of the state/market, political attention to science communication, and societal values and norms. Based on these, we suggest (and preliminarily illustrate) a typology of four ideal-types of science communication ecosystems — public-service-oriented, market-oriented, state-centred and fragmented — that could guide and should be tested in future research.

  Volume 24 • Issue 05 • 2025

• Date of publication Feb 20, 2023 Category: Article

  “There really is a lot of shared understanding, but there are also differences”: identity configurations in science communicators' professional identity

  by Liliann Fischer , Hannah Schmid-Petri

  Science communication is a relatively new field of practice, shaped by a diverse group of professional science communicators and the way they make sense of their work. A distinguishing feature of these professional science communicators is the organisational context they work in. Based on a typology from an organisational theory framework, this study explores the perspectives of 15 German science communicators through qualitative interviews. It seems that while they tend to draw on a common set of building blocks, they use them to construct individual professional identity configurations partly influenced by their organisational context.

  Volume 22 • Issue 01 • 2023