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Nov 09, 2026 Letter

Systemic reform and public reception: connecting identity, trust, and emotion in changing political winds

The JCOM commentary set ``Science communication in changing political winds'' [Medvecky & Lessmollmann, 2026] diagnoses the current crisis at a systemic level: platforms, institutions, democratic participation, power, and communicative goals. Using the Identity-Trust-Emotion framework [Uddin, 2026], I extend this systemic account by examining how audience-level processes may shape responses to competing claims and empowerment-oriented science communication. I apply the framework to Leßmöllmann and Medvecky's account of strategic competition for epistemic authority and Toomey and Elliott's proposal for scientific empowerment, showing how identity, trust, and emotion may help explain how systemic conditions become consequential for publics.

Volume 25Issue 72026

Jun 29, 2026 Letter

A response to: “Does science communication have its goals wrong? From persuading science skeptics to promoting scientific empowerment” — A defense of certain types of persuasion

by John C Besley , Sara K. Yeo , Anthony Dudo , Shupei Yuan

This response to the commentary “Does science communication have its goals wrong? From persuading science skeptics to promoting scientific empowerment” argues that the field would benefit from more attention to the persuasion literature, not less. A primary element of this argument is that a nuanced understanding of persuasion research can provide opportunities to achieve a wide range of goals — including empowering others — in ethical, evidence-based ways.

Publisher's note: this letter refers to Does science communication have its goals wrong? From persuading science skeptics to promoting scientific empowerment

Volume 25Issue 42026

Sep 05, 2025 Letter

A response to “Book Review: Palgrave Handbook of Science and Health Journalism”

by Merryn McKinnon , Kim Walsh-Childers

This response addresses George Claassen's review of The Palgrave Handbook of Science and Health Journalism. The review raises several salient points; however, the biggest criticism of this work arises from a misunderstanding of the purpose of the Palgrave Handbook series. We wholeheartedly agree that there are lessons for the field of science communication. Engaging with more diverse perspectives and adopting a global lens for exploration of science and health journalism are priorities for the field. These are common themes in the Handbook, which we believe is still a useful resource to help facilitate these much-needed explorations.

Publisher's note: this letter refers to Book Review: Palgrave Handbook of Science and Health Journalism

Volume 24Issue 042025

May 04, 2020 Letter

Pseudoscience as media effect

by Alexandre Schiele

The popularity of the anti-vax movement in the United States and elsewhere is the cause of new lethal epidemics of diseases that are fully preventable by modern medicine [Benecke and DeYoung, 2019]. Creationism creeps into science classrooms with the aim of undermining the teaching of evolution through legal obligations or school boards’ decisions to present both sides of a debate largely foreign to the scientific community [Taylor, 2017]. And one simply has to turn on the TV and watch so-called science channels to be bombarded with aliens, ghosts, cryptids and miracles as though they are undisputable facts [Prothero, 2012]. Deprecated by its detractors, scientific proof is assimilated to become one opinion among others, if not a mere speculation. Worse, scientific data that challenge partisan positions or economic interests are dismissed as ‘junk science’ and their proponents as ‘shills’ [Oreskes and Conway, 2010]. By echoing such statements, some members of the media, often willing accomplices in conflating denial and scepticism, amplify manufactured controversies and cast growing doubt upon scientific credibility.

Volume 19Issue 022020

Sep 16, 2019 Letter

Communicating science: lessons from a Twitterstorm

by Hannah Little

In early August 2019, the U.S.A. saw 2 significant mass shootings in just 48 hours. On Twitter, Neil deGrasse Tyson responded with a tweet to his millions of followers. He outlined the number of deaths in 48 hours from other causes, and seemed to disparage the human tendency to respond emotionally “more to spectacle than to data”. The tweet resulted in an uproar. This “twitterstorm” might provide important lessons for practicing science communicators. The first lesson outlined in this letter is about the use of analogy in science communication, and the second is about how emotion is addressed in science communication.

Volume 18Issue 042019

Sep 26, 2018 Letter

Peer-reviewed publishing of results from Citizen Science projects

by Gabriele Gadermaier , Daniel Dörler , Florian Heigl , Stefan Mayr , Johannes Rüdisser , Robert Brodschneider , Christine Marizzi

Citizen science (CS) terms the active participation of the general public in scientific research activities. With increasing amounts of information generated by citizen scientists, best practices to go beyond science communication and publish these findings to the scientific community are needed. This letter is a synopsis of authors' personal experiences when publishing results from citizen science projects in peer-reviewed journals, as presented at the Austrian Citizen Science Conference 2018. Here, we address authors' selection criteria for publishing CS data in open-access, peer-reviewed scientific journals as well as barriers encountered during the publishing process. We also outline factors that influence the probability of publication using CS data, including 1) funding to cover publication costs; 2) quality, quantity and scientific novelty of CS data; 3) recommendations to acknowledge contributions of citizen scientists in scientific, peer-reviewed publications; 4) citizen scientists' preference of the hands-on experience over the product (publication) and 5) bias among scientists for certain data sources and the scientific jargon. These experiences show that addressing these barriers could greatly increase the rate of CS data included in scientific publications.

Volume 17Issue 032018

Feb 02, 2017 Letter

Should the science communication community play a role in political activism?

by Joseph Roche , Nicola Davis

This letter reflects on how the role of science in society evolved in 2016. While there were plenty of groundbreaking scientific discoveries, the shifting political landscape cultivated a tempestuous relationship between science and society. We discuss these developments and the potential role of the science communication community in political activism.

Volume 16Issue 012017

Oct 10, 2016 Letter

Communicating trust and trusting science communication ― some critical remarks

by Alan Irwin , Maja Horst

Written in response to a previous article by Weingart and Guenther [2016] in JCOM, this letter aims to open up some critical issues concerning the ‘new ecology of communication’. It is argued that this evolving ecology needs to be openly explored without looking back to a previous idyll of ‘un-tainted’ science.

Volume 15Issue 062016

Jul 06, 2016 Letter

Is silence golden? Silence in interdisciplinary collaboration between scientists

by Nick Verouden , Maarten van der Sanden

In considering the ethos of science, Robert Merton [1973] posited that openness and secrecy reflect opposing values in the accomplishment of science. According to Merton, scientific inquiry required that all interested parties have access to and freely share scientific information. In our current epoch, this importance of openness in science seems even more widely accepted. It is a given nowadays that scientists are expected to work as part of a team, not only within their own department, but also with other departments different disciplines. To work interdisciplinary scientists must become more communicative and critically talk about difference, which asks maximum transparency and open communication of the participants. However, against the adage that openness and participation in science is an inherent good, one easily forgets that the actual practice of collaborating may also require things are not said. Navigating everyday interactional challenges may depend on postponing issues to keep the process going, for instance because scientists still have to figure out what they find important in the collaboration with others. But also issues like, withholding sensitive problems or not critiquing each other's options viewpoints, leaving points shrewdly of the agenda, and excluding relevant actors from the meeting table. Despite the idea of open innovation, shared visions, beliefs and knowledge we must focus on silence for the good and the bad as well.

Volume 15Issue 052016

May 26, 2016 Letter

Reflections on ‘Listening and Empowering: children and science communication’ by Matteo Merzagora and Tricia Jenkins

by Frazer Swift

The letter compares and contrasts thinking about making science accessible and relevant to children in science centres and museums with thinking about communication in social history museums.

Volume 15Issue 042016

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