Short stories on the importance of Science Communication

Articles in peer-reviewed journals

When I was a PhD student, one of the Postdocs in the lab used to say: "Alex, you don't need to be fluent in English to write a scientific paper". 

Fifteen years later, and after I have written a few articles in peer-reviewed journals (and edit others), he was right. And he was Chinese!

Although writing a manuscript is part of Science Communication, most authors do not care about their language. This is because scientists are communicating with other scientists. 

However, in the Era of Open Science and Open Access, additional care in the way scientists write is mandatory. 

The European Commission considers that "Open Science is the ongoing transition in how research is performed and how knowledge is shared". Any peer-reviewed journal article published through Horizons 2020 funded projects is required to be openly accessible, and free of charge.

Having research results accessible to all societal actors will contribute to a better public understanding of Science. 

The public understanding of Science will contribute to more engagement with the scientific process.

People would interact with scientists in a true dialogue. 

The research could flow between the expectations and the needs of the citizens.

Ultimately, trust in Science and in the scientists would disrupt preconceived ideas and would involve government policies [or funding agencies] in a true engagement with Science.

This would enhance research. 

In the end, scientific progress could grow like a snowball.  

With this being said, let's empower scientists and researchers for a better understanding of how Science should be communicated. 

And let's start by paying attention to the way stories are told in peer-reviewed articles.

Hopefully, when my son reaches his 30's, he will know what a p53 protein is ??

References: 

1- European Commission (2019). Open Science. Retrieved from https://ec.europa.eu/research/openscience/index.cfm

2- European Commission (2019, June 26). H2020 Programme AGA – Annotated Model Grant Agreement. Retrieved from https://ec.europa.eu/research/participants/data/ref/h2020/grants_manual/amga/h2020-amga_en.pdf