How to Cover a Scientific Paper
Assigned Media founder Evan Urquhart gives advice on reading new research.
They’re a staple of the news: A new study that changes what we know about drinking coffee or artificial intelligence or a common drug.
The origins of these stories are the scientific papers published in a handful of journals.
But reading them requires a bit of expertise—not just in the subject that the researchers are writing about, but also a little bit of statistics and understanding of scientific methodology.
We talked with Evan Urquhart, founder of Assigned Media, which frequently covers recent research papers on transgender issues.
Why cover scientific papers?
Scientific research today is a vast enterprise, so vast that even experts can't read every paper in their specialty. This abundance presents challenges, but also opportunities for science journalists hoping to make their mark. There is a lot of fascinating work out there that no one else is covering!
Begin by narrowing your focus. For my trans news website, Assigned Media, Veronica Esposito writes the monthly column Journal Club, where she shines a spotlight on a paper of interest to the transgender community. Veronica is a practicing therapist, and her focus is the health and mental health of trans adults.
Like Veronica, I'm also a science journalist who covers trans issues, but my focus has been on misinformation and fact-checking. I keep a close watch on research relating to gender affirming care for youth and detransition.
Do you have some expertise in reporting? Share it with readers of Your First Byline! Let us know what you’re available for in the link below.
What are the major scientific journals that you need to keep an eye on?
To figure out which journals to watch, you should start by talking with a researcher who publishes regularly on your topic. Ask them which journals they target for publication, and why.
Researchers submit a draft to the most prestigious journal that might consider their paper, then lower their sights as they are rejected. Many fields also have a few pay-for-publish or very low-quality journals, that reputable researchers won't touch. You'll want to know what the best journals are, and also the perfectly acceptable ones. (It may also help if you can recognize some of the scammy ones.)
Then identify three to five top journals that regularly publish new research on your topic to keep an eye on. For example, on trans youth healthcare, I watch JAMA, JAMA Pediatrics, Pediatrics, and the Journal of Adolescent Health.
Is there a specific schedule or day of the week or time of day that these papers come out?
Hard copies of scientific journals still come out on a regular schedule (monthly, quarterly, etc), but individual papers are typically posted online on a staggered schedule. I'm sure you can find out what days and times of days a journal you're interested in puts up new papers, but I have never done this.
Is there any way to get advance copies of them under embargo?
You can and should get advance/embargoed copies of scientific papers.
If you spend enough time developing sources among researchers, you'll know exactly when a big paper is coming out. You'll have time to read it and interview the team beforehand, and can publish on the day of publication or, in rare cases, a few days beforehand.
Typically, it's the PI (principal investigator) who leads the research team who will have the authority to give you an advance copy of a paper. If the lead author is a grad student (which it often is), they may need permission from their PI to talk to you. But don't neglect reaching out to postdocs and grad students. They're the ones actually performing most of the research.
It's sometimes also possible to get an embargoed copy of a paper from the editor of the journal. For the detransition story I linked above it was the editor of the journal who originally let me know the paper was coming and shared an embargoed copy with me. I then got in touch with the PI to ask him about it.
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How do you decide when a paper is worth covering?
Whatever your beat, the most important questions to ask are who your audience is and why they're reading you. For a general audience website whose core readers are women in their 30s and 40s, I wrote about the surprising fact that trans women can breastfeed. For parents of trans youth, I've written about research that calls into question widespread fears about the impact of puberty blockers on bone health.
I look for research that provides answers to the big open questions around transgender healthcare and/or corrects widespread myths or misperceptions. Veronica looks for research that could help trans adults lead healthier, happier lives. Who you're writing for determines what is or isn't worth covering.
How do you get a copy of the paper once it's published? Do you need to subscribe to the journal?
Many papers are openly accessible. PLOS ONE is the biggest and most reputable open-access journal. Some major journals give researchers the option to make their papers open access.
If you are a student or have a university affiliation there's a high chance you can access all or most research in major journals. If it's not immediately obvious how to do so, ask at the library.
Another common way to get access to a paper is to email the author. Most scientists are happy to have their work read and covered by journalists and will gladly send a copy if you ask them.
You can also pay to access an article (usually you don't need to subscribe to the full journal), but it can be expensive. I have done this in rare cases where I was on a tight deadline and needed one specific paper quickly.
When you're reading the paper, what are the key things to look for?
In the Introduction (and citations):
This will help you understand where your paper fits in the larger body of research. What is the current state of research on this question? What previous works are the authors building on?
In the Methods section:
Who were the subjects? What was the sample size? What tests or instruments were used?
When you write about the paper don't just explain what researchers think they've found, tell people how they went about it.
In the Discussion section:
This will include a discussion of the limitations of the present study. If there are controversies or alternative views or interpretations, you may be able to glean what those are here.
Sometimes, the limitations may call into question the very heart of the research. However, every study has limitations, and every reputable paper includes some discussion them.
Some ideologically motivated journalists have begun treating discussions of limitations in papers as if they were a scandalous admission of weakness. This is pure hackery. Speak with a variety of researchers in the field for a better understanding of the overall picture of the research and where the controversies and questions are.
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What else should you do before publishing your write-up?
Some form of fact-checking is vitally important for science writing, particularly if you are a non-expert summarizing complex technical knowledge.
The gold standard would be to have an expert in the field who is not one of your sources read your draft to check the accuracy of your scientific explanations. In the real world, you may not have the time or depth of sourcing for all that.
I sometimes have a source look at the language I've used in my draft to tell me if I've understood and summarized a tricky concept correctly. However, showing copy to a source for any reason is frowned on in journalism. While I have successfully argued to editors that writing accessible summaries of technical concepts presents a special case, do not share any copy with a source without permission from your editor.
Find Evan on Assigned Media, Depth Perception, BlueSky and LinkedIn.
This is really helpful, thank you!