Pitching, writing and publishing

scientific commentaries

Ninad Bondre Senior Science Editor and Advisor International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme (IGBP)

Owen Gaffney Director, International Media and Strategy Stockholm Resilience Centre Communications Consultant, Future Earth

A portfolio approach to research

communication

• Academic papers

• Blogs

• Press releases/stories/interviews

• Social/audio-visual media

• Commentaries and op-eds

• Policy briefs

• Discussions and meetings

Front-half

Back-half

Possible, high-quality outlets

• Nature (World View/Comment)

• Science (Policy Forum)

• Nature Geoscience

• Nature Climate Change

• Nature Plants

• Nature Energy (New!)

• The Lancet

The perfect commentary

• Expresses clear views/opinions/recommendations

• Timed to inform an important ongoing activity or a forthcoming event

• Aims to stimulate thought and action; shape the policy agenda

Ideal commentaries are

• Timely and relevant

• Novel

• Brief and to the point (500-1500 words)

• Focused on single issues & include examples

• Single authored or with a limited number of co-authors

• Constructive even when critical

Agenda-setting

Provocative

Action

Road-map

Solution

Arguments

Contemporary

Personal voice

Who

What

To whom

When

How

Impact

Nature commentary guidelines

Comment pieces are generally agenda-setting, authoritative, informed and often provocative expert pieces calling for action on topical issues pertaining to scientific research and its political, ethical and social ramifications. They road-map a proposed solution in detail; they do not simply snapshot a problem.

Alternatively comment pieces can be writerly historical narratives or conceptual or philosophical arguments of pressing contemporary relevance, told with authority, colour, vivacity and personal voice. These attempt to bring an original perspective before the widest readership, through erudite reasoning and telling examples.

Specifics: e.g. who must do what exactly to whom, when, how, over what time period; and, importantly, what will be the impact of heeding your call to action, and of not doing so?

Pitching a commentary

• Get to know the journal(s)

What has the journal published on your topic in the recent past? When and why?

• Get to know the editors

Invite editors to conferences/workshops; seek them out at conferences (e.g. NPG/AAAS booths)

Title

• Brief and informative

• Ideally no longer than 60 characters (5-10 words)

• Active verbs

• No question marks

For example:

Realizing China’s urban dream

Time to stop celebrating the polluters

Stand-first

• Succinct summary of the recommendation(s)/main message

• Ideally no longer than 300 characters

For example:

Planetary stability must be integrated with United Nations targets to fight poverty and secure human well-being, argue David Griggs and colleagues.

Main body

• Frame the issue/present the problem

• Diagnose the causes

• Propose remedies (remember: who should do what, how, when, etc.)

• Provide concrete examples, case studies that support the diagnosis and solutions

Some examples that we worked on are in the following slides