*CFP* "RE-EXAMINING SCIENCE COMMUNICATION: MODELS, PERSPECTIVES, INSTITUTIONS", SPECIAL ISSUE, JOURNAL OF SCIENCE COMMUNICATION

Science communication continues to develop and change, as a discipline, practice and professional career path, with significant growth in both professional practice and academic study. Changes in the relationships between science and society and its increasing inclusion in official discourses have opened new opportunities for dialogue and collaboration. At the same time, this may have produced challenges for the authority of science, which can be openly contested, negotiated and transformed in public arenas. This transformation of the relationships between science and society has been fundamentally intensified by the digitalization of the media landscape. New media have increased the diversity of actors using, sharing and generating science content, their communication practices and the strategies they use.

These changes affect the working practices of scientists, R&I stakeholders, science communicators, journalists, museum/events mediators, and other practitioners whose engagement with science/science communication is rapidly evolving. What are the (new) roles that scientists, science communicators and institutions could or should play in this emerging landscape? Such changes also impact how citizens relate to science and science communication. How do different publics perceive, trust and rework messages and engage with science in a vast landscape that may include misinformation about science?

Even though we witness a significant rise in the quantity of science communication circulating in all kinds of media - traditional/ new, mediated/ unmediated, we also acknowledge the major challenges the above mentioned developments pose for science communication. What models and perspectives do we need to understand and address these challenges?

Aiming to understand the processes and implications of the above mentioned changes at different levels of the science communication ecosystem, and how to address the challenges that arise to improve science communication quality, the Journal of Science Communication invites researchers around the globe to submit papers for a Special Issue on Re-examining Science Communication: models, perspectives, institutions.

We welcome manuscripts with different backgrounds and methodological approaches that explore the state-of-the-art of science communication, its challenges and opportunities, and that propose tools, strategies and methodologies to open up the field wider to society and to research as well as non-research institutions.

Research papers, essays and review articles considering issues under the following themes are particularly welcome:

• The emerging science communication landscape and the roles and relationships of institutions, scientists and science communicators (online and offline) 
• Trends and variations in science communication models and practices across contexts 
• How do publics navigate and engage in the science communication landscape? 
• Motivations and challenges in engagement practices of scientists and science communicators (online and offline) 
• Science communication policies: incentive structures for scientists, journalists, museums 
• Quantity vs. quality, digitalization of the media and the spread of misinformation 
• The role of science communication to promote engaged research and participatory science

 

Deadline for submissions: 31 October 2020

Publication of the Special Issue is expected in February 2021

 

Editors:

Frank Kupper, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, RETHINK Project Coordinator

Alessandra Fornetti, Venice International University, QUEST Project Coordinator

Carolina Moreno-Castro, University of Valencia, CONCISE Project Coordinator

 

This Special Issue of JCOM builds on recent European Commission attention to science communication within the “Science with and for Society” (SwafS) Work Programme. The special issue is an initiative of three EU-funded projects CONCISE, QUEST and RETHINK.

To submit a manuscript.

In the “Submit” section of the page select the link “submit an article for a special issue". Click "submit a paper"/"submit an essay"/"submit a review article" for the “Re-examining Science Communication” Special Issue and follow the step-by-step procedure for submission.

The instructions for authors.

For any further information and assistance, do not hesitate to contact the JCOM Editorial Office (jcom-eo@jcom.sissa.it).