19 the Public Information Machine

rw-book-cover

Metadata

A few cautionary words: Don’t let yourself be trapped when journals rely on “peer review”—the practice of recruiting a few outside experts to assess findings anonymously before deciding whether or not to publish a paper. What matters is whether the results seem solid according to the experts you can muster and by your own lights. (View Highlight)
A coda: Preprint servers that allow researchers to post article drafts before publication do not solve all your problems with access or with embargoes. Journals know the preprint servers exist, too, and if they have a strict policy on embargoes, they will not allow the research to be posted there. (View Highlight)
While there is a shortage of capable, helpful press handlers, they do exist. Some are, in fact, spectacularly good. You need to find these outliers and cultivate relationships with them. Many are former reporters; others began their careers in bare-knuckles areas like politics where reporters don’t play as nice; still others are just independent-minded professionals who know that getting good placement for a science story is more important than bureaucratic roadblocks. (View Highlight)