science communication

Studies on risks, especially those related to health, generate headlines because they are of concern to the public. A good understanding of risk is crucial for making decisions such as getting vaccinated, taking care of one's diet, choosing a contraceptive method or changing consumer habits. However, it is difficult: it is a statistical concept that is often identified with danger and provokes feelings, so its perception is subjective. This guide, accompanied by an infographic, brings together seven recommendations for risk information from the expert María del Carmen Climént.

The survey Scientific Disinformation in Spain, carried out by FECYT in the framework of the European project IBERIFIER, shows that most citizens are concerned about the effects of scientific disinformation and that they do not feel very confident when it comes to differentiating between false and true content. The report includes a series of recommendations for dealing with this type of misinformation, which are reproduced below.

All researchers who collaborate with SMC Spain or with the media in assessing scientific news must declare their potential conflicts of interest. Below we explain our policy for declaring these possible conflicts.

Based on the Decalogue of recommendations for climate change communication signed in 2018 by more than 80 media outlets, environmental communication professionals from all over Spain, together with the scientific team of the Climate Change Communication Observatory, have drawn up the new Decalogue 2022, a guide for the social communication of the climate crisis. A summarised version is reproduced below.

When science hits the headlines, there are controversial issues that generate criticism of scientists. If they become attacks, they should be reported to the research centre and to the authorities. We summarise and adapt the UK SMC's recommendations in these situations.  

The publications in which scientific results are made public, known as papers in the jargon, are sometimes newsworthy, that is, what they report can be narrated to a wider - non-scientific - audience as journalistic news. But in the paper-news transition the message is formatted very differently.

Scientific studies are regularly published in various scientific journals. Science journalists who have contacted the journal and registered have prior access to them under an embargo that they undertake to respect. This is an advantageous system, but it is not without its critics.