It’s a great idea but there are some puzzling aspects to the Sigma Xi, The Scientific Research Society’s newly announced research outreach initiative. From a July 28, 2016 Sigma XI, The Scientific Research Society’snews release on EurekAlert,
With 130 years of history and hundreds of thousands of inductees, Sigma Xi is the oldest and largest multidisciplinary honor society for scientists and engineers in the world. Its new program, the Research Communications Initiative (RCI), builds on the Society’s mission to enhance the health of the research enterprise, foster integrity in science and engineering, and promote the public’s understanding of science.
Through RCI, Sigma Xi will team up with researchers and partner institutions who wish to effectively tell general audiences, research administrators, and other investigators about their work. Sigma Xi will help its RCI partners develop a strategy for sharing their research and connect them with leading communication professionals who will develop content, including feature-length articles, videos, infographics, animations, podcasts, social media campaigns, and more. Sigma Xi will provide both digital and print publishing platforms so that partners may reach new audiences by the thousands. Finally, partners will receive a data-driven evaluation of the success of their communications.
“The Research Communications Initiative is an innovative program that calls on the expertise we’ve developed and perfected over our 100-year history of communicating science,” said Jamie Vernon, Sigma Xi’s director of science communications and publications. “We know that institutions can strengthen their reputation by sharing their research and that public and private funding agencies are asking for more outreach from their grant recipients. Sigma Xi is uniquely qualified to provide this service because of our emphasis on ethical research, our worldwide chapter and member network who can be an audience for our RCI partner communications, and our experience in publishing American Scientist.”
Sigma Xi’s award-winning magazine, American Scientist, contains articles for science enthusiasts that are written by researchers–scientists, engineers, and investigators of myriad disciplines–including Nobel laureates and other prominent investigators. The magazine is routinely recognized by researchers, educators, and the public for its trustworthy and engaging content. This editorial insight and expertise will help shape the future of science communication through RCI.
RCI partners will have the option to have their communications included in special sections or inserts in American Scientist or to have content on American Scientist‘s website as well as RCI digital platforms or partner’s sites. All RCI content will be fully disclosed as a product of the partnership program and will be published under a Creative Commons license, making it free to be republished. Sigma Xi has called upon its relationships with other like-minded organizations, such as the National Alliance for Broader Impacts, Council of Graduate Schools, and the U.S. Council on Competitiveness, to distribute the work created with RCI partners to leaders in the research community. The Society plans to have a variety of other organizations involved.
There is a lot to like about this initiative but it’s not immediately clear what they mean by the ‘partners’ who will be accessing this service. Is that a member or does that require a sponsorship fee or some sort of fee structure for institutions and individuals that wish to participate in the RCI? Is the effort confined to US science and/or English language science? In any event, you can check out the Sigma Xi site here and the RCI webpage here.