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General Contributor Guidelines

Writing Tools

We welcome pitches year-round. We invite pitches about a wide range of topics which include, but are not limited to, the following:

  • Audience-specific scicomm and engagement efforts
  • Dealing with the media (from many angles)
  • Design
  • Education efforts (public and academic)
  • Institutional SciComm matters
  • Multidisciplinary collaborations
  • Outreach/engagement initiatives
  • Public speaking
  • SciComm & engagement careers, etc., etc.
  • Successful (and failed!) SciComm & engagement projects
  • Transitioning from science to SciComm & engagement
  • Visual communication

As you can see by looking at our SciComm Resource Guide, our sense of what comprises SciComm is broad and diverse.

See contributed posts for examples of the range of topics past contributors have addressed, and feel free to respond to an existing post and/or suggest a totally distinct topic.

Editorial Details

  • The audience of the ESA Communication & Engagement Section blog is fellow scientists and SciComm practitioners (including scientists considering becoming communicators, those in transition, and those who are experienced communicators already).
  • We ask for at least one image (which could be a photo, scan of a hand-written or drawn image, etc.).
  • All pitches and posts are subject to editorial approval and editing at all stages of the publishing process.
  • Posts average 250-500 words.
  • Be sure your pitch has a SciComm angle, and be sure to indicate your motive for writing (expertise, curiosity, sharing lessons learned, etc.).

Deadlines

  • Please specify an anticipated draft submission date. If you do not have a preference, we will propose a couple of dates.
  • Please let us know well in advance if you will need to postpone your anticipated submission date.
  • Please plan to submit your draft the Friday prior to your scheduled publication date (usually a Wednesday). This allows time for editing, confirming/finalizing draft with you, formatting and scheduling prior to publishing the following week.

Submission

Please contact us directly with your pitch. Thank you in advance for your contribution(s)!

Image credit: pen, notebook & laptop, Pete O’Shea, CCBy2.0 license