|
The Press Officer's Guide to SCIENCE
Forthcoming Articles: Science | Science Express | Science Translational Medicine
Home | Contributors List | Staff Contacts | Embargo Guidelines | FAQ
 The
AAAS Office of Public Programs works closely with public information officers
to coordinate news announcements and media efforts for research forthcoming
in Science, the weekly journal
of AAAS, the science society. If you plan to promote
an upcoming Science paper by scientists at your institution, please notify
us in advance. We can link to your news releases and visuals, for the convenience
of the media, and mention the availability of these materials in the weekly
Science Press Package. (Our embargo policies apply to all related materials.)
Read more about the Science
Embargo Guidelines, to contact our Staff,
or to consult our Frequently Asked Questions.
See also: Fast Facts about the journal,
Science.
Frequently Asked Questions
I’m a new PIO. How do I hear about new Science
papers?
How can I update PIO contact information for my institution?
What is the Science Embargo?
When is the Science embargo?
Are there ever exceptions to the embargo?
When is Science published?
When do Science articles appear online?
What is Science Express?
What is the embargo time for Science Express papers?
How do I refer to a Science Express paper?
How do I refer to a Science paper?
Am I allowed to post a release on my web site?
How is Science promoting my researcher's paper?
What kinds of supplemental material can I submit, and in what
format?
Can I distribute my researcher’s Science paper to reporters?
Should I send Science a draft of my news release?
I’m a new PIO. How do I hear about new Science
papers?
The AAAS Office of Public Programs sends customized e-mail to public information
officers of institutions represented in forthcoming issues of Science
two weeks prior to publication. This e-mail contains names of researchers at
your organization, paper, title, and embargo guidelines.
How can I update the PIO contact information
for my institution?
Press officers are encouraged to send their contact information to us by
telephoning staff at 202-326-6440, or by e-mailing to scipak@aaas.org. The AAAS advance-notification
database is updated on an ongoing basis as a free service to public information
officers. Staff within the AAAS Office of Public Programs can also help you
if you are tracking a paper by one of your scientists.
What is the Science Embargo?
Each week, new research scheduled to appear in Science is embargoed—and
information pertaining to it cannot be published, broadcast, sent to listserves
or posted online (except to restricted-access sites approved by the AAAS Office
of Public Programs)—until 2:00 p.m. U.S. Eastern Time on the Thursday immediately
prior to publication. Public information officers from institutions represented
in a Science paper may distribute releases or media advisories to trusted
journalist contacts, but only under the embargo conditions. Anyone using embargoed
Science information in relation to stocks or securities dealings may
be guilty of insider trading under the U.S. Securities Exchange Act of 1934.
When is the Science embargo?
All Science and Science Express (rapid online publication)
papers, are embargoed until 2:00 p.m. US ET on Thursdays of the week of publication.
Are there ever exceptions to the embargo?
The Science embargo is strict and only the AAAS Office of Public
Programs is authorized to make changes to a paper’s embargo time. If you believe
that the embargo has been violated, you must contact AAAS staff at 202-326-6440
or scipak@aaas.org to learn next steps.
In the event of an after-hours embargo emergency only, contact Ginger Pinholster,
703-536-9144, or 703-201-5001, gpinhols@aaas.org.
When is Science published?
The journal is published every Friday. Each week, selected articles are
published online through Science Express on Thursdays. Either way, the
embargo is the same: 2:00 p.m. US ET on Thursdays.
When do Science articles appear online?
Every Thursday evening after business hours, new articles in both the journal
and Science Express are posted. See www.sciencemag.org
and www.sciencexpress.org
What is Science Express?
Science Express is a fast-track publication method that provides
rapid electronic publication of selected research papers and Perspectives that
have recently been accepted for publication in Science. Science Express
research papers are peer-reviewed and published online on Thursdays, under the
same weekly schedule as Science Online. The same papers appear in the
print version of Science 4 to 6 weeks later. Science Express papers
are considered to be published on the day they are posted and they are citable.
The online publication date will appear in the print version of the paper. The
editors select the papers appearing in Science Express and will consider
papers in all fields of science.
What is the embargo time for Science
Express papers?
It is the same as regular Science papers: 2:00 p.m. US ET, Thursday
(the day of online publication).
How do I refer to a Science Express
paper?
We refer journalists to this phrasing when writing about Science Express
papers: “This paper will be published online by the journal Science,
at the Science Express web site, on THURSDAY, XX Month, Year. See http://www.sciencexpress.org,
and also http://www.aaas.org. Science and
Science Express are published by the AAAS, the science society, the world's
largest general scientific organization.”
How do I refer to a Science paper?
We ask journalists and PIOs to kindly use this reference in describing
Science papers: "This research will appear in the XX Month, Year,
issue of the journal Science, published by the AAAS, the science society,
the world's largest general scientific organization. See http://www.sciencemag.org,
and also http://www.aaas.org."
Am I allowed to post a release on my web
site?
Embargoed news releases and related artwork may be posted only to approved, restricted-access sites -- but no sooner than the Monday immediately prior to publication. Do not, under any circumstances, post to open-access sites, or to any searchable address. Your press release may be submitted to EurekAlert! for processing at any time, as long as you note during the submission process that the release is tied to embargoed research in Science. Your press release will then be held for formatting and posted live to the embargoed site on the Monday during the week of publication.
How is Science promoting my researcher's
paper?
Every Monday morning immediately prior to publication, no later than 9:00
a.m. US ET, information about forthcoming papers is posted at the Science
Press Package online, accessible to reporters through the embargoed news section
of EurekAlert! (http://www.eurekalert.org).
When graphics or other multimedia are available, we also make efforts to build
“image pages” that allow reporters to download materials that are supplementary
to the contents of the paper. An e-mail version is also distributed to this
restricted list of journalists. PIOs submitting news releases to EurekAlert!
under embargo are asked to notify the SciPak team at scipak@aaas.org,
so that a link can be added to the online Press Package page, thus increasing
traffic to your story.
What kinds of supplemental material can
I submit, and in what format?
Multimedia materials not appearing within the research paper are welcomed
to help illustrate the story to the public. Authors and their public information
officers are strongly encouraged to submit promotional multi-media materials,
especially video, to the AAAS Office of Public Programs. High-resolution .JPGs
at 300 dots-per-inch or higher are the most welcomed format for print journalists.
However, .TIF and .GIF files at 300 dpi will work as well. Movies and audio
are also welcomed, and should be no longer than 60 seconds and small enough
to safely email. Multimedia should be playable in applications such as Quicktime,
RealPlayer, or MediaPlayer. File types include .MOV, .MPG, .AIF, .WAV, .MP3.
Videotapes in “mini DV” format work well for broadcast. Please
include captions in lay-language for all submitted materials.
Can I distribute my researcher’s Science
paper to reporters?
Copies of Science papers and images in the paper may only be distributed
by AAAS Office of Public Programs. Embargoed Science papers are downloadable
pre-embargo for reporters at the Science Press Package online. Otherwise,
please forward reporters to us in order to make sure they have the most up to
date version of the paper with the Science imprimatur and embargo time
stamp.
Should I send Science a draft of
my news release?
We do not require you to send drafts of news releases although we are happy
to receive them. We do ask that you note the correct embargo time at the top,
and indicate that journalists can obtain copies of the paper(s) by contacting our office or downloading them from the Science
Press Package online at http://www.eurekalert.org.
We are able to hyperlink to any news releases you submit for consideration by
EurekAlert!.
|
