Science newswire EurekAlert! quadruples academic papers’ media coverage potential

Broad public understanding of scientific discoveries has traditionally been shaped by mainstream media coverage. To better understand the process of communicating academic publications to popular media, a team from Harvard University analyzed 1,155 archaeology papers published in one specialist and six general science journals over six years and the resulting media coverage.  

The team found that archaeology journal articles with news releases on EurekAlert!, a news release distribution platform operated by the non-profit American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), were about four times more likely to receive media coverage in the 15 U.S. media outlets analyzed for this study, compared to journal articles that did not have a news release on EurekAlert!.  

The findings were published on July 2 in Science Advances, part of the Science family of journals published by AAAS. (EurekAlert! and the Science family of journals operate independently within AAAS and the former has no influence on the editorial process of the latter.) 

The researchers found that 32% of the studies were reported on by at least one of the 15 major U.S. news sources the team analyzed. While inclusion in EurekAlert! did not guarantee coverage, 158 out of 224, or 70%, of the articles with a press release on EurekAlert! received media coverage, compared to 209 out of 931, or 22%, of papers without press releases on EurekAlert!. 

“Articles with a EurekAlert! press release were about four times more likely to receive coverage from at least one analyzed U.S. news source,” said co-corresponding author Bridget Alex, lecturer in human evolutionary biology at Harvard University, explaining that this might be due to the embargo feature of EurekAlert!, with journalists able to access the press releases and prepare their own stories ahead of the scientific publication date. 

“EurekAlert! was created to facilitate open communication between scientists and the press, and in turn, access to scientific information by the general public,” said EurekAlert! Director Brian Lin. “We’ve always known from anecdotes that EurekAlert! helps organizations earn media coverage, and it’s gratifying to see independent verification of the platform’s amplification effect.” 

“It certainly encourages us to continue serving journalists and scientific organizations around the world,” said Lin.  

Other factors contributed to the media coverage potential of the papers: The team found that more than 90% of archaeology papers published in Nature or Science, both considered top journals across scientific fields, were covered by at least one of the 15 U.S. media outlets analyzed in their study, suggesting the prominence of journal plays a part in media coverage. 

“A study’s news value does not necessarily match its scientific value, and news editors make subjective decisions over which research merits the media spotlight,” said Alex, who is also the archaeology and biological anthropology editor for the magazine SAPIENS.  

“It should be expected that only a fraction of scholarly publications generates media attention,” Alex said, explaining that many scientific articles have little immediate public relevance or newsworthiness, even if they are of high value to scholars and practitioners in the field.  

“Interviews with editors and content analysis [in studies by other researchers] indicate that newsrooms often base their assessment of the news factor of scientific relevance on journal prominence or the presence of a press release. This finding is corroborated by our data.” 

The team also identified a disconcerting trend among the papers covered, including those with a related press release on EurekAlert!: Archaeology research conducted in the United States, United Kingdom, Israel, Palestine and Australia was about 3 times more likely to receive coverage compared to archaeology studies in China or Taiwan. 

According to Alex, proximity between a research finding and the newsroom also appears to drive likelihood of coverage, with perceived cultural similarities trending for many papers covered. For example, 51 out of 117 articles, or 44%, reporting archaeological research in North America received coverage in U.S. outlets.   

Although the highest number of papers concerned the archaeology of China or Taiwan, a relatively low percentage of these papers received U.S. media coverage. Those that did receive coverage were focused on shared interests, such as the early days of humanity’s shared ancestors; the origins of cannabis; and a 5,000-year-old beer recipe. 

“Media attention does not directly correlate with scientific value of research studies — nor should it, given the non-identical communication goals of scholarly and popular science publications,” said Alex. 

“However, our study raises concerns by showing that some geographically distant regions are more likely to receive media coverage for archaeology research, when controlling for journal, press release inclusion, publication year, and paleo-subject matter.”  

Since this study focused only on one news release distribution service and 15 major U.S. news outlets, the effects of news releases disseminated by other means and coverage in smaller or non-U.S. outlets remains unexplored.  

“Still, the significant effect and apparent regional bias of press releases in our data leads to an obvious recommendation: Research paper authors who desire media coverage should work with press offices at publishing journals and/or their research institutions to create press releases shared by EurekAlert!,” Alex said.   

The researchers cautioned, however, that not all researchers have press office resources available, which could contribute to inequalities with regard to researcher visibility and perceived productivity.  

Other contributors include co-corresponding author Rowan Flad, the John E. Hudson Professor of Archaeology and chair, Department of Anthropology, Harvard University; and co-lead author Jenny Ji, doctoral student in bioengineering at Stanford University who was an undergraduate at the California Institute of Technology at the time of the research.   

The researchers presented preliminary results from this study at the 2022 Society for American Archaeology conference, travel for which was provided by the American School of Prehistoric Research, a department of Harvard University’s Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology. The school also supported the open access publication costs for the paper. 

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EurekAlert! is a news release distribution service operated by the non-profit American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). The platform offers free access to embargoed and public news releases and other press materials to credentialed journalists and is supported by submission fees from publishers, universities, funding agencies and other organizations that upload news releases. EurekAlert! current has 14,000 journalist-members and 1,600 submitting organizations. All news releases are made freely available to the public when embargo lifts, if applicable. For more information, visit www.eurekalert.org. Follow EurekAlert! on X and LinkedIn. 

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