1. Working with journals: the impact of rolling
publication on media relations
BSA Science Communication Conference
14 May 2012
Clare Ryan, Media Relations Manager
UCL (University College London)

2. UCL Media Relations – some context
• UCL scientists published nearly
8,500 papers in high impact journals
in 2011 (Thompson Reuters)
• Our main criteria are strength of
the story and the impact factor of
the journal
• Happy to press release
papers in less well known journals

3. The ideal scenario
• Publicity of peer-reviewed papers linked to online
publication
• Press office receives notification from journal at
least a week prior to online publication with
embargo details
• Press release drafted in advance and sent to
journalists under embargo
• Lots of coverage!

4. A few less-than-ideal scenarios
• Uncorrected proofs appear in an online archive
(usually www.arxiv.com)
• Uncorrected proofs appear on a journal website
without warning
• Journal cannot tell you when the final paper will
appear online and there are no embargo details

5. Contact the journal first!
• Search online for editorial or publicity contacts for
the journal
• Sometimes they will be able to hold back online
publication, or work with you to estimate a date for
embargo purposes

6. What to do (Part 1)
Assess the inherent news value of the story.
Think about:
1. Whether the story has been picked up anywhere
2. Whether the story is easily to explain and news-worthy
enough to be sent out for immediate release
3. Can you peg publicity to print publication

7. What to do (Part 2)
What if the research is not easily explained, but it’s a
strong story and you’re worried a press release
that is ‘immediate release’ getting lost?
• Pitch the story to one journalist
• Think “outside the box” for Sunday publications
• Follow up the media story with a press release to
maximise coverage

8. What not to do
• Don’t create an artificial embargo
• Try not to email out a weak story for immediate
release – try other channels (twitter, facebook,
online, internal newsletters etc)

9. Other tips
• Get to know your researchers
• Stress that you need to know about research
ideally at the acceptance stage
• Be clear about embargoes
• Put details about how your press office works
online

10. Curveballs…
Can we make a stand?
Introduce a university-wide policy to never write
press releases without an embargo or if the
journal isn’t open access?
Club together to persuade journals to make their
embargo policies more explicit?

11. Thanks
Please do get in touch if you have other ideas!
Clare Ryan
clare.ryan@ucl.ac.uk
020 3108 3846
@uclnews, @msclareryan