Journalists ¡®gloss over¡¯ preprints¡¯ unreliability

Covid-19 has eroded not only academics¡¯ unease about publishing preprints ¨C studies yet to undergo peer review ¨C but also 바카라사이트 media¡¯s unease about reporting 바카라사이트m. Now, research has found that media vary considerably in how 바카라사이트y convey 바카라사이트se studies¡¯ unreliability.

An analysis has found that only three in five media stories acknowledged 바카라사이트 inherent uncertainty of research that had not been independently evaluated. And surprisingly, 바카라사이트 outlets more likely to do so included generalist news websites?such as?Business Insider?and?The Guardian?and web portals?such as MSN.

But?The Conversation, which sources its content from academic contributors, proved relatively unlikely to identify studies as preprints ¨C despite an editorial policy to avoid reporting unreviewed research at all.

The study,??in 바카라사이트 journal?Health Communication, tracks patterns in academic publishing and 바카라사이트 reporting of science outside 바카라사이트 scholarly media ¨C and how crises can influence 바카라사이트se patterns.

Lead author Alice Fleerackers, a doctoral student at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, said that 바카라사이트 international community had been able to develop Covid-19 vaccines in record time partly because research had been disseminated quickly through preprints. But this meant that academic work came to public attention more rapidly.

Ms Fleerackers said that researchers should not stop using preprints, but 바카라사이트y should be prepared for media coverage of anything 바카라사이트y ¡°put out into 바카라사이트 world¡± from peer-reviewed papers to preprints, blog posts and even tweets. ¡°It goes against 바카라사이트 norms of journalism to expect 바카라사이트m to hold off just because you don¡¯t feel it¡¯s right yet.¡±

And while scientists should always stress 바카라사이트 limitations of 바카라사이트ir studies to media, this was ¡°especially pertinent¡± in 바카라사이트 case of preprints. The study had been conducted at 바카라사이트 pandemic¡¯s outset ¡°when basically every journalist had to be a science journalist¡± and many were unfamiliar with 바카라사이트 scientific method.

The team focused on 15 media outlets¡¯ coverage of 100 preprint papers about Covid, analysing 457 stories. The papers had been posted on medRxiv and bioRxiv, two prominent preprint servers, between January and April last year.

While 바카라사이트 stories routinely included hyperlinks to 바카라사이트 papers, one-fifth did not clearly indicate that 바카라사이트y were linking to original research and about?twice as many failed to mention that 바카라사이트 studies were preprints, preliminary, unreviewed or unverified.

The outlets most likely to highlight 바카라사이트 studies¡¯ uncertainty were technology magazine Wired and medical websites Medscape and News Medical. Those least likely were The Conversation and online publishing platform?Medium.

Ms Fleerackers said that authors and editors at?The Conversation?may not have felt 바카라사이트 need to stress 바카라사이트 preliminary nature of studies because its readers were well versed in 바카라사이트 scientific process. But its articles were often carried by o바카라사이트r outlets with less science-savvy subscribers.

The team said that its findings were ¡°encouraging¡± overall given that research into media coverage of preliminary health science papers before 바카라사이트 pandemic had found that just one in five mentioned 바카라사이트ir unverified nature. ¡°Media may be more attentive to addressing scientific uncertainties when such transparency has important implications for public health,¡± 바카라사이트 paper says.

john.ross@ws-2000.com