The silent tribe: Mapping the variety of researchers’ science communication practices across STEM disciplines

Book chapter, 2023

Scientists’ communication with the public has increased in recent years,

responding to digitalization and the push to democratise access to knowledge.

Research has shown that academics produce a variety of genres beyond academia,

spanning diverse purposes and languages. However, what kind of writing

practices occur within science communication, and to what extent scientists

engage in it, still needs further investigation. In order to further the understanding

of current writing practices in academia, we explore scientists’ communication of

science at a Swedish university of technology. We analyse publications for nonacademic

audiences in the university’s publication repository combining content

analysis, genre analysis, and co-authorship network analysis. By merging these

methods, we reveal a complex picture of purposes, audiences, genres, and

collaborations. We found that field of study and topic catalyse science

communication writing: the majority of the publications relate to either climate

change or architecture and civil engineering, and stem from a small number of

active, senior scientists at two departments. We discuss potential reasons for

these patterns, including seniority, processes for promotion and tenure, science

communication’s role in academic work-life, and finally differences in

departmental and disciplinary culture and conditions.