As the ecosystem of actors communicating science has become more complex, there is a need to understand the motivations and deterrents of those involved in the communication of science, technology and health topics. This article reports on a survey of 465 communication actors based in seven European countries. The findings suggest strong…

Purpose: Research shows that there are mechanisms of information simplification that lead to the danger that first, laypeople rely on their own epistemological skills when assessing scientific claims. Second, laypeople underestimate their dependence on experts when they receive simplified information. This underestimation can be problematic…

Reading comprehension is a fundamental and indispensable skill for academic achievement and daily functioning. Sadly, a significant number of children and youth, particularly those diagnosed with learning disabilities (LD), encounter difficulties in acquiring this vital capability. Thankfully, several well-established approaches exist to offer…

Prior research from the field of science communication shows that, upon reading journalistic articles about novel scientific findings, readers who recognize the tentative nature of the findings rate the journalistic article that reports these findings as less credible. Apparently, readers' appraisal is influenced by misconceptions about the…

Experiments in pubs? Teaching chemical associations between beer and cola and arousing interest in science? Such a thing is possible in a place that at first sight seems very unorthodox as an out-of-school learning and teaching location. With the innovative scientific communication format "PubScience--The Long Night of Experiments",…

This study investigates knowledge structures and scientific communication using bibliometric methods to explore scientific knowledge production and dissemination. The aim is to develop knowledge about this growing field by investigating studies using international large-scale assessment (ILSA) data, with a specific focus on those using Programme…

Advertising is everywhere: on television, on the internet, on billboards and in print media. It is important to be able to understand and process the advertising messages that we are bombarded with daily. Advertising frequently uses scientific information to make a product appear more credible or to underscore specific features or benefits.…

Understanding conflicts between sources is an inherent part of science text comprehension. We examined whether readers' memories for conflicts and their situational interpretation of conflicts would be affected by reading goals and lexical cue phrases that signal rhetorical relationships. To this end, 198 undergraduates read multiple documents on…

Introduction: We report an investigation on collaboration practices in research papers published in the most prestigious English-medium astrophysics journals. Method: We propose an evaluation method based on three numerical indicators to study and compare, in absolute terms, three different types of collaboration (international, national and…

Includes four articles that discuss the use of digital objects to represent value in a network environment; digital library initiatives at the central public funding organization for academic research in Germany; an application of the Digital Object Identifier System; and the Web site of the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory. (LRW)

Reflects ideas about the Internet presented by four German experts: possibilities and applications of chemistry; environmental informatics and documentation on the World Wide Web; views of a research-oriented pharmaceutical company; and the commercialization of the Internet. (LRW)

Describes a project that investigated the application and impact of electronic publishing techniques in areas of scientific and technical information in the Federal Republic of Germany. Areas discussed include the state of research, technology, and applications; reactions of publishers and authors; and ways in which databases are actually accessed…

In an effort to deal with a single aspect of a multifaceted interaction between technical and social discourse, this essay examines the movement of scientific discourse between the realms of politics and science. The paper addresses the effects on scientific methodology wrought by the Nazi employment of science as a basis for racial politics. The…

Describes efforts to maintain scholarly and scientific collaboration in France during Germany's occupation (1940-44). The Subgroup for Library Protection, established by the Germans, is explained; the exchange of scientific journals between Germany and France is discussed; and two indexing services for scientific literature are described, one…

Review of development of German scientific and technical information network highlights scientific and technical libraries before World War I, the 1920s, effects of National Socialist rise to power, restriction of foreign acquisitions, technological university and wartime activities at Berlin-Charlottenburg, documentation movement, German Society…