Contributing an article
We are so glad you are considering contributing to Your Neighborhood Scientist! The audience of YNS is citizen non-scientists: people who could care about science, but don’t currently have good information about why science matters in their lives and why they should advocate for it. YNS seeks to bridge this gap through a newsletter & blog with three types of articles (click the links below to learn more):
Scientist on the block
Scientist on the block articles are written by scientists about why they love the science that they do. The goal is to communicate joy about the work that scientists do and humanize the many types of people who do science. Here are a few prompts to get started, but also feel free to think outside the box:
- What first got you interested in your line of work? Was it a science fair in middle school? Nature walks as a kid?
- What excites you most about the research you do?
- What kinds of challenges have you overcome to get to where you are today?
- What makes you feel proud about your research? What kinds of positive impacts can it have on society?
- What are you excited about for your future in science?
We want people to feel excited about the research you do because you are excited about the research that you do and its impact. We want them to feel proud to be taxpayers that fund such amazing humans doing science, and we want them to be rooting for you and your success. It’s a tall order, but we think that your joy about science will be contagious.
Science in our communities
Science in our communities articles are written by scientists and community members about a particular scientific or medical achievement and the impact it has on the community, which may not be obvious to the average person.
The goal of these articles is to communicate exciting scientific and medical advances in a way that is accessible to the general public. We also want to combat misinformation about some specific scientific and medical advances – for example, vaccines. Here are some sample topics:
- CAR-T cell therapy: re-engineering our own immune system to fight cancer
- Cochlear implants: electrically stimulating our auditory nerves to help deaf individuals hear
- mRNA vaccines: developing fast vaccines for viruses that can cause pandemics, including COVID-19 and H5N1
- Technologies that mitigate impacts of climate change
- Advances from basic science and exploratory research with unexpected applications (e.g. CRISPR, space exploration)
After reading, we want people to feel excited about the amazing scientific and medical advances that their taxpayer money funds. We want your audience to feel smart (don’t we all?), because they are able to understand the science you are presenting and its impacts. We want them to be empowered to talk to their neighbor about exciting topics like engineered immune systems that tackle cancer. To achieve this, we encourage you to present concepts simply and concisely, highlighting the key takeaways and avoiding getting lost in the technical weeds.
We appreciate that especially with science concepts, a picture can tell a thousand words. We also love a good cartoon or analogy that helps your audience remember your take-away message. If you feel like a doodle/diagram/illustration would really help you get your point across, we can work with you to include this in your article.
How science works
How science works articles are written by scientists, community members, and policy makers about work they or others are doing and how it positively impacts their communities. These articles may cover scientific funding, science policy, and how community members can be involved in advocating for science. The goal is to communicate that taxpayers should feel proud of the science they are funding because their money is making a positive difference in the world around them.
These articles are written by scientists and community members about the nuts and bolts of science in the US:
- Who funds science?
- Who does the research?
- How do pharmaceutical, tech, and other companies fit into the puzzle?
- What exactly is basic science?
- Why should we care about the NIH, NSF, DOE, and other federal agencies involved in science?
The goal of these articles is to communicate unbiased information about science programs. We also want to combat misinformation about where taxpayer funding for science and health programs goes. Here are a few examples of things we’d like to talk about:
The US is the center of innovation for science and medicine in the world – what publicly funded mechanisms support this? What impact does government scientific funding have on communities? On the individual person? Where do we feel its impact the most, and over what time frame? What benefits does science research have on the overall economy? What are the specific mechanisms that underlie how this funding eventually benefits the taxpayer? What are some common misconceptions about taxpayer-funded scientific research? How can we rebut these?
We want people to feel proud to be taxpayers that fund such amazing science and health research programs that are changing the world for the better. We want them to understand that funding these programs allows them to be part of making the world a better place.
Articles do not have to strictly fall within only one category; we see these categories as helpful guidelines to jump-start your inspiration.
Send us your pitch!
Feeling inspired? Please send a pitch of the topic you plan to write about to audrey@neighborhoodscientist.org. We’ll discuss any feedback and let you know whether we are interested in moving forward with your article.
Please note that by submitting an article pitch to us, you agree to abide by our code of conduct and our author-publisher agreement
Once you have the go-ahead from a YNS editor, please follow the guidelines below when writing your draft.
Specific guidelines
Articles should be less than 2,000 words and must contain language that is accessible to the general public. You can use this online tool to gauge the level of your writing and adjust any sentences that might be inaccessible to a non-scientific audience.
We realize many of these are complex topics that we could write books about. We ask that you distill your message down to a specific topic, as this will be most accessible to the general public. If you feel that your topic necessitates a longer article, we would be happy to consider releasing a multi-part series.
AI/ML Policy
Please view our AI/ML policy and ensure you abide by it while writing your article.
References
Feel free to include hyperlinks to blogs, online articles, or other websites in your draft.
For any publications that should be cited in-text, please include the DOI near where it should be cited. Example:
Led by Dr. Christopher Melani, the clinical trial successfully established a set of treatments as standard of care, publishing a median survival of 12.1 years [doi: 10.1016/S2352-3026(23)00029-7].
We will handle formatting of the in-text citation and bibliography. You can see an example of how the references appear here.
Send us your draft!
When you’re ready, please send a draft of your article to audrey@neighborhoodscientist.org. Please note that YNS is an exclusive publisher—we ask that you only submit original, unpublished work and refrain from submitting it elsewhere until you’ve heard back from us. After submission, you can expect to hear a decision within 3-5 business days. If your article is accepted, we will edit it with you prior to publication and you will provide final approval before it is released. Articles are distributed every 1-2 weeks via our email newsletter, website, and social media.
Social media
Please let us know your handle/username for any social media sites you use so we can tag you when we publish your article.