Increasing Article Reach Off the Page: Promoting Scientific Research to a Wider Audience

MODERATOR: Sarah E Wright American Veterinary Medical Association SPEAKERS: Emilie Gunn American Society of Clinical Oncology Claire Neumann American College of Gastroenterology Meredith Pond BioOne REPORTER: Jessica McEwan Entomological Society of America As most CSE members can attest, science is under pressure from misinformation and seismic changes in political priorities. And, while most of our publishing activities focus on the specialists and practitioners in our specific fields, having the tools to communicate important findings to a wider audience has never been more important. Following the awards luncheon on the final day of the conference, Sarah E Wright of the American Veterinary Medical Association moderated a session titled “Increasing Article Reach Off the Page: Promoting Scientific Research to a Wider Audience.” The speakers covered three methods to increase audience reach, with a bonus communication tool described by the moderator at the end. First, Claire Neumann of the American College of Gastroenterology introduced the concept of the visual abstract (VA), a pictorial representation of the main findings or most important message of an article. She provided a brief history of VAs, starting in the 1970s with multi-language journals and ending with founding Creative Director of Annals of Surgery Dr Andrew M Ibrahim’s Visual Abstract Primer in 2016.1 Neumann explained that a VA has the power to maximize an article’s usability on social media, since they are sized for sharing on LinkedIn, BlueSky, and other social media platforms. She also described the ideal “3-Panel Format” for simplicity. This structured format introduces the […]