According to Newcastle University Library there are many different models for communicating science. These are the most popular ones in use today, and discussed widely in the academic literature.
Deficit Model
Any non-interactive medium that communicates science for one or multiple audiences, which is accessible to wider publics.
Examples:
Dialogue Model (Public Engagement)
Activities or events that facilitate and encourage dialogue between scientists and non-scientists, including basic questions about science, what scientists do etc.
Examples:
Participation Model (Citizen Science)
Any activity or project that involves participation of non-scientists in science and helps to generate scientific knowledge. This is also known as ‘upstream public engagement’, involving publics directly in scientific processes similar to scientists themselves.
Examples:
With open access you get free and open online access to academic information, such as publications and data.
A publication is defined 'open access' when there are no financial, legal or technical barriers to accessing it. In other words: you can read, download, copy, distribute, print, search for and search within the information, or use it in education or in any other way within the legal agreements.
Open access is also a publishing model for scholarly communication that makes research information available to readers at no cost, as opposed to the traditional subscription model in which readers have access to scholarly information by paying a subscription (usually via libraries).
One of the most important advantages of open access is that it increases the visibility and reuse of academic research results. There is also criticism, and the aspect of quality deserves extra effort. The principles of open access are set out in the Berlin Declaration on Open Access to Knowledge in the Sciences and Humanities (2003). This declaration has been signed by many international organisations for academic research, including all Dutch universities and research organisations.
This text is derived from openaccess.nl.
There are different ways of publishinging open access:
The golden route
The green route
The full text of academic publications is deposited in a trusted repository, a publicly accessible database managed by a research organisation. You can find all Dutch institutional repositories via the Netherlands Research Portal on OpenAIRE CONNECT. This portal gives access to all the publications in Dutch repositories. BUas publications are included.
The diamond route
Publication via diamond journals/platforms that do not charge a fee. Diamond open access journals are usually funded via library subsidy models, institutions or societies. You can find a list of Diamond journals on the Directory of Open Access Journals-website by filtering for 'Journals without APCs'.
Article processing costs (APC's)
Open access publishing is not free of charge. The publication costs, known as ‘article processing charges’ (APC's), are covered by authors or by their institutions.
This text is derived from openaccess.nl.
This section is derived from the LibGuide on Outreach published by the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. This section describes what it is like to present your thesis to the wider public. We like to call this 'outreach'.
The process of Applied research may not yet have reached its conclusion with the completion of your thesis. Being a practice-oriented scientist at a University of Applied Sciences not only involves carrying out and reporting research, but also communicating the knowledge you have gained to the outside world. This knowledge is often societally relevant, but hardly ever finds its way to the wider public. If science isn't communicated, newly acquired knowledge will remain the preserve of certain people and society won't be able to benefit. This is where the concept of outreach comes in.
Outreach is the final stage in the research process. A research process can have the next phases:
This is how researchers can achieve knowledge valorisation, or gain social value.
Harnessing societal relevance
Many students spend the final phase of their studies carrying out research into current or otherwise relevant topics. Even the most technical or theoretical theses often have a link to a societal challenge. Although societally relevant, the outcomes of such research aren't seen by anyone but your supervisor, the second assessor and maybe your mother. By publishing an article in which you summarize your insights in a way that is understandable to laypeople, you can ensure that the relevant insights reach the wider public. This lifts their societal relevance off the page and converts them into tangible benefits for society. You can do this for example by avoiding jargon and focusing more on content than on methodology.
Becoming acquainted with professional practice
What you learn at university is often theoretical and is hardly ever a seamless fit with the job you will have after your studies. What you lack is practical experience. For this reason, writing an article and staying in close contact with editors throughout the process is a good way to learn about the often conflicting interests of the worlds of academia and journalism. For example, you'll become familiar with the checks and balances introduced during the editing process that are intended to ensure that the article is both of a high quality and matches the house style of the publishing platform. You'll also obtain an insight into the freedoms and limitations of journalistic practice, as different frameworks apply for research journalism and trade publications.
Listing it on your CV
Compared to seasoned veterans of the academic world, young scientists often have few publications to their name. To prove your experience as an author and researcher, it may be helpful to publish an article based on your thesis. Writing an article is not only useful for people considering a career in journalism – young thinkers will also benefit from listing articles with societal relevance on their CVs. This is particularly true in the 21st century, since knowledge valorisation is now one of the core values of universities.
Contributing to the societal debate
In-depth research has become indispensable to a digital age in which some media shy away from deep dives, prefer clickbait or fall prey to 'fake news'. Thanks to your expertise, you are ideally placed to substantiate the topic of your thesis with scientific evidence, models and theories, countering polarisation with nuance and baseless opinions with valid arguments. This will allow you to stand out in a dumbed-down media landscape.
Intrinsic value
Naturally, not all of your research's value can be expressed in terms of the effects of societal valorisation. You have been carrying out research into a topic that interests you for months, to the point that you consider it your topic. If you struggle to let go of your topic once you've completed your research (i.e. written your thesis), you may want to consider writing an article about it. Think of how proud you'll be when you finally get to say: “This is my article. This is what I do.
Your relationship with the societal debate doesn't have to be a one-way street. After all, an article may lead to responses that provide you with fresh insights. Publishing is therefore also a form of control and assessment. You not only enrich the debate with your insights, but also receive something in return in the form of additional food for thought.
As explained in the previous tabs, it is vital that the knowledge generated by sound scientific research does not disappear into the archives, but is made available to the public at large. But how? How does outreach actually work?
Firstly, there are various ways of reaching out, such as sharing knowledge through social media posts, giving workshops or training sessions, hosting information days or delivering lectures to a wide (non-academic) audience or to members of different academic disciplines.
Another option is to publish a journalistic, accessible article in a newspaper or magazine or on a journalism platform such as De Focus. For this type of publication, it is essential that the language used is not too abstract, that concepts are communicated clearly and understandably, that jargon is avoided and, last but not least, that the topic is described in an interesting and light-hearted manner, so that it captivates readers from a variety of different backgrounds. As an academic, you should therefore consider carefully how best to communicate your knowledge to a wide audience and what your core message is. Why would your topic be of interest to laypeople or to members of different academic disciplines?
If you like more information on how to publish your (PhD) thesis in journals, check these pages:
After your placement and your graduation, the administration of your academy makes sure that the Library receives your placement or thesis report. If it received a 7 or higher it will be added to the Library collection for future reference. It will not be placed in HBO Kennisbank.
Beforehand you need to fill in a permission form which is signed by your placement company and yourself. Sometimes there is a time delay (embargo) on publishing your report which is set by the placement company.
