KT Connects: Preprints as knowledge translation: Another way of opening science to the public

Webinar summary

Preprints are research papers made publicly available before journal peer review and publishing in scientific journals. They allow rapid and free sharing of findings within and beyond academia. Recent research suggests that journalists also report on them. This brings new challenges and opportunities for making research knowledge public.

This session will introduce participants to preprints as one means to make science more open, as well as key points to remember when using them as a knowledge translation method.

Learning objectives

After this webinar, the audience will be able to:

• Understand the unique role preprints play within the open science movement
• Understand how journalists use preprints and the potential benefits and risks of preprint media coverage for the public
• Identify ways to share preprint research that provide journalists and their audiences with the necessary context to interpret research findings accurately.

Speaker bio

Alice Fleerackers is a postdoctoral research fellow at the School of Journalism, Writing, and Media, University of British Columbia, and a researcher at the Scholarly Communications Lab, Simon Fraser University. She studies the intersections of journalism, health and science communication, and scholarly communication. She is also a freelance writer, the vice president of the Public Communication of Science and Technology Network (PCST), and co-founder and co-chair of PCST’s Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility Committee.

Juan Pablo Alperin is an associate professor in the publishing program, Scientific Director of the Public Knowledge Project, and the co-director of the Scholarly Communications Lab at Simon Fraser University. He is a multi-disciplinary scholar who uses a combination of computational techniques and traditional qualitative methods. His work focuses on investigating ways of raising the scientific quality, global impact, and public use of scholarly work.