principles-picture-oneThe European Competence Centre for Science Communication is dedicated to supporting all actors from the research and innovation system and beyond, in their practice of science communication. We are not alone - a number of valuable resources, from handbooks to training materials have been produced by many institutions and individuals and are available in multiple languages.

The Competence Centre will build a large library (our “Scicomm Toolbox”) gathering quality-curated resources and special topic collections, to diversified audiences. To do so we will invite the science communication community for their contribution. 

To ensure their quality and maximise their impact, a set of principles, standards and criteria (the “COALESCE PSCs”) were co-created and are aimed to: 1) support scicomm content creators as a self-reflection tool in their daily practice and facilitate the submission process into the platform, and 2) support people to find the most relevant and effective resources according to their search preferences.

The PSCs were defined based on theoretical literature, co-creation sessions with members of the Community of Practice, and previous work by the SwafS-19 sister projects, adapting the approach used by the ENJOI principles, standards and indicators for outstanding open science communication. The criteria will be used to curate the resources to be submitted to the Competence Centre.

 

Principles

Concepts that serve as foundations for creating quality science communication resources.

scientific accessible responsible
Scientific
Accessible
Responsible
Supports effective communication of scientific knowledge and the scientific process, and the preparation and/or evaluation of its content follows scientific principles.Aims to be as widely available and inclusive as possible, considering open access, languages and disabilities.Helps to uphold ethical standards of science communication and support addressing challenges in the field, such as  misinformation, trust in science and inclusion, contributing to advance the state of the art in scicomm.

 

Standards

Reference models that are used as general rules to measure quality and value of science communication resources.

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Contextualized & purposeful
Audience-tailored 
Self-reflexive

Makes clear the contexts in which it is to be used, including, among others, medium, format, target group and scicomm objective.

uses appropriate language, tone and format for its target group.

is aware of its strengths and weaknesses, collects user feedback, evaluates its impact and is updated when the context changes.

Criteria

Measurable or observable factors, quantitative or qualitative, that help monitor the road towards the application of the principles and standards.

 

Relevance criteria

  • Is the resource dedicated to science communication?
  • Is the resource providing specific guidance and/or suggestions to conduct and/or improve the practice of science communication?

General criteria

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Technical quality, including:
Instructional quality, including: 

Production value – the professional level of making the resource clear, attractive and engaging
Coherence – in style, format, structure, tone and language
Being up-to-date – current and relevant to ongoing developments, both regarding technical formats and content.

Well-defined competences – defines those it helps to develop
Support – provides support in teaching or learning competences

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Scientific quality, including: 
Impact quality, including: 

Context – clearly states for what context it was designed for
Methodology – provides information on how recommendations were produced
Literature – engages with existing academic literature on scicomm

Feedback – collects user feedback and using it to improvement
Evaluation – provides guidelines to evaluate its outcomes or impact
Inclusion – considers how it could support engagement with vulnerable or marginalised groups and promote diversity in scicomm.

Special endorsements

 

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Scientifically validated 
Provides evidence-based recommendations that have been scientifically tested

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Trainer's choice
Provides specific guidelines and support materials for its use in teaching or training settings

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Easy to use 
Designed for good user experience & professionally produced

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Best practice
Based on practical experiences or a case study and has analysed these critically to make recommendations

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Impact tool
Provides clear guidelines to evaluate its outcomes or impact

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Inclusion champion
Designed for or specifically addressing communication with vulnerable or marginalised groups or supports diversity and inclusion in scicomm