Analysis and news: Video content
Audio and video ‘broadening target audiences’ Shane Rydquist and Minhaj Rais ask: has investment in new content types led to a new era in discovery?
The scientific publishing landscape is in the midst of a paradigm shift on several important fronts. Crucial among them is the emergence of various new content dissemination formats, which in turn are ushering in a new era in the discovery of research. The acceptance and increasingly popularity of audio-visual formats has not only changed the way research is consumed but also broadened target audiences.
Changing perspectives Scientific publishing is set to change in more ways than one – even when not taking newer formats into account. For example, let’s examine how digital publishing has led researchers to question the need for limiting each journal issue with a specific number of articles. When print is not the primary format, it simply doesn’t make sense to limit the number of articles being published each month or quarter – whatever the publishing frequency. The number of published articles should probably vary based on the number of articles being processed and accepted for publication instead of limiting them based on the age-old print publication mandate. This would, of course, be subject to the journal receiving a healthy number of high-quality submissions meeting their publishing standards. Nevertheless, while all these aspects are largely limited to the text format of publication, what is worthy of attention is that when mere lifting of restrictions on the number of text articles being published in an issue can bring about a huge change in the frequency of publishing and the resulting discoverability, imagine the potential of newer formats.
Changing consumption patterns Once we begin talking of disseminating research in audio-visual formats, the outlook changes entirely. While it might take some additional time to produce video abstracts or podcasts summarising published research, the impact these
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formats can create and the various types of discovery channels that get added to the mix result in a completely different ball game. The key aspect here is that content in audio-visual formats can be consumed much faster and help drive home the point in a more effective manner. This can have a huge bearing on the volume of research being consumed, how it is consumed by a lay audience, and the resulting impact on science and society at large. Back in 2018, The Royal Society of Chemistry illustrated how audio-visual formats could be utilised for disseminating high impact research. The Chemical Science editorial team launched ‘ChemSci Pick of the Week’ as a means to select and promote their favourite articles from the week and share them with the wider
“Content in audio- visual formats can be consumed much faster and help drive home the point”
chemical community. A few of those videos can be viewed here. Distribution of these videos on social media helped in considerably enhancing the reach of these selected high-impact research studies. Moreover, when research is shared
in formats that is more amenable to lay audiences, it can potentially result in broader dissemination and greater impact, thus leading to the greater advancement of science and society. While all of this might require empirical studies to explore various angles, there has already been some research in this context.
These formats are proven winners The first visual abstract for social media appeared in 2016, and since then, over 70 journals and institutions have adopted this element to disseminate scientific research. The model has been tested, scrutinised, and streamlined, and will likely continue to adapt to changing scenarios in academic publishing. Moreover, various studies have
examined the multiplying impact of visual abstracts in terms of views and citations. In one study, tweets containing a visual abstract had over twice as many views as citation-only tweets. Visual abstract tweets had five times the engagement of citation-only tweets. Visual abstract tweets were also associated with greater increases in Altmetric scores than those of citation-only tweets. Interestingly, the number of Twitter
followers of medical journals typically exceeds the number of print subscribers by a huge margin, and therein lies an opportunity to reach out to wider audiences beyond the medium of traditional journals. But for medical journals to fully realise this potential, they need to adapt to newer audio-visual formats. The combination of strong Twitter engagement and the power of newer formats can help take research to broader audiences. Again, while most of the data points
we’ve cited above focus on Twitter as a medium, it’s just one of the many ways in which research can be shared. There are not only several other social media platforms but also newer platforms that enable research dissemination and collaboration, and newer formats can enable newer possibilities.
Enhancing engagement Now, let’s explore a slightly different angle on how newer formats can help in enhancing the value of society subscriptions for practitioners in various fields across the scientific spectrum. One of the reasons physicians often sign up for relevant society/association memberships is to access relevant research in their field of study. Such societies and associations can best meet this need by providing easily digestible summaries of the voluminous literature they produce. This will not only provide clinicians more ‘bang for their buck’ but also help them stay updated without spending a significant amount of reading time. On a related note (though this is about infographics and not videos to be specific), The American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) catered to the need of
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