Write for Native Scientist Blog

Native Scientist is committed to inspiring migrant pupils to pursue higher education and consider STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) careers, while empowering and enabling scientists to increase the impact of their research and building a community of advocates for diversity, equity and inclusion in education and the workforce.

The Native Blog is about giving a voice to this community of scientists, serving as a platform to share knowledge, reflections, and work or life experiences, as scientists and as scientists communicators. The Blog serves as an additional opportunity for scientists to widen their skills and participation in outreach, practicing writing communication skills while promoting STEM learning and careers.

What we are looking for

We are looking for blog articles from scientists:

- to share their stories;

- to share their thoughts;

- to share their science.

This means that we accept articles on a wide range of topics, as long as they are relevant to our audience: scientists from all areas of expertise, and teachers, parents, and non-scientists with some kind of interest in science. It could be an article focusing on the importance of your research, or your thoughts on current issues affecting science and scientists, or your experiences or advice regarding a specific aspect of your life as a scientist. Once or twice per year, we might launch specific calls for blog articles, focusing on topics that we deem relevant due to the circumstances around us. We believe that humanising scientists in the eyes of the general public is critical to achieving our mission of empowering migrant pupils.

Proposing and submitting articles

If you have an idea or a piece that you’d like to publish in our Blog, please submit it to our Chief Editor at anna.napolitano@nativescientist.com. You can submit an idea, abstract, or summary first, and we will be happy to discuss it with you before you embark on the writing. Please note that publication cannot be guaranteed from the beginning, but we will assist you as much as possible in the process to make it happen.

Avoiding rejection

Please keep in mind who will be reading your article — our blog is read by scientists from diverse areas of expertise, as well as by the general public, including teachers and parents. So please target a broad audience. It is fundamental that the language of your article is accessible. The Native Blog is a generalist science blog, not a generalist blog of a specific field of science. Too technical articles, or life stories and reflections not in line with the values and mission of Native Scientist, will not be accepted. Those wanting to publish something out of our scope should be encouraged to publish elsewhere, such as a personal blog/website or LinkedIn page.

Publication process

Once we receive your proposal, we will get back to you with a revised version within 2–3 weeks, and more rounds of revision might follow. Normally our articles are ready for publication upon 1–3 rounds of revision, but this of course depends on the initial format of your article.

We publish our Blog articles in the online publishing platform Medium, where we have created the Native Scientist publisher. Your article will be published using the Native Scientist account, but your authorship will be properly credited at the beginning and end of the article (please see an example here).

We are part of the Medium Partner Program, which allows us to earn money for the content we publish based on engagement from Medium members, i.e. reading time (the longer members stay in the article reading it, the better). These earnings, when made, are used to fund Native Scientist’s work. At the end of each year, we will share with the authors of each published article the statistics associated with that article, including the number of reads and any earnings made. Unless otherwise stated and agreed, these earnings will be considered a donation that you make to support Native Scientist’s mission.

Along with the publication of your article in Medium, we will also publish a blog entry on our website and announce your article on our social media platforms (Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | LinkedIn). You are very welcome to announce it as well on your own channels.

This document was last reviewed in September 2020.