Public relations practices at medical journals |
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| Authors: | Vincent KIERNAN |
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| Institution: | Georgetown University, , Washington, DC, USA |
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| Abstract: | Many publishers of medical journals actively court coverage by the news media. However, the extent and effect of these practices are poorly understood. After reviewing prior literature regarding the impact of news coverage on the citation rate of journal articles, this paper seeks to measure the extent to which medical journals with clinical significance use public relations practices to encourage news coverage of their articles, and the success that those practices had in increasing coverage by newspapers. Editors of 120 medical journals published worldwide with clinical relevance were surveyed; the response rate was 54%. Eighty per cent of respondents reported that their journal offered journalists at least one of press releases, access to full‐text articles, or press conferences. Editors whose journals used the practices in conjunction with an embargo reported higher‐quality news coverage than editors of journals that did not, but editors and journalists held differing views about the justifications for the specific practice known as an embargo. |
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