Content guidance

Guidance for different content types on the central Oxford University website

The purpose of this guidance is to help you to assess if your story is suitable for the central University of Oxford website. However, this document is not exhaustive - if you have a story that does not neatly fit into the categories here, we would be happy to discuss this with you: news.office@admin.ox.ac.uk

As the online ‘shop window’ for the University, the main website caters for a wide range of different audiences – including current/prospective students, policy makers, research funders / donors, media workers and the general public. This means that coverage must be balanced across a variety of priority areas including research, education and access, institutional announcements, and major events.

Research is just one element of the news items that are featured on the central website.

The News Office receives a very high volume of new research stories from across the University and it is not feasible to feature them all. On average each month, the Research and Innovation Communications team in PAD publishes around 25 news stories and provides strategic communications support to over 40 researchers. These figures reflect only the stories that appear on University of Oxford website. Many more are shaped, advised on, or redirected behind the scenes.

Even if we are not able to promote your story on the central website, the relevant Departments, Divisions, and Colleges may be keen to run a news item on their channels. In any case, if you are looking for support to promote a story, you should first contact the relevant communications lead for your Department and/or research group.

News items are generally 600-1000 words long. They are written by staff in PAD in collaboration with the researcher/s and relevant communications staff for the Department / Research Group.

It is more likely that we can publish a news item about your research story if we have advance notice. This gives time for us to work with you to develop a comprehensive and well-packaged story that showcases your work effectively and achieves your communication goals. Act on acceptance: once the publication / new project / award has been confirmed, start thinking about promotion.

Generally, research is ‘newsworthy’ at the point when new results are published in a peer-reviewed journal.*

Factors that determine whether a story is a good fit for the central website include:

  • The significance of the work: is it a major advance for its field? Does it address or solve a major grand challenge?
  • The impact for wider society: will it change people’s daily lives?
  • Does it relate to a strategic priority area for the University?
  • Profile: are the results being published in a top-tier journal?
  • The innovation aspect: is it the first time something has been done, a new discovery, or a novel method?
  • Ownership: was the work led entirely by the University of Oxford? Or did we play a supporting role as part of a larger collaboration?
  • Relatability: is it an area of research that the public can easily understand and appreciate the importance of?
  • Timing: are the results just about to be published? Does the story coincide with a related anniversary or awareness day?
  • Visuals: are there compelling photographs and video clips to illustrate the story?

  • Besides news items about newly-published research, we also publish wider research-related stories. These can include

  • Public engagement initiatives (e.g. the Royal Society Summer Showcase, IF Oxford Festival of Science and Ideas).
  • Examples of engagement between researchers and policy makers (e.g. Urgent call for UK Government to develop a heat resilience strategy)
  • High-profile student achievements (e.g. STEM for Britain competition)

News items on new research findings include:

  • Links to the researchers’ University webpages (which should be up-to-date)
  • Links to the full research paper
  • Compelling images that illustrate the work (and ideally the people who did it)
  • Quotes from the lead researchers

Items that do not quite match the criteria for a news item and/or describe ongoing work may be more suitable for a Feature article (see below).

If we are not able to publish your story as a news item, you may like to consider pitching it to The Conversation: https://theconversation.com/uk/pitches 

Research that is not featured on the central website is not ‘inferior’ to that which is. In general, all research carried out at Oxford is of the highest quality. As a public channel, items on the website need to be easily understandable and impact-led.

*If the research is being published as a pre-print, please see our guidance on promoting pre-prints below.

Given the volume of research grants and projects awarded to University of Oxford researchers, it is not possible for each of these to be featured on the central website. We prioritise:

  • Large grants from major funding bodies, e.g. UK Research and Innovation, European Research Council.
  • Projects that the University of Oxford is leading (rather than being a supportive partner).
  • Areas of research that align with University of Oxford strategic priorities.
  • Projects that showcase interdisciplinary research.
  • Projects directly addressing key challenges and/or have a global significance, e.g., clean energy, pandemic preparedness.

Examples:

Each year, countless University of Oxford academics receive awards and prizes, or are elected to learned societies.  We prioritise those that are most well recognised. These include (but are not limited to):

Awards and Prizes:

  • Nobel Prizes
  • Fields Medal
  • Kings Birthday Honours and New Years Honours
  • Royal Society prizes/ fellowships
  • Royal Astronomical Society prizes
  • Royal Society of Chemistry prizes
  • Royal Academy of Engineering prizes
  • The Breakthrough prizes
  • Philip Leverhulme prizes
  • Blavatnik Award for Young Scientists
  • Schmidt Sciences fellowships

Election to Societies:

  • Academy of Medical Sciences fellowships
  • US National Academy of Science elections
  • Royal Society fellowships
  • Academy of Social Science
  • Alan Turing Institute fellowships

However, we are willing to consider individual cases – please do get in touch: news.office@admin.ox.ac.uk

News items include:

  • Summary of the academic/s research area
  • Quotes on what the award means for them personally / acknowledgements
  • High-quality profile image
  • Link to the academic/s University profile page/s

Expert comments are informed opinion pieces authored by academic experts (rather than communications staff). These draw on the writer’s own research and personal experiences to provide new insights on a topical issue. Expert comments are particularly effective for spotlighting timely research that doesn’t necessarily have new findings or a recent discovery.

General format:

  • Between 600-1000 words.
  • Published on the news section of the central website.
  • Written in first person.
  • Authored by an academic who already has a doctorate.
  • Authored by one person (in exceptional cases, two).
  • Containing links to published studies and statistics where relevant.
  • Written in accessible and engaging language for a general audience.
  • Include a high-quality portrait photograph of the author.

We are particularly keen that Expert Comments represent the diversity of voices and research carried out at Oxford. If you have an idea for an Expert Comment, particularly if it relates to current events, please get in touch: news.office@admin.ox.ac.uk

Examples:

We can also support with pitching opinion pieces elsewhere. Many academics also pitch opinion pieces as individuals. For more information, see:

 

Feature articles are used to showcase areas of ongoing work (that may not necessarily have a current news hook) and to draw together related projects under broader themes. Unlike expert comments, they can feature researchers at any career stage and wider staff, for instance technicians. They may also be used to summarise the discussions of high-level events (see example here). They may be published on the central University website and/or hosted on the PULSE platform for research stories.

The word count can be much longer than news items.

Priority is given to stories that

  • Have compelling images / multimedia
  • Highlight Oxford’s interdisciplinary strengths and leading work in strategic areas
  • Showcase ‘undersung’ areas that have had a low profile

Features are written by staff in PAD in collaboration with the researcher/s and relevant communications staff for the Department / Research Group. They often involve an interview element and/or site visit as part of researching the article. Content is approved by the relevant researcher/s before publication.

Examples:

Engaging articles where leading academics and researchers from across the University's divisions talk about their lives, their work, and their paths to Oxford. They are written by staff in PAD, typically following an interview with the academic, who reviews and approves the final article. Profiles tend to feature established researchers, although exceptional early-career researchers can be considered (see example here).

Format:

  • Extended articles with a strong, engaging narrative.
  • Written in third person ‘editorial interview style’ with quotes.
  • Illustrated with pull-out quotes and (ideally) photographs illustrating different points in the individual’s career and wider life.

Examples:

We do not feature obituaries on the central University of Oxford website, apart from in exceptional circumstances. The standard University channels for these are the College and Department websites, and the University Gazette.

We do not publish news items exclusively promoting new books written by academics. Authors should work with their publisher to explore opportunities to publicise their books.  However, if the new book covers recent research carried out at the University of Oxford, there may be an opportunity to develop a feature (though this would be led by the research, rather than the book itself).

The online QUAD magazine for Oxford alumni reviews books authored by Oxford academics and alumni. If you have written a book which has been published in the last 12 months or is about to be released, and it is available to purchase from Blackwell's bookshop, you can email the editor of QUAD news to consider it for review on the QUAD website. Our editorial selection rests on books appealing to the broadest alumni audience. Please email Richard Lofthouse with the following information:

  • Your full name
  • Oxford Number (or college/year of matriculation)
  • Title and description of the book
  • Date of publication
  • ISBN
  • Link to the book on Blackwell's website

We may also be able to upload releases to the ‘Book Announcement’ section of EurekAlert.

* Policy on promoting research published as a preprint

Our general policy on promoting research published as a preprint aligns with that of the Science Media Centre. Our approach is to avoid promoting research at the preprint stage, either through a press release or publishing content on University of Oxford channels.

The main reasons for this are:

  • If the preprint generates public interest but the findings are later found to be incorrect during the process of peer review, it would be highly difficult to correct this in all the media coverage. This could enable inaccurate ‘facts’ to persist among the public.
  • Significant findings may not get a proper chance at widespread media coverage if they have been previously reported at preprint stage. This can prevent the wider public from learning about important research discoveries.

We appreciate that there are occasions when it is in the research group’s interest to issue a preprint, for instance to time-stamp a new technology that has potential commercial application. In these cases, we would still advise focusing communication efforts around the publication of the peer-reviewed study.

Journalists who happen upon the preprint and enquire about it should be told that the preprint paper is early-stage, non-peer-reviewed work, and that articles published in the wider press should coincide with the peer-reviewed paper.

There may be very exceptional cases where preprint results should be promoted, particularly if this could save lives (for instance, studies on COVID-19 treatments and vaccines during the coronavirus pandemic).

If you would like to discuss an individual case, please get in touch: news.office@admin.ox.ac.uk

Learn more about when to issue a press release about a research-related story

 

PRESS RELEASE GUIDANCE

 

Contact us

University of Oxford News Office

news.office@admin.ox.ac.uk 

 

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