Scientific journal work - (Jul/23/2009 )

Though I am content and happy with the current lab, I've been thinking about switching to journalism, real scientific journalism, after I get the thesis and a bit of postdoc experience. That's a few years from now on, and I can think of several problems.
First, do you really think that scientific journals as such will become obsolete in several years? I wouldn't like to jump on a sinking boat.
Second, is my non-native English a big obstacle? I won't be able to acquire the same level of literacy as in my mother's tongue. Though my English is quite fluent, it is still far from native. Scientific journalism is not literature though, and there are proofreaders...
Did any of you made such a change? Was it satisfying?

Telomerase on Jul 23 2009, 07:58 AM said:

Hi Telomerase,

You’re asking the possibility of which becoming obsolete- the peer-reviewed scientific journals or the general published scientific literature (books, magazines, newspaper articles)? Then how are we going to gather or disseminate information, flaunt discoveries and groundbreaking achievements which hopefully would be used for improvement lives etc. or at least as bases for further work or collaborative efforts. It also goes with the system of checks and balances to ensure that a certain standard (hopefully the highest) is adhered to: here is my work, so judge it. As for the general lit, how are we gonna educate/entertain the public (esp the young) in all sciency matters? So if this is a sinking ship, then everybody drowns with it.

If you’re a bit concerned about your English, perhaps you can do a postdoc in a native English-speaking country…it would help I think but the best thing always is to try (even at a small scale at first) if it’s really something that you want to do.

Don't quit your day job.

Regarding your English, bear in mind that many scientists in developing countries (and many with quality of science also increasing greatly) are not native English speakers, so you might be able to fit in with that.

miRNA man on Jul 23 2009, 11:42 PM said:

I guess the "real scientific journals" i.e. that where scientists publish don't need journalists but mostly editors and reviewers that have a sound scientific background and also language skills.
For scientific journalism, magazines such as National Geographic Magazine, GEO and many others exist. I don't know if you meant them. If then there should be also magazines in Poland or polish versions of them.

I'd prefer the peer-reviewed journal sort. I'm not sure I could stand popular science full time. I am good at explaining stuff, but I'd be too far from science. People who never attempted studying biology do that, too. They copy Nature News and that most often goes as a standard of popular science.
Polish popular science market exists, but it's rather poor, I mean the pay. I've been playing journalist at several moments of my life, I've never been an editor or a reviewer, but that's probably a set of skills one can get. I'm not yet decided - science might be "the thing" for me after all, and I've chased it rather seriously - but I ponder possibilities and look around.

A number of science departments/groups employ specialist science writers to assist/motivate/maintain the publication output from their research staff. These inhouse jobs could be worth looking for if you don't want to work for a particular journal.