Newswise Monthly Report

NEWSWISE MONTHLY REPORT

Issue No. 23

Delivering Your News Wisely

October/November 2003

Newswise Links

Subscribing Reporters
SciWire	2109
MedWire	2331
BizWire	848
LifeWire	1382
DailyWire	1092

Suggestion Box

If you have any comments or suggestions about how Newswise can better serve you, please contact us.

Your Individual Report

To view your individual hit counts for October (final) and November (preliminary), as well as overall site statistics, click below:

October/November 2003.

(For your previous monthly reports, please see the sidebar at right)

Newswise Best Practices

This month we discuss Newswise best practices, and welcome 67 new Newswise participants from the United Kingdom and the United States. Read below for more details.

About this Report

In this report, we've included information on new UK Newswise users, details about Newswise best practices, feedback from journalists, and success stories from participating institutions. We encourage your feedback (see suggestion box). It helps us to evaluate Newswise and make changes to better suit your needs. We look forward to hearing from you.

Journalists Respond

Mindy Berry, Child Magazine
Gabriel Sheffer, Plastic Surgery Products
View Responses

Success Stories

University of Illinois at Chicago
University of California, San Diego
Iowa State University
Wildlife Conservation Society

View Success Stories

Submit a Success Story

Archived Reports

For your reference, we've archived your previous monthly reports here:

Sep/Oct 03	Feb/Mar 03
Aug/Sep 03	Jan/Feb 03
Jul/Aug 03	Dec/Jan 03
Jun/Jul 03	Nov/Dec 02
May/Jun 03	Oct/Nov 02
Apr/May 03	Sep/Oct 02
Mar/Apr 03	Aug/Sep 02

Newswise Best Practices

This report will review good practices we have learned over the past 11 years that should help ensure your news reaches its intended audience.

Research Results

The first principle is that news based on research results is most effective. We have demonstrated with data that these items generate news media activity and results. (For a thorough description of this study, see an earlier monthly report here.) This report tracked clips resulting from Newswise research news releases on Google News for a one-month period. While Google News is not a comprehensive clipping service, it is an excellent single source from which to gauge the broad range of results. Via this mechanism we found clips for 83% (158 of 191) of all research stories contributed to Newswise.

Timing

The second major issue beyond research news that determines effectiveness is timing. Providing research news for journalists before an embargo date determined by a publication or scientific conference almost guarantees effectiveness with the news media. In our study, when institutions provided their releases before the embargo date, we found clips for 97% of research releases contributed to Newswise.

We encourage as much lead time as possible with embargoed news. Three to ten days is ideal.

Newswise protects your embargo. Reporters have a long tradition of honoring the embargoes. We rigorously review reporters' credentials, and ensure that only credentialed journalists see your embargoed news. Furthermore, many major scientific journals such as British Medical Journal, Lancet, and Neurology distribute their embargoed news directly through Newswise, and others, such as Science Magazine, have specifically approved Newswise to receive embargoed news from our participating institutions prior to the journal publication date.

In a recent monthly report we discussed best practices with respect to embargoed news.

New Newswise UK Participants Newswise welcomes the following 51 institutions from the United Kingdom as new participants:

Aston University	University of Leeds School of Medicine
Cardiff University	University of Leicester
Imperial College London	University of Leicester School of Medicine
Isis Innovation Ltd, Oxford University	University of Liverpool
London Metropolitan University	University of Liverpool Faculty of Medicine
London South Bank University	University of London Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine
Nottingham Trent University	University of London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine
Oxford University	University of Manchester
Oxford University Medical School	University of Manchester Faculty of Medicine
Peninsula Medical School	University of Northumbria, Newcastle
University College London	University of Portsmouth
University of Aberdeen	University of Sheffield
University of Aberdeen Faculty of Medicine and Medical Science	University of Sheffield Medical School Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry
University of Birmingham	University of Sussex
University of Birmingham Medical School	University of Teesside
University of Bristol	University of Ulster
University of Bristol Medical School	University of Warwick
University of Central Lancashire	Association of Applied Biologists
University of East Anglia	Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC)
University of East Anglia School of Medicine	British Geological Survey
University of Edinburgh	Royal Geographical Society
University of Edinburgh Medical School	Royal Society
University of Exeter	Royal Society of Chemistry
University of Glasgow	Society of Chemical Industry
University of Glasgow Faculty of Medicine	Institute of Food Research
University of Leeds

New Newswise US Participants Newswise welcomes the following new institutions from the United States:

Loyola University Health System	American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO)
New Mexico State University	Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC)
Northeastern University	American Society for Cell Biology (ASCB)
Northwestern University	Society for Biomolecular Screening
Pace University	International Hearing Society
St. Mary's University	Environmental Health Perspectives (NIEHS)
Tarleton State University	Harvard Health Publications
University of Florida
University of South Florida

Your Individual Report

This is the twenty-third edition of the monthly report in which you'll find:

Earlier results
A preliminary report on access counts is now provided for files you've contributed during the most recent month, in addition to a final report on your prior month's activity. This allows you to track both preliminary and longer-range access counts for your stories.

Enhanced context
Your reports are now provided within the greater context of this monthly Newswise report, which offers perspectives on your data not previously available, such as studies of how the media access and use Newswise and your stories. We also hope to utilize this "interactive" newsletter as a way of eliciting your suggestions and to acknowledge those who have contributed suggestions.

November 2003 Newswise Report (preliminary)

(If your institution had contributed stories in November 2003 , data on those stories would appear here. You will find overall site statistics below.)


Table 1
============================================================
          Newswise November 2003 PRELIMINARY Report          
------------------------------------------------------------
          HITS ON ALL INSTITUTIONS' NEWS RELEASES 
              By LIBRARY and TYPE OF STORY 
        (based on data gathered through 18-Dec-2003)
============================================================

-----------------------------------------------------------
      Number of       Type               Access  Counts    
      NOVEMBER         of             ---------------------
    News Releases     Story           TOTAL    Avg   Median
-----------------------------------------------------------

 MEDNEWS LIBRARY
       186  Research or Feature       56232     302     254
         3  Policy                      519     173     149
        23  Announcement               3199     139     138

 SCINEWS LIBRARY
       107  Research or Feature       35259     330     268
         1  Policy                      176     176     176
        11  Announcement               1697     154     150

 LIFENEWS LIBRARY
        69  Research or Feature       19345     280     252
         0  Policy                       --      --      --
        10  Announcement               1744     174     150
         3  Higher Ed Event             508     169     150

 BIZNEWS LIBRARY
        14  Research or Feature        4276     305     253
         0  Policy                       --      --      --
        10  Announcement               1453     145     141

View this month's Top Hit Stories

October 2003 Newswise Report (final)

(If your institution had contributed stories in October 2003 , data on those stories would appear here. You will find overall site statistics below.)


Table 1
============================================================
             Newswise October 2003 FINAL Report          
------------------------------------------------------------
          HITS ON ALL INSTITUTIONS' NEWS RELEASES 
              By LIBRARY and TYPE OF STORY 
        (based on data gathered through 18-Dec-2003)
============================================================

-----------------------------------------------------------
      Number of       Type               Access  Counts    
       OCTOBER         of             ---------------------
    News Releases     Story           TOTAL    Avg   Median
-----------------------------------------------------------

 MEDNEWS LIBRARY
       272  Research or Feature       70790     260     235
         1  Policy                      168     168     168
        37  Announcement               5426     147     133

 SCINEWS LIBRARY
        98  Research or Feature       31114     317     273
         0  Policy                       --      --      --
        34  Announcement               4792     141     136

 LIFENEWS LIBRARY
        82  Research or Feature       21863     267     211
         2  Policy                      338     169     169
        14  Announcement               2107     150     150
         5  Higher Ed Event             925     185     134

 BIZNEWS LIBRARY
        23  Research or Feature        6102     265     219
         0  Policy                       --      --      --
        12  Announcement               1603     134     133

View this month's Top Hit Stories

Journalists Respond

"It is an excellent source of news stories for my magazine."
--Gabriel Sheffer, Plastic Surgery Products

"I love Newswise. I've used it for years-when I was at Glamour and Self."
--Mindy Berry, Child Magazine

Success Stories

University of Illinois at Chicago

The release Computer Center Sets Trans-Atlantic Speed Record for Data Transfer appeared in:

Chicago Tribune
Chicago Sun-Times

University of California, San Diego

The release Scientists Explain and Improve Upon 'Enigmatic' Probability Formula was covered by:

Electronic Engineering Times
HPCwire
InfoScience (France)

Iowa State University

The release Iowa State University Ready to Hit Hackers Head-On appeared in:

USA Today
Information Week

Wildlife Conservation Society

The release Urban Black Bears Becoming Couch Potatoes was covered by:

Washington Post
NY Times
LA Times