The main purpose of this panel discussion kicking off on the second day of the IAMCR 2022 Suzhou Pre-conference on SC (8:20-9:20 pm, July 9 Beijing time) is to discuss how science communication journals of issues related to the COVID-19 pandemic, which has dramatically impacted our ways of communication. Editors of major international and Chinese science communication journals have all been involved, including:

Hans Peter Peters, Editor of Public Understanding of Science (PUS)

Susanna Priest, Editor of Science Communication (in written form)

Marina Joubert, Associate editor of Journal of Science Communication

Nian Zheng, Executive editor of Studies on Science Popularization

Rongting Zhou, Executive editor of Science Communication and Science Education

Xue Liu, Editorial director of the Culture of Science

The panel will be moderated by Hepeng Jia, a professor of science communication at Soochow University. It will discuss questions like the changes the COVID-19 has brought on SC journals, strategies for journals to address them, and the boundary between science and health communication studies. Standing issues like how to get published in SC journals, the impact of impact factors, the influences of new technologies, and how non-Western SC studies can attract editors’ attention will also be discussed and debated.