Communication policy for the Department of Sociology

This policy applies to communication through the Department’s official channels: press releases, web articles on our websites, social media channels and the internal newsletter. 

According to the delegation of authority that applies to Stockholm University, the head of department is legally responsible for all content on the department’s official channels. The department’s communicator is in turn responsible towards the head of department for the day-to-day publishing.

Press releases

Press releases on research results

Our press releases are written by the communicator at the department, and then fact checked and approved by the researcher(s). We never publish anything without the original author’s approval.

A press release is a short text on a current topic that is sent out to different media outlets. The purpose is to catch journalists’ interest and hopefully get attention for our research results in newspapers, online magazines, TV, radio etc. The difference between a press release and an article on our website, is that a press release is sent out directly to journalists and editors. A web article we have to distribute ourselves, by e-mail, social media or by calling them.

When possible, we send press releases through Stockholm University’s central communications office. They decide what press releases we can send out directly to the media through the university’s central channels.

They also decide how the press release should be written and when they have room in their planning for a press release.

The Department of Sociology only puts out press releases on studies that are published as peer-reviewed articles in academic journals, on PhD theses or on individual studies in PhD theses. This means that we do not publish press releases on pre-prints and working papers, unless they are part of a PhD thesis. We have this policy in order to make sure that results communicated directly to the media are reliable. 

When time is limited, we prioritize communicating new PhD theses before other publications. 

The central communication’s office at Stockholm University very seldom (if ever) publish press releases on books. For books, it is therefore more efficient to ask the publisher for a press release. What we can offer at the department is a web article (read more below). 

Web articles 

Web articles are written by the communicator at the department, and are not distributed directly to the media like press releases. This means that we have to distribute web articles ourselves to journalists or policy makers, by e-mail, social media and/or by calling journalists. 

Web articles can be written about new peer-reviewed articles, new books or a current theme (such as: Why are birth rates in Sweden falling?) Web articles based on a current theme do not have to be based on a single peer-reviewed article, but they always need to have a reference list.  

Social media channels

On Facebook, X (Twitter) and LinkedIn, we publish links to press releases, web articles, new books, articles in different media outlets when our researchers and PhD students are interviewed in an expert role about their area of research; when their research is cited in media outlets, and book reviews about our researchers’ and PhD students books. 

We also publish links to new peer-reviewed articles and working papers. The main target group when communicating working papers is academics interested in ongoing research at the department. 

Apart from the above, we use our social media channels to publish internal department news, e.g. promotions (to professor/ docent etc.), keynote speakers at conferences, new editors of academic journal, alumni interviews, but also to promote educational programmes and courses. 

X (Twitter) is also used to retweet relevant tweets from department staff, partner institutes and tweets from Stockholm University’s central channels targeted to potential and enrolled students. 

Policy for sharing debate articles, op eds etc on our social media channels

When faculty members or PhD students at the department write debate articles in newspapers and other media, or blog posts on other blogs than our own, we can share them on our social media channels if they are based on the writer’s own research. This means that the criteria for sharing debate articles is that the text refers to the writer’s research, and/or concludes something from their research. 

Internal newsletter

In the internal monthly newsletter, we publish the following content: 

  • News about incoming staff 
  • Promotions of staff members 
  • New publications, books and preprints/working papers 
  • Invitations to staff meetings, conferences and dinners 
  • Links to press releases and web articles published at the department
  • New grants to the department 
  • Calls for proposals 
  • Calls for papers. 

This policy was approved by the Department board 2021-09-28. 

On this page