After writing about biology for more than a decade for Science News and Science, John Travis has been an editor at Science since 2004, including a stint as the European news editor based in the U.K. He continues to edit biology topics and manages the weekly magazine’s news section.

Pitch Guidelines

A key for new freelancers pitching Science is not to pitch broad topics (GM foods or NASA’s budget woes) but rather a defined story that reflects the latest research or science policy developments (How new gene editing tools will change the GM food debate or Internal NASA report reveals space agency’s budget is busted). A clear explanation of the news peg i.e. why we should do this story this week, this month, this year versus 6 months ago is also crucial. Anyone pitching Science should demonstrate an awareness of whether we have published a related story in the magazine or in our online daily news (they have two different search engines), AND whether our natural competitors, such as Nature, have covered the topic recently. The magazine’s readers are members of the scientific community so keep that in mind (Online news is a broader audience). Stories with an analytical bent or go beyond the single research paper are desired.