Responsible dissemination of health and medical research: some guidance points

Ravinetto and Singh argue that better practices can be implemented when disseminating research findings through abstracts, preprints, peer-reviewed publications, press releases and social media Dissemination has been defined as 'the targeted distribution of information and intervention materials to a specific public health or clinical practice audience', 1 and as being 'simply about getting the findings of your research to the people who can make use of them, to maximise the benefit of the research without delay' . Traditionally, research results were first shared within the scientific community, and then 'translated' into lay language for policymakers and other audiences via the media, policy briefs, lobbying. Today, preprints 6 and press releases 7 often come first. Dissemination of research findings to research participants and communities requires contextualised approaches and have been explored elsewhere. Similarly, trial registries 8 and data sharing are explored elsewhere in this series. Here, we navigate the challenges and opportunities presented by dissemination through peerreview publications, abstracts, preprints, press release, media coverage and social media (box 1summary of research dissemination).