Popular Science Publishing and Contributions to Public Discourse among University Faculty

This article explores the roles of university faculty as popularizers of research and as public intellectuals contributing to public discourse through publishing articles for a lay public. Mail surveys undertaken in 1992 and 2001 among faculty members at Norwegian universities show that academic staff in the humanities and social sciences published more popular scientific articles and contributed more to public debate than their fellow colleagues in the natural and medical sciences and technology. Prolific scientists were more active in publishing for a lay public than less productive faculty members, and a small number of academic staff accounted for a disproportionate number of articles.