By Tara Haelle
How do you find the most appropriate outside experts to comment on a study you’ve been assigned if it’s on a topic you’ve never covered and you know very little about? You already know you need more than a “liver cancer expert” or an “HIV expert” or a “nutrition expert.” You need a more finely tuned expert within the subfields of the topic who is intimately familiar with the specific research you’re covering, such as “PD-L1 immunotherapy for liver cancer” or “use of monoclonal antibodies to prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV” or “metabolic effects of a plant-based diet on subcutaneous fat.” Here’s a step-by-step plan of what to do to find those experts with limited time:
1. Read the study Discussion section to look at the other research the authors compared their findings to. The introduction section will also cite studies related to or foundational to the current one, but it’s in the Discussion section that the authors put their findings in context alongside similar existing research. Even if you don’t have a term for subfield of the paper you’re studying, the studies they reference in the Discussion as being similar to theirs will usually be part of the same subfield.
2. Copy and paste all those references into a list onto document, notes app, etc.
3. Look through the references and use the names of the papers to determine which ones seem most relevant to the paper you’re writing about. (If you’re writing about a PD-L1 checkpoint inhibitor, you’d look for other studies mentioning PD-L1.) Take special note of any research reviews. (Authors of reviews will be especially familiar with evidence across the whole subfield.)
4. Narrow the list to the most recent papers, ideally within the past three years. This ensures the researchers are still active in this subfield and are more likely to be working at the same institution they were at when their paper was published (making it easier to find their email address). This becomes your list of go-to papers.
5. Go to PubMed to get the full list of authors for each of these papers.
6. As you’re looking up each of these go-to studies on PubMed to find the authors’ list, pay attention to the “Related Studies” that pop up on the right side of the paper or which show up in the search results. Often these include papers that weren’t cited but are still relevant to the one you’re covering.
7. Compare the authors of each go-to paper with the authors of the one you’re covering. (I often copy and paste all the authors of the paper of the study I’m writing about into the same document as my list of go-to papers and use Control-F to search for names easily.) You don’t want to see much overlap. A little overlap may not matter much, such as authors in the middle of the list who are the same on both papers (though, ideally, there would be no overlap).
If there is substantial overlap — if a third of the go-to paper’s authors are the same as in the paper you’re covering — eliminate that study from your list. If the lead authors are the same, the senior authors are the same, or the lead author on one is the senior author on the other, eliminate it.
Otherwise, you run the risk of ideological bias. Your goal is to find researchers who have worked in this subfield enough to know it well but who aren’t too connected to the specific study you’re writing about since I need a truly outside, independent perspective.
8. If the authors are in a different country, take into account the audience for your story: Some publications prefer North American-based scientists and some have no preference. Also consider time zones to increase the likelihood of finding a mutually workable interview time, and consider language barriers if necessary.
9. Now you have a list of possible outside sources — people who are clearly deeply involved in the same subfield as the paper you’re covering, who aren’t too closely linked to the researchers or the study you’re covering, and who fit your needs in terms of geographic location. Now read their bios on their institutional site to confirm that they are still working on that field and/or have relevant expertise. (People may have a small role in a study on a topic they have limited expertise in.)
10. Reach out to the people most underrepresented in the media on this topic (nearly always women and people of color).
11. If it’s someone at a federal institution, such as the NIH or CDC, determine if you have enough time with your deadline to wait for the press office to set up the interview. Dealing with public information officers at universities is not usually difficult, but it can take a lot longer to get interview approvals at federal institutions for an outside expert.
12. If you need one outside opinion and are on a short deadline, reach out to three people first.
13. During interviews, ask if there is someone you should especially talk to about the research for an outside opinion.
Optional: After the story is written, add all the folks you talk to or are recommended to a spreadsheet of sources that includes keywords for each person so you have it for future studies.
