The Conversation is the world’s leading publisher of research-based new and analysis and is the PSA’s annual conference media partner New Partnership between The Conversation and PSA – Political Studies Association . After a lively session at PSA26 in Oxford, we felt that it would be great to capture how  you can work with journalists to get your research and analysis published and read by as wide an audience as possible.

We are grateful to Jonathan Este, Senior International Affairs Editor from The Conversation UK  for pulling together his top tips, below, which we hope will inspire you to take the plunge!

Like any news organisation, we get our ideas from a number of places. But you, our fantastic bank of expertise, are the best source of ideas. So we’re always looking for new suggestions for ways in which we can keep our large global audience informed or add value to stories that are already making the news.

Here are a few tips about how best to catch our attention amid all the noise. First of all, though, get to know your university’s press office (if this applies to you). We enjoy a very good relationship with our partner institution’s press offices, who are always on the look out for ways to promote your work.  Make sure they know who you are, what your research speciality is and when you have a new paper coming up or even an interesting dataset that could tell a story.

But when you have an idea or see something in the news you could explain or add value to, here are seven things to think about before you get in touch with us:

The best time to pitch a story is NOW: You’d be surprised at the number of pitches we get which open with a reference to something that happened last month. We’re primarily a news site – so we want to know what’s happening now, because that’s what our audience wants to read about. Don’t hum and hah, just get in touch (maybe after first running the idea through your press office).

Make a habit of reading the site: It’ll help you work out what sort of story you want to tell. And, just as importantly, you’ll be able to discover whether we have already published something similar, in which case we might not commission something else unless there are new developments. Reading the site will also help you to get your head around the sort of stories we publish and our narrative style, which is like – but not always identical to – most of the other reputable news sources.

Think before you pitch: We’re sent a lot of pitches, so we can only take the most interesting story ideas. Think of it like a sales pitch. The best pitches will be timely (as we’ve already said) and will provide readers with either something entirely new or at least a fresh way of looking at something people are already talking about.

Are you an expert in the issue you are planning to write about: We do hear from people who want to write about something they may feel passionate about, but it’s not their field. While understandable in many cases, it’s wasted effort as we are bound by our charter to only commission experts about their field of expertise.

Try to avoid: Subjects that may be a little too niche for general interest. Also beware of using professional jargon – remember, as journalists we’re experts in nothing apart from storytelling. Try to use clear and accessible language and ensure your enthusiasm for the subject shines through.

If at first you don’t succeed: Don’t lose heart. We do get a lot of pitches and can only take a few. But it’s great to know about your expertise and the chances are that when we are looking for someone to write about your area in the future, we’ll be in touch. But if we don’t know about you, we can’t.

Please don’t send a completed story: It takes us longer to read and the chances are that we will have our own ideas about what we want out of any given topic. Much better to send us a short, well-written pitch that details the key points you plan to make. We can work out the rest together.

The fun really begins once we’ve accepted your pitch and commissioned your story! We are an entirely collaborative newsroom, so your editor will want to work closely with you on the story angle to ensure that the result is the best, most informative and readable article it can be. And that may also include a ‘listicle’ format like this one! We’ll help you build the story, act as a sounding board for your ideas and polish the finished product before it goes out into the world.

Remember, we will not publish anything you are not 100% happy with. But this cuts both ways – and we need to be sure that all our articles fulfil our editorial requirements.

Once your piece has been published, we’ll pull out all the stops to make sure it gets in front of as many people as possible.

We look forward to hearing your brilliant ideas and to helping you turn them into a fantastic and engaging story.

You can contact Jonathan Este Senior International Affairs Editor and Avery Anapol, Commissioning Editor for Politics & Society 

We thank them for sharing their expertise and time with the PSA community.