By Stephen Strauss  

Free access to peer-reviewed, high quality journal articles and comments often tops the list of things which journalists and other science communicators know they need to do their job well. While some may get this access from their workplaces, large numbers of people don't have that as an information port of entry. So board member Asher Mullard has put together for CSWA members a list of places they can go to get the sort of journal access they need - and get it for free. If you are a member, sign in at http://sciencewriters.ca/members and follow Asher's instructions. 

      The American Association for the Advancement of Science is also offering to alert people when articles with Canadian authors or co-authors appear in the journal Science. To get these alerts see http://www.aaas.org/newsroom

Or I say this and then note the obvious: While this kind  of heads up is good for science journalists, it may also alert public information officers about discoveries which their institution's scientists may not have thought to tell them about.

CSWA President Stephen Strauss has written about science over more than 30 years initially at the Globe and Mail and in the last few years as a freelancer for various publications including CBC.ca, The Medical Post, Nature Biotechnology, EnRoute, New Scientist, Nature as well as various government agencies. He has won numerous awards for his writing, including numbers of Science in Society Awards from CSWA and has been the recipient recently of two CIHR journalism bursaries. his personal motto is that of Austrian journalist Karl Kraus: “Say What Is.”