UND scholars reach 2 million readers through The Conversation

Partnership brings UND expertise to audiences around the world while creating new opportunities for faculty

Two million reads — and counting.

Articles written by University of North Dakota scholars for The Conversation have now been read more than 2 million times, marking a new milestone in UND’s partnership with the nonprofit news organization.

As of August, articles by UND authors had generated 2,045,873 reads since the University became a supporting partner of The Conversation in 2022.

The milestone illustrates how writing for The Conversation can help UND scholars take their expertise beyond academic journals and conferences, putting it directly into the hands of the public.

Bringing academic expertise to the public

The Conversation publishes articles written by academics and edited by professional journalists for a general audience. Its editors work directly with scholars to translate their research and expertise into timely, accessible articles.

Articles are published under a Creative Commons license, allowing news organizations to republish them at no cost and extending their potential reach well beyond The Conversation itself.

And scholars don’t necessarily need a new research paper or major discovery to have something worth sharing. Their expertise can help readers understand an issue in the news, put current events into context or explain the significance of research to everyday life.

More than page views

For faculty members, that public reach can lead to opportunities well beyond the original article.

When UND passed 1 million reads in 2024, faculty authors described how their articles had led to radio and podcast interviews, speaking invitations, international connections and new research collaborations.

The Conversation also gives researchers, who are accustomed to communicating primarily within their disciplines, a direct connection to people affected by their work.

Kumi Nagamoto-Combs, associate professor of biomedical sciences, experienced that after writing about connections between food allergies and changes in mood and behavior. Readers living with the condition reached out to share their experiences, which is feedback researchers in her field don’t often receive directly.

Those experiences demonstrate another measure of the partnership’s impact: the connections and opportunities that can come from making scholarly expertise accessible to a wider audience.

A growing UND presence

UND became a supporting partner of The Conversation in fall 2022, giving UND scholars another avenue to share their research, knowledge and perspectives with audiences outside academia.

By November 2024, 30 UND scholars had produced 44 articles that collectively surpassed 1 million reads. Less than two years later, UND has surpassed 2 million reads. Its scholars have now published 81 articles, nearly twice the number at the previous milestone.

The growth represents an expanding body of UND scholarship available to readers worldwide, with each article adding another voice and area of expertise to the public conversation.

Join the conversation

Faculty members and graduate students interested in writing for The Conversation can start with a simple question: What do you know that people outside your field would benefit from understanding?

It might be research that sheds new light on an issue, expertise that helps explain something in the news or insight that brings context to a topic people are talking about.

Two million reads later, UND’s experience with The Conversation suggests there are plenty of people interested in the answer.