The Open Notebook empowers journalists across the U.S. and globally to tell impactful stories, contributing to an informed and engaged society. We achieve this through a variety of major programs designed to support journalists at every stage of their career.
Publications, Tools, and Resources
Explore our collection of freely available resources designed to equip journalists worldwide to do high-quality evidence-based journalism.
- We’ve published more than 600 articles on the craft of science journalism, and all of them are freely available to anyone worldwide.
- Our Reported Features dive deep into the craft of science journalism, from finding story ideas to conducting effective interviews to telling stories that have enduring impact. Dozens of our articles and guides center diversity, equity, and inclusion in science journalism, including articles on topics such as covering Indigenous communities, reporting and writing with trans-inclusion in mind, navigating bias in newsrooms, and finding diverse sources for science stories.
- In TON’s Storygram™ series, begun with funding support from the Council for the Advancement of Science Writing, experienced journalists provide in-depth annotations of noteworthy journalism to show what makes the best science stories so good.
- In our Story-Behind-the-Story Interviews, we ask journalists to deconstruct their working process, from how they found and sharpened their ideas to what they left on the cutting-room floor.
- Our A Day in the Life series provides a peek behind the curtain, inviting respected science journalists to break down the habits, tricks, and must-have tools that sustain their work.
- TON en Español is our collection of more than 100 popular TON articles translated into Spanish, reaching some 15,000 readers.
- We offer a variety of resources to assist local journalists. These include a community of practice for local and general-assignment reporters; an interactive toolkit—the Science Reporting Navigator—that takes the intimidation out of incorporating science into any beat, from crime to housing to city hall; a brown-bag series for local newsrooms; and an extensive library of articles and tip sheets focused on challenges that journalists may face in covering science at the local level.
- Our Science Writers Database is a free, global directory of science journalists, writers, editors, and other communicators who cover science.
- The TON Pitch Database is a searchable resource containing hundreds of successful queries to a wide range of publications. This unique tool gives science journalists the opportunity to study the first—and often the most difficult—step in producing outstanding science stories.
- Our book The Craft of Science Writing, published by the University of Chicago Press, offers an essential primer for science writers, students, and others who want to improve their science communication skills. Our next book
Training and Mentoring
We’re committed to training and mentoring students and working journalists through various programs.
- Workshops, trainings, and consultations:
- Hands-on science communication trainings for scientists provide practical guidance to help scientists share their work with confidence and impact.
- Trainings and workshops for journalists and newsrooms help reporters and editors interpret scientific evidence, weigh claims, include expert voices, and cover complex topics accurately, clearly, and with nuance.
- Online skills courses: More than 10,000 people have taken at least one of our free Science Journalism Master Classes, which have an 83 percent completion rate, on average.
- Mentoring programs:
- An intensive, 12-month mentored early-career fellowship program
- A community of practice for local journalists who want to bring scientific evidence, voices, and context into their stories
- A mentoring community for science journalists from historically underrepresented communities
- A peer-mentoring community for international students in science writing
- Ad hoc mentoring for science journalists from the Global South
Community Support
We believe that community is essential to strong journalism that informs, equips, and ultimately serves the public. In an era when many journalists work in isolation and mentorship opportunities are shrinking, The Open Notebook fosters connection at every career stage. Our programs are designed not only to build skills but to cultivate a sense of belonging, shared purpose, and mutual support.
Across continents and time zones, journalists use TON to share wisdom, troubleshoot challenges, and celebrate wins. Whether it’s a freelance pitch workshopped in a peer circle, a fellowship lead passed along in a virtual meetup, or a reporting dilemma resolved with help from a fellow journalist across the globe, these moments of connection ripple outward. They fuel stories that are more accurate, more inclusive, and more impactful. Contributors tell us they stay involved not just for the resources, but for the people. TON offers a professional home: a place to learn, grow, connect, and thrive—so journalists can do their best work for the audiences who rely on them.