Today we launch Nature Italy, a new digital magazine focused on Italian research and on the Italian scientific community. Written in both Italian and English, it will highlight the best and most impactful results coming out of Italian science, follow research policy and politics in the country, and give Italian researchers a new platform to debate and to make their voice heard.
We want this website to become the go-to place for the Italian science community in the widest sense. Senior scientists, young researchers, University and PhD students. Clinicians, professionals in research policy and higher education. Researchers based in Italy as well as Italian scientists working abroad. We will help them present their work to a wider audience, shine a light on the problems that they face every day and that they would like to be solved, and inform them on the latest policy developments that affect Italian science.
It does not mean the website is only for scientists. It is for all readers who are curious to learn what happens in research, who look for a reliable and authoritative source of scientific information, and who want to understand how science can contribute to all sectors of Italian society.
But why launch a dedicated Nature portal for Italian science, and why now? Italian scientists, after all, do not need much help in convincing their peers of their value. The Italian scientific community is among the most productive in the world, as most publications statistics show. Italian professors hold chairs and executive positions at major institutions worldwide. Italian students are in high demand for PhD positions in the world’s best universities.
Getting Italian politicians and the public to care about science has proved much harder. For years, Italy has chronically underspent on research and innovation – spending much less, as a proportion of GDP, than the European and OCSE averages. Whenever Italy has had to cut government spending in response to economic downturns, research and education have been among the first victims.
As a result, the Italian research system has come dangerously close to collapse. The constant flow of brilliant young minds from Italy to other countries in search of career opportunities is only the most visible symptom. Now, the massive stimulus package set up by the European Union in response to the COVID-19 crisis is a chance – possibly the last one – for the country to reinvent itself, and to finally wake up to the importance of science and innovation for growth and for the welfare of its citizens.
It is now more vital than ever that Italian scientists make themselves heard. But it is just as vital that they listen to their fellow citizens, understand what they care about and what they expect from science.
That is where Nature Italy fits in. It will help create a dialogue between science, politics and the rest of society. Its news coverage, that will grow over the next weeks and months, will show how science can be key for making the country function better. How research, evidence, and scientific advice can help shape better policy in all fields, from healthcare, energy and environmental protection to welfare, education, urban planning and the inner working of institutions themselves.
We will publish opinion pieces and interviews with scientists – sometimes world-renowned experts, sometimes young and upcoming researchers with an interesting story to tell. But we will also host opinions from people outside the scientific circle, creating a dialogue between scientists and those who are affected by their work: entrepreneurs, civil servants, local and national administrators and educators.
At times, we will also challenge Italian scientists. As all readers of Nature know, this magazine is at its best when it promotes a critical attitude towards science itself: questioning its very methods, asking scientists to acknowledge injustice and bias inside their own community, inviting them to engage more with the rest of society. Nature Italy will be no exception, acting as a watchdog and a critical voice for Italian science.
In order to do all this, we will rely on suggestions and criticism from our readers. We count on Italian scientists, especially those who are least often heard by the public, to let us know what stories are important for them, what problems they want to bring to everyone’s attention, what excites and what frustrates them. Nature Italy aims to become the voice of the scientific community. We invite all Italian scientists to use it and make themselves heard.
