Reproduction and Fertility Prizes
We believe that science works best when research is open. In addition to being open access, Reproduction and Fertility is incentivising ways of broadening readership beyond academia. Reproduction and Fertility is offering a prize to authors who include an exceptional Lay summary or a Graphical abstract in their published works. Lay summaries and Graphical abstracts help make research accessible to science journalists, policy-makers, scientists in other research areas, and the public, allowing the work to have a wider and greater impact.
Learn more about previous prize winners and how to submit to the Reproduction and Fertility Lay Summary Prize and Graphical Abstract Prize.
Lay Summary
About the prize: Lay Summaries are a great opportunity to share your perspective on the wider impact of your work, and, given that Reproduction and Fertility is open access, they also offer the opportunity to broaden the readership of articles to policy-makers, science journalists, scientists outside of the immediate research area, and the public by making their work accessible to these audiences.
2022 Lay Summary Winner
Did the NICE guideline for progesterone treatment of threatened miscarriage get it right?
W Colin Duncan
Lay summary
In November 2021, new guidelines were published about the management of bleeding in early pregnancy. If someone who has had a previous miscarriage starts bleeding, they should now be treated with progesterone as this slightly reduces the chance of miscarriage. The guideline says progesterone should be given if the pregnancy is in the womb, and potentially normal, until 16 weeks of pregnancy. However, in the big studies looking at progesterone’s effect in reducing miscarriage the beneficial effects of progesterone were complete by 12 weeks of pregnancy. At that stage, it is the placenta and not the mother’s ovary that makes the progesterone to support the pregnancy. We do not know the long-term effects of giving extra progesterone during pregnancy on the offspring. Some research has raised the possibility that there might be some adverse effects if progesterone is given for too long. Maybe the guidance should have suggested stopping at 12 weeks rather than 16 weeks of pregnancy.
Graphical Abstract
About the prize: Graphical abstracts can easily be shared and aims to increase the visibility of the work published in Reproduction and Fertility. They allow readers to quickly grasp the take-home message of the publication and rapidly identify papers that are relevant reading for their studies/research. Research has shown that graphical abstracts mean an article is shared more on social media, has increased usage and altmetric figures.
2022 Graphical Abstract Winner
Mechanisms of group B Streptococcus-mediated preterm birth: lessons learnt from animal models
Noble K Kurian and Deepak Modi