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Yet another record year for LU in The Conversation

A MAGA hat on a book.
One of this year's most read The Conversation articles from Lund University, by Magnus Lindén and Fredrik Björklund, discusses how personality traits can contribute to the appeal of movements such as MAGA in the United States. Photo: Unsplash

The University’s researchers published no fewer than 76 articles in The Conversation in 2025 – a new record. Altogether, the University’s articles reached an audience of 1.45 million readers last year.

The 76 articles represent a substantial increase from the previous year’s total of 55 and reflect the great breadth within the University. The articles cover everything from East Asia and geopolitics to breakthroughs in medicine and climate policy. They may later be republished in international media outlets, contributing to the University’s international impact and strengthening its role as a stakeholder in society.

“It is wonderful that so many articles written by researchers at Lund University were published in The Conversation during 2025. An incredible amount of exceptionally good research is done at the University, research that many more people should be aware of and able to use. The Conversation is a great channel for reaching an international audience. I hope that even more colleagues will publish articles in The Conversation in 2026 – perhaps we should collectively aim for 100, says Per Mickwitz, pro vice-chancellor for research, sustainability and campus development. 

International reach and long-term value

Historian Ming Gao was the University’s most prolific author in 2025, publishing ten articles on China, Japan and South Korea. His article on child tourism in Asia, republished by Japanese Newsweek, was the most read with 146,000 views.

Christel Nielsen from the Faculty of Medicine reached 87,000 readers with her article about tattoos and skin cancer – thanks in no small part to it being republished by The Independent. Other popular subjects included the MAGA movement, the EU’s carbon tax and US pressure on Panama with regards to China.

More than one third of the articles were written as international collaborations. Fourteen were also published in a language other than English. The majority of these articles were first published in English before being translated to Portuguese, French, Spanish and Indonesian.

One of The Conversation’s strengths is that articles continue being read long after publication. The 76 articles published in 2025 have already reached 1.1 million readers and their readership will continue to grow. The University’s articles combined – including older articles that are still being read – reached 1.5 million readers in 2025.


Would you also like to write for The Conversation?

Would you like to spread your research globally? The process works like this:

  1. Keep your pitch short and punchy  answer these four questions:
    • What is your main point? (50 words or less)
    • Why should the reader be interested? (100 words or less)
    • What are your main arguments? (150 words or less)
    • Why you – mention your expertise in this area (200 words or less)
  2. Discuss the article with your closest communications officer if you want advice.
  3. Submit your pitch via the form on The Conversation website.
  4. Choose the UK editorial option when you submit. This is important to make sure that the pitch ends up in the right place.
  5. Wait for feedback from the editor. If you have not received a reply within three days, the pitch was probably not successful on this occasion. Think about a new idea!

If you have any questions, please contact Ellen Albertsdóttir, communications officer with responsibility for The Conversation at Lund University: ellen [dot] albertsdottir [at] kommunikation [dot] lu [dot] se

The next workshop with editors from The Conversation is scheduled for 28 April, from 10–12. More information will be available soon, but you are welcome to express your interest to ellen [dot] albertsdottir [at] kommunikation [dot] lu [dot] se (Ellen Albertsdóttir)today.

Read more:Writing for The Conversation – Staff Pages

Submit your pitch (choose UK): theconversation.com/uk/pitches

Faculties and units by number of views in 2025:

  • The Joint Faculties of Humanities and Theology: 524,000 reads (21 articles)
  • Faculty of Medicine: 310,000 reads (12.5 articles)
  • Faculty of Social Sciences: 168,000 reads (19 articles)
  • Faculty of Science: 108,000 reads (12 articles)
  • Faculty of Law: 42,500 reads (2.5 articles)
  • Faculty of Engineering (LTH): 34,000 reads (4 articles)
  • School of Economics and Management: 21,000 reads (4 articles)
  • The University Library: 7,000 reads (1 article)

All of Lund University’s articles in The Conversation.

Please note: The Conversation counts each language version as a separate publication. When researchers from different faculties write together, publication and reads are divided equally between the faculties. A total of 76 articles were published in 2025.