Science News has been published since 1922 by the Society for Science & the Public, a non-profit organization founded by E. W. Scripps in 1920. American chemist Edwin Slosson served as the publication's first editor. From 1922 to 1966, it was called Science News Letter.2 The title was changed to Science News with the March 12, 1966, issue (vol. 89, no. 11).3
Tom Siegfried was the editor from 2007 to 2012. In 2012, Siegfried stepped down, and Eva Emerson became the Editor in Chief of the magazine. In 2017, Eva Emerson stepped down to become the editor of a new digital magazine, Annual Reviews. On February 1, 2018, Nancy Shute became the Editor in Chief of the magazine.
In April 2008, the magazine changed from a weekly format to a biweekly format, and the website was redeployed. The April 12 issue (Vol.173 #15) was the last weekly issue. The first biweekly issue (Vol.173 #16) was dated May 10 and featured a new design. The 4-week break between the last weekly issue and the first biweekly issue was explained in the Letter from the Publisher (p. 227) in the April 12 issue.
In January 2025, the magazine began publishing on a monthly basis, with significant changes to style, format, and physical aspects.4
The articles of the magazine are placed under "News":
The articles featured on the magazine's cover are placed under "Features". The departments that remain constant from issue to issue are:
Hockey, Thomas (1996). The Comet Hale-Bopp Book. Frontiers in Astronomy and Earth Science, Volume 1. Massachusetts, United States: ATL Press. p. 139. ISBN 1-882360-15-X – via Internet Archive. 1-882360-15-X ↩
Gillis, Anna Maria (March 1, 1997). "Looking Back: From News Wire to Newsweekly, 75 years of Science Service" (PDF). Science News. 151 (9): S10. doi:10.1002/scin.5591512706. Retrieved March 13, 2010. http://www.sciencenews.org/pages/pdfs/data/1997/151-09/15109-16.pdf ↩
Science news. Science Service. 1966. Retrieved March 13, 2010. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help) http://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/2334842/Details?& ↩
Shute, Nancy. "Editor's Note: Enter a new era for our storied magazine". Science News. Science News. Retrieved March 6, 2025. https://www.sciencenews.org/article/enter-new-era-for-our-storied-magazine ↩