it's called a "press release". they are often written by the University own public relations or marketing department and sent en masse to newspapers.
simply printing the press release with minor word and paragraph order change ("cooking the press release") is frowned upon but very common.
usually when you see one of those, the very first thing you do is make a note to never go back to that news company, or at least the journalist signing it. but often cooked press releases are not signed.
there are places which compile press releases as a service to journalists having to fill pages.
OP. You know, I made a diligent effort to find a primary source, whether a paper or whatnot. It seems like Oxford is trying to get across the idea there has been a general “breakthrough” or at least recent dramatic improvement, but it doesn’t seem tied to any particular paper. Sometimes it’s hard to tell from paper titles or even abstracts.
On the other hand, it’s Oxford, source of some of the greatest achievements in human history. If they want to trumpet something that’s going on, I’d give them the benefit of the doubt it’s worth a sniff. And here at HN, people who know might chime in.
So, I don’t do this all the time, but I made an exception and floated it, apparently reasonably.
I also had a personal connection, which was the micron thin film aspect, which my dad worked on at a megacorp for his whole career. Would have been great to be able to chat with him about it, ach well.
simply printing the press release with minor word and paragraph order change ("cooking the press release") is frowned upon but very common.
usually when you see one of those, the very first thing you do is make a note to never go back to that news company, or at least the journalist signing it. but often cooked press releases are not signed.
there are places which compile press releases as a service to journalists having to fill pages.