Promoting Your Work
Once your paper has been published, there are several ways in which you can share your work and engage with the research community, the media and the public about your research.
- Share your work
- Connect and engage
- Write about your research
- Update your online profiles
- Further resources
Sharing guidelines
Sharing a link to your article through Social and Scholarly Collaboration Networks such as ResearchGate and Academia is a great way of initiating a conversation with a wider audience – not only in your own field, but in related fields as well.
Depending on the particular licence under which your article was published, different article sharing requirements will apply. For articles published under an Open Access licence, the published version of record can be shared. For all other articles, the accepted paper is the only version that you can upload to Scholarly Collaboration Networks.
When it comes to the peer-reviewed, edited, typeset version of record, make sure you only share the correct publisher link or DOI. There are some excellent reasons for this, even if you have published under an Open Access licence:
- Sharing the correct link to your article will ensure you receive the correct credit, ensuring accurate citations of your work;
- By sharing the correct link you are ensuring that readers will always see the most up-to-date version of your work, a permanent and final version of record of your article;
- Online mentions of your work only contribute to your article’s Altmetric Attention Score when the correct link has been used in those mentions;
- Sharing responsibly according to the licence terms of your article means we can continue to publish high quality journals and serve the research community. Our sharing policy is in line with the STM Association’s Voluntary principles [external link] for article sharing on scholarly collaboration networks;
Find out more in our Sharing and Permissions guidelines.
Where to share
- Reference your latest research article in your email signature, your online profiles and CV;
- Share your research on Twitter and other social media platforms;
- Add a link to your research to your favourite Scholarly Collaboration Networks such as Academia, Mendeley and ResearchGate;
Social media
Social media is a great place to network with other researchers, share your research and boost your reputation.
You can also use social media to connect with applied organisations who might use your research, policy makers who may be informed by your work, and the general public.
Twitter is one of the most popular social media channels for researchers, who use it like a micro-science-blog to communicate their research and share their papers.
Some simple tips for Twitter
- Don’t just talk “at” people, instead engage in conversation;
- Stay polite and professional;
- Re-read your tweets before publishing to check spelling, grammar, tone of voice and content accuracy – tweets cannot be edited once published;
- Use images, such as photos, graphs and maps in your tweets to catch the eye of your readers;
- Always share the correct link to your work, such as the DOI, as every correct mention of your paper will boost its Altmetric Attention Score;
- Avoid engaging with trolls;
Talking to journalists
Are you media-ready? Getting media coverage is a fantastic way to get your research out to a broad audience, including the general public, applied organisations, policy makers, funders and more. Keeping your message simple to engage non-specialists and the general public is very important.
Before you speak with journalists, reach out to your institution’s media unit for advice and support, especially if your research deals with controversial issues. They will be able to prepare you for any press your work might get and may have existing media contacts to promote your work to;
Some simple tips for talking to journalists
- If you haven’t already, write a lay summary of your research;
- Practice explaining your research in short, quotable sentences that still accurately reflect your work even when taken out of context;
The Australian Science Media Centre has published several tips and resources [external link] to help researchers work more effectively with the news media, and which could be useful regardless of where in the world you're located.
Conferences
Conferences are a great place to network with other researchers in your field, discuss your work, and meet journal editors and publishers. Networking can happen online and offline – in fact, these days, even if you can’t physically be present, you can still get some of the benefits of a conference by following along on a social media site like Twitter.
If you are attending, consider creating a physical or even an online poster about your research paper. Follow the conference hashtag and connect with other delegates on Twitter and interact with them during and after the conference.
The Conversation
One way to increase the reach of your work is by writing an article for The Conversation, an independent source of news, analysis and expert opinion, written by academics and researchers, and delivered direct to the public. Articles published by The Conversation are disseminated to more than 22,000 websites worldwide, giving them a global reach of 38.2 million readers a month. That’s a huge potential audience for your work!
Not only that but mentions of your paper in The Conversation count towards your Altmetric Attention Score, which is one of the ways in which you can measure the impact of your work.
To be published by The Conversation you must be currently employed as a researcher or academic with a university or research institution. Check the submission guidelines for pitching to The Conversation for your region by visiting the publication's website [external link].
Blogging
If you haven’t got one already, consider starting your own blog, or contributing to an existing blog as a guest writer. Blogging is another way to generate broad exposure for your research, can improve your writing and communication skills, and may even help you generate new ideas. There are many free and user-friendly blogging platforms out there, so it can be a simple way to engage with others in an informal setting.
Some simple tips
- Link to your research article (DOI) in your blog post;
- Keep your tone informal and conversational;
- Depending on who your desired audience is, you may wish to avoid using subject-specific jargon;
- Include images and videos;
- Promote your blog on social media;
Your online profiles, such as your ORCID iD, on Publons, on Academia.edu or on your institution's website are often the first place people will look when searching for more information about your work. Make sure they are always kept up to date with your most current research outputs.
The Science of Communicating Science is a practical guide to communicating science to influence beliefs, behaviours and policies.
Scientific Writing = Thinking in Words encourages scientists to write confidently and explains the principles that make communicating research easier.
Pacific Conservation Biology virtual issue, Publishing Science 101: advice on submitting and promoting your research paper