To attract the attention it deserves, your
high quality research needs to be easy to find. Research shows that the
activities listed can improve discoverability and increase citations.
They are not intended to be a checklist. Some activities may be more
appropriate for your discipline than others.
Starting your research
Get an ORCiD.
Use it proactively to connect to your research outputs and increase
discoverability. Make sure you use it whenever you share your work, for
example when you submit a manuscript or publish a dataset. Put it on
your personal profiles on the web and social media. This will connect
you to your research across the web whatever search tool people are
using.
Identifying the specific topics within your field that generate a
high level of interest can help to attract future collaborators and in
turn increase visibility and impact.
Consider your collaborations. Research shows that papers with more
than one author receive more citations. International collaborations can
be particularly valuable. Approaches to collaboration will differ
between disciplines.
During your research
Present research findings at conferences and, where appropriate, at
international congresses. Attending such events also provides
opportunities for networking and developing new collaborations.
Use social media and networks to promote your research and reach a wider audience. This can include an audience beyond your own discipline. Examples include
ResearchGate,
Academia.edu and
Twitter
Curate your data and consider what you will share during and at the end of your research.
When you decide where to publish (journal articles)
Who is your audience and what is the best way to reach them? Are you
looking to influence policy? Do you want to reach specialists outside of
your own discipline? Are you looking to publish in an established
journal or would alternative venues offer a better fit?
These resources can help you decide where to publish:
- Journal Citation Reports (JCR). Allows you to compare journals indexed in the Web of Science using citation data. JCR can show you the highest impact journals in your field.
- SCImago Journal and Country Rank (SJR)
is a free database based on Scopus data. It provides a prestige metric
(SJR) based on the quality and reputation of journals. It is included in
Scopus Journal Metrics.
- Scopus "compare sources"
allows you to sort journal titles in a subject area by impact values.
Use it to identify high impact journals within the Scopus database. This
tool allows you to compare journals according the CiteScore, SJR or
SNIP (Source Normalized Impact per Paper).
Consider the
open access
options offered by your chosen journal. What are their article
processing charges (or other publication fees)? Do they permit you to
deposit your author accepted manuscript in a repository? If it is a
hybrid journal is it part of a
Plan-S transitional agreement?
How discoverable is your chosen journal? Is it indexed by major
databases like Web of Science and Scopus? Does it allocate a Digital
Object Identifier (DOI)? A DOI ensures a persistent link that can be
cited and tracked.
When you publish
Wherever possible, ensure your research output has a clear title that
is direct and concise. This can help promote readership and attract
citations from beyond your own discipline.
Think about writing a plain language summary of your research that is
understandable to a non-specialist audience. This could be members of
the public or researchers from other disciplines.
Kudos is a good free tool to publish these or you can set up your own blog. You could also write for
The Conversation.
Carefully consider your keywords and include them in your abstract
and full text. This will help a reader better understand your content.
It may also improve the visibility of your research in search results.
Consider your references. Authors you cite may become future collaborators and may cite you in turn.
Be consistent with your chosen name format so that all relevant
papers can be attributed to you. For example, don’t use Elizabeth Jones
in one paper and Liz Jones or L M Jones in another. Using your ORCID
will also help with this.
Include the standard institutional affiliation “University of Leeds”
on all research outputs. Avoid using abbreviations or only including
your School, Faculty or research group.
Add your research outputs to Symplectic as soon as possible after acceptance. They will be made open access via the
White Rose Research Online repository in line with any embargo
After your research
Make your data findable and citeable from a repository. This can lead back to your original research or to your other work. Use
Re3data.org to identify a suitable service for your discipline. The
Research Data Leeds repository is available to all Leeds staff.
Find out more about research data management
Consider publishing in a data journal. Practice around disseminating
research data is evolving. Data journals offer another route to making
data more discoverable and citable. They are often based on data
deposited in a data repository and involve some level of peer review.
The University of Edinburgh maintain a list of
data journals and their policies.
Continue to disseminate your research outputs on social media. Track social engagement with the
Altmetric "donut" on the publication record in White Rose Research Online.
