Being a researcher, you might have dreamt of bringing change in the world. Definitely, you wanted to reach out and benefit the society with your research work. You wanted to create an impact with your research. Often researchers are so focused on their research work and publishing process, that they hardly think about how to get traction for their published research work! With so many manuscripts getting published in a year, locating a paper you published can be a challenge.
What is Research Impact? – Why is it important?
Research impact can be defined as the global effect that research has on society, culture, environment, and economy. It cannot be measured easily by publishing a research article and calculating the metric. Increasing the reach and exposure of the conducted study helps research impact. Furthermore, only publishing a research paper is no longer relevant in the research field, garnering citations to the published work is important too. Articles will not be cited if they are not read, and they will not be read if they do not reach the target audience.
The research journey becomes rewarding when the objective and significance of research meets the target audience. In this article, we discuss the effective ways to increase the readership for research impact.
How Can You Increase Research Impact Pre-publication?
1. Choose Effective Title, Abstract and Keywords
Research paper title is the first most important aspect a reader notices. A well descriptive title draws a reader’s interest in the paper. Therefore, it is essential to choose an effective title, abstract and keyword for a successful publication. The title highlights the core aspect of research study, keyword helps locating the article on the search engine, and abstract acts like a marketing tool entices the reader to read the full article.
2. Choose the Right Journal
Searching for a right journal is an important factor in research publishing. It is best if you could target the most eminent journal relevant to the research study. One way to find the relevant journal is to go through the references of your article and find which journal is mentioned frequently? Also, you could search your title and keywords in Google Scholar to find journals that have published similar topics. Furthermore, you could also use PubMed to find the leading peers in the field you are publishing.
3. Choose Open-Access, If Possible
Open Access is a platform that gives free, immediate, and online availability of research outputs like journal articles or books. Over the years, open access has shown a great research impact as compared to the articles that are not freely available. If possible, publish through an open access for better research impact. Open-access articles are cited more frequently.
4. Get an ORCID
ORCID (Open Researcher and Contributor ID) is a permanent digital ID linked to the researcher’s personal information. It is a non-profit organization that gives researchers a unique digital identifier. These identifiers are used by editors, funding agencies, publishers, and institutions to identify individuals. This reduces the risk of confusing your identity with another researcher with the same name. The ORCID website provides researchers with a page where a researcher’s comprehensive research activity is stored.
5. Build a Strong Profile Information
You can use online sites and networks like LinkedIn and ResearchGate to enhance your online visibility and highlight your research work. Moreover, researchers store their data, email communication, and scholarly articles online. Apart from ORCID, you can also use ImpactStory which lets you create an online CV of all the research products. It also provides the information on how frequently your work is cited, mentioned, and discussed around the web.
You can use figshare. It is a repository that can strengthen your online presence. Researchers can deposit their research output for public access in this repository. Furthermore, each research object (e.g. raw data, poster, infographic, movie etc.) receives a DOI. Thus, figshare helps in excellently displaying your research work to the research community.
How Can You Increase Research Impact Post-publication?
1. Spread the Word on Social Media
Social media is a dynamic platform. Uploading content on Twitter, Facebook, or YouTube is a time consuming process and will need your involvement in curating content to maintain the interest of target audience. You could design eye-catching and easy-to understand images, graphics, and videos that will help you communicate the purpose of research effectively.
2. Create Video Abstracts to Target Digital Media
A video presentation for research impact is one of the most effective way to reach a larger audience and garner more viewers and citations. The video can be a 1-3 minute, HD, immersive video with skilled animations which can include attractive images, soundtracks, along with subtitles. You can promote this video on various social media platforms providing the link to download your complete paper.
3. Include Animated Figures and Graphics for Better Visualization
Animated figures help present data in an effective and accessible way, directing the readers to your article. Scientific illustrations can demonstrate your research through science and art, and help approach a broader audience with simplified science.
4. Make Use of Graphical Abstracts
Your research can become more interesting when you present the data through appealing images that provide an overview of your research. You can also create infographics to visually represent the research data, charts, tables, graphs, figures, etc., which will simplify science for the audience.
5. Launch Podcasts Around the Subject
A podcast that summarizes your latest research article is another effective way to increase engagement of audience and interest in your work.
6. Encourage Open Data Sharing
Make the research data available for research impact. Articles with open data get cited more frequently than the paid articles. Furthermore, you can create attractive graphs, figures and illustrate report in research work to attract the non-science audience.
7. Start Blogging
Although a time consuming way but it is a useful way for research impact. You can take your research discussion to the blog and engage the readers by asking their opinion on the topic. You can also discuss your drawbacks while working on your research study.
8. Leverage Press Releases and Conferences
In case your university has press offices wherein press releases are sent to journalists on behalf of your university to announce news updates. If you think your article is good to be published in the mainstream media, i.e. your study is related to public health or current affairs, then you can contact your university press office. 0
Conferences are the traditional way for promotion of research. Aim to attend at least one international conference per year and present a poster or conference article. You could create a concise poster or an engaging presentation which will help you publicize your research and stimulate a discussion.
You could also promote your research on your personal social media handle by using simplified explanation of your research in an image, a short video, or an infographic.
Are there any other factors you want to consider for research impact? Would you rather prefer an assisted service to promote your research? Do let us know in the comments below.
great info shared