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Research Visibility, Profiles, and Citations: Increasing research visibility

Explore how to measure and improve the visibility of research and researcher

Increasing research visibility

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Research visibility & citations

Online Research Profiles

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Open Access Publishing

Open Research

Why is research visibility important?

The more visible you and your research are, the more likely it is: 

  • Your work will be read
  • Your work will be cited
  • You will be involved in research collaborations 
  • You will gain credit for your work
  • You will become known as an established expert in your field

You dedicate time and effort to your research; ensuring it is visible maximises that commitment.

Rather than thinking of managing your visibility as a luxury to do when there is time, it's important to factor increasing visibility into the core of your research process. Our increasing research visibility page has some quick tips for getting started.

Quick tips for increasing your research visibility

Increasing your research visibility can be quick and flexible. Here are some tips to get you started - you don't need to do all of them; just choose what works for you:

  • Consider research collaborations. Working with others increases the network with which your work is likely to be engaged. Collaborators could be from within your own department, from a different subject area and/or institution, or from outside of academia altogether. Collaborations with policy makers, government bodies, medical groups, etc. have all been found to have a big impact on the visibility of your research. Plus, you get to benefit from different perspectives and expertise. But make sure to include authors ethically - don't just add people for the sake of it!
     
  • Consider adopting open research practices. These can help connect you with more people and make your work more relevant and readable to a wide group of people. Incorporating open research into your research process could also include incorporating elements of Citizen Science. This can help expand your reach and impact beyond academic circles.
     
  • Consider sharing preprints or using publishing platforms like Octopus to raise awareness of your work and get feedback earlier in the research process.
     
  • Keep your title short and informative - make it easy for people to know what your work is about.
     
  • Choose relevant keywords. Depending on subject, 5-10 keywords is usually sufficient. Counterintuitively, fewer but more relevant keywords can help your work be more visible, -  and makes it more likely that those who find it are the target audience.
     
  • When choosing your title and keywords, consider synonyms and the language of your intended audience.
     
  • When relevant, make sure to cite your previous research. Self-citation can help to establish you as an expert in your field by showcasing the trajectory of your career.
     
  • Share your data in a subject repository or the institutional repository. This improves visibility and the reproducibility (and hence integrity!) of your research.
     
  • Choose the correct outlet for your research. Who do you want to read your work? Where are they already reading? Being strategic with where you're submitting your work with regard to where your target audience is helps to find a captive audience.
     
  • Publish open access. This means your work is freely available for anyone to read, therefore making it more likely your work will be cited. The University has a lot of support for you to publish open access.
     
  • Create your ORCID to showcase your research career in one place. ORCIDs are also used by many platforms to simplify sharing data. An ORCID is a requirement for all Essex researchers.
     
  • Create and update your Google Scholar profile to make your work more easily findable by the public and other researchers. A Google Scholar profile is a requirement for all Essex researchers.
     
  • Share your work in a non-academic format. For example, host a public talk, write a post for The Conversation , or get involved in online conversations on social media.
     

 

The University of Sheffield also has a series of short videos with some tips you may find useful.

RV Good practice guide

For a compact, all-in-one guide with tips for increasing your research visibility, consider downloading our "Good Practice: Increasing research visibility and reach" booklet, available below.

Social media for researchers

Social media can be a great way for researchers to connect with each other and those who can benefit from their research.

In 2023, we hosted a Social Media for Researchers panel discussion, bringing together researchers from a variety of fields to share their experience and tips for using social media effectively. The key points were summarised in our blog series:

Please note, these were written prior to the recent developments with X/Twitter so some information about this platform may no longer be accurate.

The discussion covered a number of important topics, including how to engage effectively and safely, and how to get the most from social media. Each blog has a summary at the bottom, however here are some quick highlights:

  • Join communities that align with what you're working on, and help you achieve your goals on the platform. These can be great places to start conversations and share your expertise.
     
  • Be authentic - people value personality and insight into what's happening behind the scenes. Just make sure you stay safe with the amount of information you share.
     
  • Think about which platform you're using and what it can help you do. Sharing your content in a way that leverages the strengths of both the platform and your skills and research helps to build followings.
     
  • Ensure what you share is accessible to your intended audience, both technically (e.g. alt-text, captions, colours, etc.) and non-technically (e.g. formality of the language, jargon, complexity of graphics, etc.)
     
  • Try something new! You may think that social media isn't for you, but you might find it's a great way to expand your reach. Similarly, if you've been using a platform for a while with limited success, try doing something different - change the type of content, where you share it, or how frequently you engage.

You can find more information about some of the social media platforms that researchers commonly use on our Online Research Profiles guide.

Support from the University Communications Team

The University’s Communications Team  offers a range of guidance on using social media and other communication methods researchers may find beneficial:

  • Social media support  - the University offers support to individuals and departments for setting up and creating a content plan for social media.
  • Media training  - the University offers a variety of training for promoting yourself through, and engaging with the media, including interview, writing, and social media skills.
  • Marketing and communications support  - there is a wide range of support available for all types of communication needs, whether corporate, internal, or promotions.

Essex researchers can also directly contact Christian Leppich , Digital Content Lead, for further support with social media and communications.

Open research and research visibility

Open research is a movement and collection of best practices aimed at opening up all stages of research to promote transparency, integrity, and equity.

Adopting open research practices can also help increase your visibility in a number of ways at different stages of the research process. Here are a few examples of how open practices can help your visibility, along with all the other benefits of Open Research:

  • Engage local communities through public talks or consultations. Sharing your expertise in an accessible way helps build enthusiasm for your work and establishes you as an expert outside of academic circles. The University Communications Team may be able to help you set up events. You can take public engagement to the next level through Citizen Science (see next point).
     
  • Citizen Science directly involves the public in the research process. This means there is immediately a captive audience with a stake in the research outputs. Depending on the research, the public's involvement can range from assisting with your data collection to proposing and designing the whole project with your support. Our Open Research page lists a number of examples that may give you some inspiration.
     
  • Incorporating grassroots and indigenous knowledge experts in the research process is both ethical and opens up new opportunities for knowledge sharing and mutual respect. By being more inclusive of other research and knowledge norms, you automatically allow your work to be more engaging, as well as helping to not contribute to the loss of histories and ideas that don't usually fit within the UK research and knowledge system.
     
  • Read more about Diversity of knowledge and community engagement in our Open Research guide
  • Publishing your work open access allows more people worldwide to read it and can help improve the integrity of your research. Publishing the final research outputs (e.g. articles or monographs) openly is increasingly expected and the Library offers a wide range of support to you. In addition to your final outputs, consider publishing the earlier elements of your work openly too.
     
  • Preprints are well established in a number of fields as ways to get feedback on earlier versions of your outputs and help to improve the integrity and visibility of your work.
     
  • Sharing your data also helps to improve the reproducibility of your research, as well as providing another route for people to find you and your work. There are many data repositories to choose from, including the University of Essex Data Repository . Remember, data isn't limited to numbers - images, interview transcripts, code, and any other primary resource also count!
     
  • Platforms like Octopus allow you and your research collaborators to openly publish earlier stages of your research process, ensuring you get the credit you deserve, even if you don't contribute to a final manuscript. Including a CRediT Taxonomy statement in the final manuscript can also ensure everyone gets appropriate credit.
     
  • Read more about open research process and open publishing in our Open Research guide
  • Please be aware that guidelines on openly sharing educational resources are currently in development. If you would like to make any of your teaching materials openly available, please get in touch.
     
  • Openly sharing teaching resources based on your research helps to both address educational inequalities worldwide by getting more high-quality research into the education sphere, and introduce your research to a new audience who may not have otherwise had the resources  or know-how to access it.
     
  • You can share resources through teaching repositories, for example the National Teaching Repository (NTR) on FigShare. Anyone, particularly educators, can then find and reuse your resources, all the while giving you credit for your contribution. Typically, these are designed to use your work as inspiration rather than as-is, so including context and references helps others adapt it to their needs.
     
  • Additionally, you can publish or contribute to open textbooks. These longer-form educational resources can then be used in classrooms worldwide. In addition to textbooks, there are many other forms of educational resource you can contribute to or share your expertise through (consider the educational potential of social media platforms like YouTube, Instagram, or TikTok).
     
  • Even simply conversing with other educators and sharing your experience can help develop best practice. Open pedagogy is a great way to meet new people and share with a new audience, all whilst improving educational outcomes.
     
  • Read more about open educational resources in our Open Research guide

 

To summarise, openness throughout your research process increases the number of people with the ability and desire to engage with your work. Get in touch if you have any questions or ideas.

Public Voice Scholars and the Centre for Public and Policy Engagement

The Centre for Public and Policy Engagement (CPPE)  at the University supports the development of relationships between researchers, policymakers, and the public to help improve people's lives. The CPPE aims to help researchers engage with the public and policymakers to improve the impact and reach of your research. They provide training and funding through the Research Impact Toolkit  on Moodle and host the Louder than Words Podcast , showcasing the positive impact researchers are having in the community and on global issues.

One of their initiatives is the Public Voice Scholars Scheme (PVS)  - an initiative for researchers to provide thought and practice leadership on public and policy engagement. It helps to support researchers to share their expertise in their field and represent the University. As with the other initiatives from the CPPE, this aims to showcase the positive impact of our researchers and let them take the lead in engaging with the public on the issues that matter to them.

The CPPE is a good example of Open Research in practice, demonstrating the benefits for researchers, the institution, and the wider community.

Knowledge Exchange at Essex

The Knowledge Exchange Team helps researchers at Essex to build relationships with organisations, businesses, and policymakers nationwide. They connect researchers with these groups to help you to raise your profile and increase your impact.

They can help you to draft contracts and agreements, negotiate consultancy arrangements, and participate in Knowledge Transfer Partnerships (KTPs). They also provide training to help you find these opportunities and ensure you can make the most of the fruits of your research efforts. Find out more on their webpages .

White text saying Next Steps overlaid on a purple box, which is overlaid on a close up images of legs walking in a forest

This page explains some of the ways you can increase your research visibility. There are many things you can do to increase your visibility and lots of support from across the University to help get the word out there about your work.

If you want to take things further, consider the following:

  • Choose a few of our tips to get started with improving your visibility. You don't need to do everything all at once - just choose what's manageable and fits with your current processes and build from there.
     
  • Explore our guidance on Measuring Research Visibility. This can help you to identify what is working, and ensure you spend your time effectively, as well as introducing some of the ethical considerations related to metrics.
     
  • Explore our guidance on Online Research Profiles. This introduces some of the most common online profiles that researchers can use, both on academic platforms and social media.
     
  • Consider adopting some open practices and explore our guidance on Open Research. This explores some of the aspects of open scholarship and can help you identify how you can open up your research, as well as provide more information about support for open access publishing at Essex.
     
  • Explore what the Communications Team , Centre for Public and Policy Engagement , and Knowledge Exchange Team can do to help you get your work into the wider community.

If you have any questions, would like to arrange a training session for your team or students, or would like some support that isn't on our webpages, feel free to contact the Research Services Team.

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