Strategic scholarly publishing

Promoting your research will build your research profile. Promotion can help ensure your work is read and cited and help connect you with potential collaborators. You can also provide context to your research allowing a broader audience to connect with your work.

During the publishing process there are three stages to promote your work:

1. Prior to publication
2. When you receive notification that the article has been published
3. Following publication.

Prior to publication

Opportunities for you to promote your work prior to formal publication include pre-print servers and conferences. 

Preprint servers

A preprint is a version of your research that is made available prior to peer review and publication. There are a variety of preprint servers for different disciplines where you can deposit your paper. Some popular ones are:

• Arxiv for papers in Physics, Mathematics, Computer Science, Quantitative Biology, Quantitative Finance, Statistics, Electrical Engineering and Systems Science, and Economics
• SocArxiv for papers in the social sciences
• Repec for papers in economics and related sciences
• BioRxiv for papers in the life sciences 

Conferences 

Often you can begin to promote your work during the research phase at conferences. You may be able to give a conference presentation that discusses your progress to date and the next steps you intend to take. This will generate interest in your research which you can follow up when your article is published. 

At the point of publication 

Once you have received notification from the publisher that your article is published you can use a range of tools and resources to promote your work.

Via the journal 

Many publishers will grant you a limited number of downloads or access views to your article. For example, Elsevier ShareLinks service which allows a limited nuber of days of free access via direct URL. It is best to share these links with colleagues and collaborators outside academia who may not have access to the journal or database. Always check with your publisher to see if you are able to share your work this way. 

UQ channels

UQ has a variety of channels you can use to promote you work.

You may be able to submit a story for Contact Magazine, ChangeMakers or Research Impact. Your email signature is another place you can highlight your publications by including a link to your UQ eSpace profile and links to your most recent publications. 

Social Media

There numerous social media platforms you can use to promote your work. Researchers in your discipline may use a particular platform and you should concentrate your efforts there. Ensure that your professional social media use is carefully separated from your personal social media use.

X (Twitter) is used by a lot of researchers and there are often discipline based hashtags, such as #digitalhumanities or #quantumphysics that you can follow and use to promote your research. The London School of Economics have created Using Twitter in university research, teaching and impact activities: a guide for academics and researchers, which can help you use X to your advantage. 

WeChat is the most popular social media app in China and is increasingly popular internationally. Using WeChat may give you more opportunities to connect with other researchers and promote your research. 

LinkedIn is another place you can connect with researchers in your discipline. To make the most of your LinkedIn profile you may like to read these 7 tips to supercharge your academic LinkedIn profile. 

Other media outlets

Showcasing your research in publications such as The Conversation can lead to greater engagement and impact beyond academia. OMC offers help and advice to UQ researchers on ways to promote your research in the media. 

Post-publication promotion 

Similarly to promotion at the time of publication, there are a variety of ways you can influence the dissemination and reach of your research through promoting your work post-publication. If you are looking to share your research on any one of the emerging collaborative platforms, you need to be aware of your rights and responsibilities within these environments.

Academic social networks such as ResearchGate  and Academia.edu are platforms where you can share your research publications, connect with colleagues and follow researchers in your field.  While many researchers share publications on these platforms you should refer to Sharing Policies by your publisher before you proceed. Visit Copyright and publishing your research for more information and advice.

Kudos is a platform which helps summarise and showcase your research to a broader audience or connect with collaborators outside your discipline. Kudos can also provide statistics to show where your work is being discussed in social media and online. 

Loop is an open network for researchers that integrates journals and academic websites to showcase publications and achievements.

Mendeley enables you to create and manage references, promote your new publications and conferences, collaborate with colleagues and track how often your publications are viewed. 

Social Science Research Network (SSRN) allows those in the social sciences and humanities to share their research, access other academics' research and communicate directly with authors and other subscribers about their research. 

UQ eSpace

eSpace is UQ's institutional repository. It aims to create global visibility and accessibility of UQ’s scholarly research by:

• enhancing discovery of UQ research via search engines such as Google and Trove
• allowing researchers to deposit publications, datasets and open access materials and to view publication metrics
• maintaining a complete and accurate record of all UQ research publications and research data sets that feeds into central UQ systems including UQ Researchers and the Academic Portal
• enabling government reporting such as Australian Research Council’s Excellence in Research for Australia and the Engagement and Impact Assessment
• supporting the deposit of open access publications to make UQ research globally accessible
• preserving and making digitised materials accessible to the world including HDR theses, photographs, audio materials, videos, manuscripts and other original works.

Using UQ eSpace allows you to:

• get credit for your research
• promote/showcase your research
• meet the requirements of open access compliance and institutional reporting
• keep track of your research metrics.

For more information see the UQ eSpace guide.