You did it! For a while there, you were not sure if you would ever get there, but you persisted and it paid off. Sure, you sacrificed sleep, nights out, and some of your sanity on revisions, edits, and data analysis, but all of that work is worth it now that you get to promote your research!
Your name and all of your hard work is now in print, and that probably feels really good. But now that it is done, what do you do next? What happens after the ink dries on the article and your headache finally fades after that celebratory drink?
We cover traditional publication promotion and even LinkedIn promotion. This article dives into 6 post-publication strategies to keep the ball rolling and promote your research after you publish.
Key Take Aways
- Discover The Importance Of Celebrating Your Success
- Understand How To Manage Post-Publication Emotions
- Learn How To Promote Your Research on Academic Networks
- Begin to Leverage Professional Networks
- Track Your Research Impact Using Tools Like Google Scholar
- Explore Your Next Research Opportunities
Making It To Post-Publication
If you are reading this because you are dreaming of post-publication but you have not quite made it that far yet, don’t be discouraged. We have some great resources to help you cross the finish line. You will be celebrating in no time. Check out these three blogs designed to help you reach your publication dreams.
- Crush Your Literature Review Without Loosing Your Mind
- Tips On Writing A Research Paper
- Getting Published As A Grad Student
Celebrate Before You Promote Your Research
Before we dig into what your next steps are, take a minute to let it all sink in. Celebrate your accomplishment. Relish in the achievement. It is sometimes hard to remember to celebrate, especially for driven and goal-oriented types, but it is an important pice of the process.
Brushing right past the milestone with your sights set on the next goal might feel like second nature. But there are good reasons to slow down and give yourself the pat on the back you deserve.
Navigating Post-Publication Blues
If you don’t take the time necessary to celebrate and reflect on your hard earned publication, you might find yourself feeling a little down. It’s common and normal to feel down after a big accomplishment, but taking the time to orient to your success and claim your achievement can be the antidote.
If you ARE feeling down, it might be helpful for you to know why this happens so you can take action against it. Consider that you may be feeling a lack of purpose now that the research is published, or that you may even be burned out from the hard work. Take a few minutes to do a mental inventory before moving on to post-publication promotion.
6 Strategies To Promote Your Research After Publication
Publishing your research is just the first step—getting it noticed is where the real fun (and strategy) begins. Once your paper is out there, promoting it effectively can amplify its impact, open doors to collaborations, and even spark new opportunities.
Here are 6 fresh ideas and strategies on how to make sure your hard work doesn’t just sit in a journal collecting digital dust.
1. Promote Your Research by Sharing on Academic Networks
Academic networks are likely where you went to find supporting research for your literature so you should be familiar. Imagine seeing your own work right here where you were once looking for research a few months before!
These networks let you share your work, connect with other academics, and start discussions about your findings. Check these three academic networks out to see if you can get your publication hosted here.
ResearchGate
ResearchGate is a professional network specifically designed for scientists and researchers to share papers, ask and answer questions, and find collaborators. By creating a profile on ResearchGate, you can upload your own research, track the impact of your publications, and get statistics on how often your work is being viewed and cited.
This platform allows you to engage directly with other experts in your field, discuss current research, and even seek out new avenues for collaboration. Seeing your work featured on ResearchGate can be particularly gratifying, especially if you previously used the platform for gathering insights during your research process.
Academia.edu
Academia.edu is a platform used by academics to share research papers, monitoring the reach and impact of their work through detailed analytics. This network provides a vast audience of researchers and scholars from around the world, making it an excellent venue for disseminating your findings and increasing visibility.
You can receive feedback, track who is reading your work, and follow other researchers whose work might be relevant to your own. Academia.edu often serves as a stepping stone for emerging researchers to establish themselves in their respective fields, making it exciting to see your publications where you might once have browsed others’.
ORCID
Open Researcher and Contributor ID (ORCID) provides a persistent digital identifier that distinguishes you from every other researcher. It can also support automated linkages between you and your professional activities through integration in key research workflows such as manuscript and grant submission.
ORCID helps your work become recognized and get attributed to you. This is a great safeguard to your contributions and can simplify record-keeping. Unlike traditional social networks, ORCID is focused more on the connectivity of your work across various platforms and can be integrated into many publishing and funding tools, thus streamlining processes and enhancing scholarly communication.
2. Post it to Your Professional Profiles
Now that you have your research publication on academic networks, take it to your professional networks. Here are a few powerful ways to use LinkedIn to promote your research post-publication. Research shows that digital platforms work similarly for networking as conferences with the added benefit of enhancing collaboration across borders (Veletsianos & Kimmons, 2013; Curry, Kiddle, & Simmonds, 2009).
Update Your Profile
Start by updating your LinkedIn profile to include your recent publication under the ‘Publications’ section. Make sure to provide a compelling summary of the paper and its significance in your field.
Post an Update
Share a post about your publication in your LinkedIn feed. Include a brief description of the research, its findings, and why it matters. Add a link to the publication, and consider tagging co-authors or relevant institutions to increase reach.
Publish an Article
Write a LinkedIn article summarizing your research in layman’s terms. This can help engage readers who may not be specialists in your field but are interested in your topic. An article also allows more space to discuss the implications of your findings and any future research directions.
Join and Participate in Groups
Join LinkedIn groups that are relevant to your research area and actively participate in discussions. Share your publication in these groups along with a short description to spark discussion and feedback.
Engage with Your Network
Encourage your network to share your publication. You can directly ask colleagues, mentors, and peers to help amplify your post by sharing it with their networks.
Highlight Visual Content
Include visual elements such as images, graphs, or even short videos that highlight key points of your research. Visual content is more engaging and can help explain complex ideas more effectively.
Ask for Feedback and Discussion
Prompt your connections to comment on your post with their thoughts and feedback. Engaging in discussions can further elevate your visibility and establish you as a thought leader in your area.
Connect with Influencers and Thought Leaders
Identify and connect with influencers in your field who can help disseminate your research to a broader audience. You might even reach out to them directly to discuss your work and its implications.
3. Highlighting Your Publication in Your CV
Give your publication a spot to shines in your professional documents. Add a “Publications” section to your CV or portfolio. Crown the section with the full citation and, if space allows, a quick description of its significance.
Mention your publication in cover letters for grants, scholarships, and job applications. Include your full citation and a link to the online publication of available.
If you have a personal website, showcase your work there with a link to the article or a downloadable version (check the journal’s copyright policies first). Update your socials to point them to the website or publication wherever you want to call it out.
4. Track Your Impact Post-Publication Impact
Take your data analytics skills to the post-publication process by tracking who’s reading, citing, or talking about your work. This is a fun way to stay engaged in your field and reconnect with the motivations for writing this research in the first place.
Seeing your work impact other people may just be the highlight of your academic career. Monitor citations and measure your publication’s influence with these tools:
Google Scholar
This widely accessible tool allows you to create a public author profile, which automatically tracks citations of your articles. You can see who is citing your work and the context in which your paper is being discussed. Google Scholar also calculates your overall citation metrics and h-index, making it easy to gauge the reach and impact of your research.
Web of Science
Web of Science offers detailed records of citations and also provides analytics on the performance of your publications. You can analyze trends over time, compare your data to others in your field, and even discover potential collaborators who are interested in similar topics.
Scopus
Known for its extensive database and precise tracking features, Scopus can help you understand the impact of your research. It does this through in-depth citation analysis and metrics such as the h-index, citation count, and document history. It also offers tools for tracking, analyzing, and visualizing research, making it a powerful tool for seeing the broader implications of your work in the academic community.
As a bonus, consider using altmetrics, which can track mentions in news outlets, social media, and blogs. While it is not necessarily metrics, these social touchpoint offer a snapshot of your research’s reach beyond the traditional uses.
5. Seeking Opportunities to Expand on Published Research
Your publication is just the start of the conversation. Use feedback from readers and reviewers to explore new research questions or refine your ideas. Collaborating with colleagues who’ve cited your work can lead to exciting projects. And don’t be shy about writing follow-up articles, reviews, or even interdisciplinary studies that build on your original findings.
By promoting your work and keeping tabs on its impact, you’ll maximize its reach and ensure your research continues to contribute to your field long after publication.
6. Upload it to Listening
Upload your new publication to The Listening App so that you can listen to your own research read out loud to you using text-to-speech technology. This may get the juices flowing for fresh ideas on what to tackle next, where you want to promote next, and who else to talk to about the results of your publication.
Experiencing your publication through another lens, or even another sense, can help you keep motivation for post-publication actions as you promote your research. Also, keep up to date with The Listening App, it may just be the next big publication hub when their document sharing features go live in 2025!
