Opinion piece: "How to promote your work" by Vassilis Kostakis

22 Jul 2019

How to promote your work

By Vassilis Kostakis in the Giorgos Kallis' blog

www.howtowriteanacademicpaper.com

Congratulations. You've made it! Your paper is published and you hope that people will read it and colleagues will cite it. In the age of information overflow and short attention spans, how do you maximize the impact of your work on academia and society?

I am sharing here seven tips. Bear in mind that the list is not all-inclusive and that there is no golden rule. The value and the implementation of the following proposals are context-specific.

1. Add content and references to relevant Wikipedia entries. Several researchers read Wikipedia articles as the latter often represent the common understanding or the state-of-the-art regarding a specific research topic. For example, if you publish a paper about “hackerspaces” and “degrowth”, the new knowledge your paper offers may enrich the Wikipedia entries about hackerspaces, makerspaces, degrowth, political ecology, digital commons etc.

2. Share it wisely in relevant mailing lists and in online “communities” or “groups” on social media. You may ask a close colleague to share the paper instead. But beware. Too much sharing or impersonal sharing will backfire. Using the example of the “hackerspaces & degrowth” paper, you could share it in Degrowth-oriented mailing lists and feature it in the “theory” section of the hackerspaces.org webpage.

3. Engage scholars and turn them into supporters. Invite senior scholars, whose work has inspired you and is cited in your paper, to comment on your final draft. If they accept, acknowledge their support, share the published paper with them and they may share or cite it. It is possible that they will kindly refuse because they are in hectic time - which is probably true. In any case, once your paper is published, send them an email.

4. Publish pop science essays (op'eds) or give interviews. You can communicate the main story of your academic paper to a larger audience via popular outlets. Depending on the focus of your research, outlets from The Conversation, the Great Transition Initiativeand Aeon, who often publish short essays written by academics, to Guardian, Open Democracy or Wired may serve as venues to share your work. Moreover, you may consider writing for blogs that communicate provocative ideas to a less diverse but still broader audience than a typical academic journal, such as the Entitle Blog. In a future post, we will discuss how you may pitch and publish opinion pieces in such media outlets.

5. Create dynamic and static (info)graphics or even videos. For instance, this is a tweet by the publisher of a recent book I published. You may also share engaging quotes or reactions when sharing the paper on social media.

6. If possible, publish open access (and make sure that you avoid predatory publishers) and then share. If you don't publish open access, you may promote your paper via social media sharing the link to the limited free copies that most journals will offer you. Once the free copies are over, you may use the green open access option and share a link to a preprint of your article.

7. Present your work in formal and informal events, from conferences and symposia to workshops, seminars and grassroots fora. Some of the tips above may also help you to better communicate your narrative before, during, and after the event.

Which of these tips can you apply to promote your work? Do you have additional strategies that have worked for you? How can science best reach society at large?

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