Strategic publishing
Strategic publishing means developing a clear plan to ensure you are reaching your target audience and supporting your career goals.
Maximise the impact of your research by having a well-informed plan for:
- where to publish
- sharing your research after publication
- evaluating whether or not your strategy was successful
This resource helps you to focus on key decisions in the publishing lifecycle that increase the potential for your research to gain attention and engagement.
Feedback
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Before you start
Before making any decisions, start by establishing your priorities and considering your overall career goals.
Establish priorities
Consider your goals and gather information about what your funder requires from the outset. Ask yourself:
- Who is your most important audience and who benefits from your research? Are you aiming to build an academic track record, or does your research have an impact on particular sectors, industries or the general public?
- What are the publishing conventions in your discipline?
- Does your research funding come with open access requirements?
- What are your short- and long-term career goals?
Consider your audience
Who benefits from your work? Identifying any current or potential audiences helps you refine your objectives and come up with a plan for engaging with them.
Potential audiences include specialist researchers, researchers from a broad field, practitioners, educators, community groups, companies, or the general public.
Which audiences you prioritise will depend on your career stage and goals. Are you aiming for recognition by your peers, looking for future collaboration opportunities, aiming for commercialisation, or influencing practitioners behaviour?
If you've identified more than one potential audience; that's to be expected. It's common that you may have more than one audience in mind for a particular publication or project, and you may focus on them in different parts of your publishing strategy. For example, you may prioritise an audience of fellow researchers in your choice of publication outlet but then focus on communicating with practitioners through your outreach activities.
Open access
Open access means making your work freely and persistently accessible for all potential users. It's important to consider open access options at an early stage, as these may be affected by publisher agreements.
Need help?
Your supervisors and colleagues are the best source of knowledge about publishing patterns in your discipline, including which activities and publishers are highly esteemed in your field.
Academic Liaison Librarians can provide advice about open access publishing and different options to make sure you comply with any relevant funder policies.
The Learning Centre offers a postgraduate research program of workshops on topics such as 'The process of getting a journal article published' and 'Writing a journal article in the sciences'.
Book publishing
Choosing the right publisher for your book will determine how many people read your work and whether you reach the right audience.
Decide what type of book to publish
Conventions around publishing books and book chapters vary widely between disciplines and depend on your career stage. For example, in many disciplines there is a strong expectation of publishing for academic audiences at the beginning of your career. You could also be approached about publishing a chapter in a book of conference proceedings. Make sure you understand which options for format, audience, and publisher will be well regarded in your circumstances.
Open access books
Open access books are becoming increasingly popular, and this option could help your work reach a wider audience. Before making a decision, speak with supervisors and colleagues about how this would be regarded in your discipline. You can browse and search for books that have been published in open access using the Directory of Open Access Books.
Publishing your thesis as a book?
Be aware that publication of your thesis as a book will require a significant amount of work. Publishers will expect you to rewrite and restructure your work for a new audience.
Identify relevant publishers
- What type of book are you publishing?
Think about who your audience is and ask yourself what style or format of book is appropriate for them. Look for a publisher or imprint that is known for publishing this type of book.
- Which publishers release books in your subject area?
Who publishes significant book series in your field? If your work is potentially of broader interest, consider presses that publish interdisciplinary books.
Evaluate potential publishers
When deciding which publishers to approach, consider the following:
- Which publishers are considered to be prestigious in your field? Individual publishers can be viewed differently across disciplines, so speak with your colleagues and supervisors.
- What peer review measures are in place? Scholarly works should undergo rigorous peer review.
- Do their books get picked up for review? In some fields book reviews will be published in journals, or consult publications like the Times Literary Supplement, London Review of Books, New York Times Book Review, and Australian Book Review.
- Are their books widely distributed and reasonably priced? Search library collections through Library Search, Trove, or WorldCat, and online book retailers.
- Are they offering to publish your work for a fee or without any revisions? These are indicators of predatory publishing practices.
- Do they offer eBook publishing and support DOIs? In some cases electronic books can be more heavily used and DOIs help with sharing and tracking engagement with your work.
What will be expected of you?
Developing a clear understanding of publishers' expectations of you as an author may help support your decision making. Ask publishers if you will need to do editorial work yourself, or pay for it to be done. This could include:
- copyediting the final manuscript
- laying out the final pages according to the publisher’s style guide
- creating the index
This information may also be available on the publisher's website. Look for sections called 'For authors'.
Tips
Book proposals and literary agents
- Submitting a book proposal usually involves providing an outline of the book and a sample of at least two or three chapters. Make sure you have a well developed proposal before approaching publishers.
- If you're interested in working with trade publishers, be aware that you may need to be represented by a literary agent.
Research outputs and the Australian Research Council
- Note that material submitted to Excellence in Research for Australia assessments must meet the definition of research, which only includes the use of existing knowledge in a new and creative way so as to generate new concepts. This generally excludes textbooks, anthologies or edited books. Eligible books must also be published by a commercial publisher or have been through an acceptable peer review process. See the ERA 2018 Submission Guidelines or the Research Portfolio for more information.
Need help?
Your colleagues, supervisors, or mentors are the best source of information about publishing in your discipline and experience with the publishing industry
For assistance locating information about publishers, contact an Academic Liaison Librarian
Journal publishing
Finding the right journal for your article can be key to reaching your target audience. You’ll need to take into consideration the type of article you’d like to publish, the aims and scope of potential journals, and evidence of journal performance.
Identify journals with a relevant scope
- Think about which journals you read and cite.
- Speak with your colleagues and supervisors about what journals they read and recommend.
- Search key databases in your field to see where research has been published previously.
- Browse journal rankings for your subject area on Scopus, Journal Citation Reports, and Scimago Journal and Country Rank.
- Try journal suggestion tools, like those listed under 'Tools' below, that match your paper to journals based on your title and abstract.
- For open access journals, browse the Directory of Open Access Journals.
Evaluate journal quality, reputation, and reach
| Source |
Evaluation criteria |
|
Journal and publisher websites
|
- Are the peer review processes rigorous and transparent?
- Are the editorial board members highly qualified, recognisable figures who are broadly representative of the field?
- Are contact details for editorial staff readily available?
- Is the publisher a member of professional organisations like COPE, WAME, or OASPA?
- Are open access and self-archiving policies transparent?
- Is there support for multimedia like video abstracts?
|
|
Past journal issues
|
- Are the articles of a high quality according to your reading?
- Do articles include persistent identifiers like DOIs and ORCIDs?
|
|
Personal networks
|
- Are your colleagues and supervisors familiar with the journal and its reputation?
- Have your colleagues or supervisors experienced unexpected challenges in dealing with the journal or publisher?
|
|
Ulrich's International Periodicals Directory and key subject databases
|
- Is the journal available through key databases in the field?
|
|
Disciplinary lists and journal rankings
|
- Does your faculty or school have journal lists or rankings that you should consult?
- Is the journal included in any relevant disciplinary listings like the Australian Business Deans Council Journal Quality List?
- Is it highly ranked in listings based on journal-level citation metrics?
|
Evaluate journals using citation metrics
Publishing in impactful journals increases the likelihood of your work being used and cited. Citation-based metrics can be used as an indicator of the academic impact of a journal, particularly in science, medicine, technology, business, and social sciences disciplines.
Journal-level citation metrics calculate the number of citations to articles published in a journal over a given time period. There are a range of journal-level citation metrics available that draw on different sources of citation data and adjust for different considerations. Because of this, it’s important to take more than one metric into account when evaluating a journal. Also keep in mind that while journal-level metrics can indicate the prestige of a journal overall, article-level metrics better indicate uptake of your specific article.
It is advisable not to compare journals across disciplines. Although some metrics are field-weighted to account for differences in disciplinary citation patterns, this has limited validity. All metrics have limitations and should be used in an informed manner and only as a complement to other evaluation methods. In some disciplines citation metrics do not provide reliable evidence of impact, and journal metrics consequently have limited value. Journal metrics supplement the advice provided by advisors and colleagues about the reputation and reach of journals in your field.
Commonly used journal-level citation metrics
| Metric |
Brief description |
Data sources |
Access |
Field-weighted* |
Calculation period |
| Journal Impact Factor (JIF) |
The number of citations to a journal’s recent items divided by the number of recent items |
Web of Science |
InCites, Web of Science |
No |
3 years |
| SCImago Journal Rank (SJR) |
Calculated based on both the number of citations to the journal and a measure of prestige of citing publications |
Scopus |
Scopus, SJR |
Yes |
4 years |
| Source Normalized Impact Per Paper (SNIP) |
A ratio of a citation per paper calculation and the expected number of citations for the journal |
Scopus |
Scopus |
Yes |
4 years |
| CiteScore |
Elsevier metric calculated from the number of citations received within one year to documents published in the previous three years |
Scopus |
Scopus |
No |
4 years |
| 5-year impact factor |
The number of citations to the journal within the most recent reported year to items published in the previous two years, divided by the number of citable items in the previous five years |
Web of Science |
Journal Citation Reports, Web of Science |
No |
5 years |
* Accounts for disciplinary differences in citation patterns
Tips
- The requirements for and processes involved in submitting an article to a journal vary depending on the publication. You can find more information about these requirements on the journal or publisher's website. Look out for sections called 'author instructions' or 'for authors' for example.
Cabell's Scholarly Analytics provides an indication of the acceptance rates and estimated time to review of some publications, but speaking with supervisors and colleagues about their experience can give you the best idea of what publishing a journal article involves.
- Read your publishing contract very carefully. It is important that you don't sign your rights away.
Need help?
Your supervisors and colleagues are a vital source of information about publishing in your field.
If you'd like help navigating and understanding journal metrics or any of the tools available to support your decision making, get in touch with an Academic Liaison Librarian.
Conferences and NTROs
Conference papers
In disciplines like engineering, computer science and physics, peer reviewed conference papers are a common and well-regarded publishing format. However, this is not common to all disciplines. Speak to colleagues and mentors about the standing of conference papers in your field.
Although in many other disciplines conference papers are not a well-regarded final publication format, they can be an important way of sharing early developments in your work with your peers or audience.
When identifying conferences to submit papers to, consider:
- Conference theme. Your paper should be a good match for the theme or scope of the conference to maximise chances of acceptance and to ensure relevance for attendees.
- Reputation. Is the conference well respected and attended by your target audience?
- Who are the organisers and sponsors? Are they well known and respected?
- Conference rankings. Rankings like CORE can give an indication of quality or regard for a conference.
- What peer review measures are in place? Do these apply to the whole paper or the abstract only?
- Where will the proceedings be published and which databases will they be indexed in? Will proceedings include full papers or abstracts only?
- What’s your budget? Funding may be available through your faculty or research centre but remember to consider potential travel costs as well as registrations fees.
Non-traditional research outputs
The Australian Research Council (ARC) distinguishes between what it calls ‘traditional outputs’ – scholarly books or chapters, refereed journal articles and conference papers – and ‘non-traditional research outputs’. According to University of Sydney Guidelines, NTROs comprise a wide variety of outputs that differ in their form and mode of production. They include creative work as research and non-traditional outputs of traditional research that range from highly experimental works of creative art – music or visual art, creative writing, dance or design – through to scholarly editions and translations, website creation, exhibitions of archaeological or scientific objects and commissioned reports.
NTROs are disseminated through diverse means that can vary widely according to form and discipline. Pathways to dissemination may be less well-defined than for traditional publications. As a result, it can be difficult to generalise about selecting the best outlet for your work. Nevertheless, some considerations include:
- Evaluate the quality of the gallery, venue, event, or outlet in terms of reputation and reach. For example, who are the people or organisation responsible and how are they regarded by your peers and mentors? What contacts and regular clients do they have? Are their events or exhibitions reviewed or covered by the media? What will be provided in terms of advertising and promotion? The Research Portfolio's indicators of excellence for events and venues may be helpful in this evaluation.
- For research reports written for external bodies, is the body widely known and well regarded in your field? How will the report be disseminated and promoted?
- Will support for your outreach activities be provided? For example, will promotional materials be produced that you can share online? Will a catalogue, recordings or photography be available? Is there an accompanying website you can link to in social media posts or on your personal website?
- Will you be permitted to make a digital copy of your output available via an online repository like Sydney eScholarship? Keep in mind that copyright considerations when sharing some NTROs can be complex and you may need to consider moral rights of performers. If your work has been funded by a body like the ARC, you may also be obligated to meet certain conditions around sharing a digital copy.
- Will you have access to data to support your evaluation of the success of the output and your strategy? This might include attendance or ticket sales numbers, website visits or downloads. If this data is not collected by the organisation or platform, consider ways that you might record your own data. Being able to report on your research output can help when communicating about the significance of your work.
Tips
Conference papers & reporting requirements
Eligibility criteria for Excellence in Research for Australia (ERA) assessments require conference papers to be published in full and to have been through an acceptable peer review process. See the ERA 2018 Submission Guidelines or the Research Portfolio for more information. The University’s Sydney Research Collection information also includes details about data to support the evaluation of conference papers for ERA.
Reporting NTROs as research outputs
NTROs can contribute to your research publication performance and there may be certain reporting requirements you need to meet. The Research Portfolio has advice and resources to support your planning for easier reporting, including:
Predatory publishers
Predatory publishing is a global problem and affects most academic formats. You may encounter a predatory book or journal publisher, or a predatory conference for example. Predatory publishing can also involve problematic peer review systems.
Predatory publishing entities may represent themselves as reputable, but often don’t meet professional standards for publishing or transparency. The nature and extent of predatory practice can be wide-ranging. Be wary of publishers who have poor quality editing standards, lack transparency about their review process, make false claims about indexing in well-known lists or databases, or ask authors to make up-front payments, especially if the transfer of copyright is also requested. While legitimate open access publish models do sometimes use article processing charges to cover the cost of publication, predatory publishers may exploit these for their own purposes.
If you get caught up in predatory publishing you risk losing money, academic credibility, and the right to re-publish your research with a reputable publisher.
What is vanity publishing?
In book publishing, vanity publishers make money by charging up-front publication fees or selling copies to the author. Editorial, peer review, distribution and marketing services are usually not provided. These presses specifically target recent graduates and students with offers to publish their thesis. Although there may be times where self publishing has a place, ensure you speak with your supervisors and colleagues about the reputational implications of this option.
How to identify predatory publishers
It can be difficult to distinguish low quality journals and conferences from the predatory. Predatory journals and conferences may have similar titles to reputable ones. Most often, predatory publishers use aggressive solicitation methods such as repeat emails inviting researchers to submit manuscripts, offering terms such as rapid publication or peer review.
There are diverse views on the identifying characteristics of predatory publishing. In the area of predatory journal publishing, over 90 checklists exist however very few are evidence-based (Grudniewicz et al., 2019).
Blacklists and Whitelists based on inclusion criteria are a popular approach to identifying predatory publishers. These lists may serve as a starting point, however you do need to be aware of their limitations:
- Disciplinary coverage may not be comprehensive and complete
- Inclusion criteria may not sufficiently differentiate low quality from predatory characteristics
- Publishing, editing, and transparency practices can change over time
- Inclusion criteria for proprietary lists (e.g. Cabells) may be publicly available, but the assessments of individually listed journals cannot be independently confirmed
- Inclusion criteria may give insufficient attention to peer review processes
For these reasons it’s better to decide for yourself whether a publishing entity is credible, considering both positive and negative aspects of their conduct. Adopt a strategy of investigating the most reputable outlets in your field, rather than accepting the first offer made to you.
Tips
Tools for evaluating publishers and journals often recommend that you investigate the editorial board. Be aware that predatory publishers are known to list academics as editors without their knowledge.
References
- Grudniewicz, A., Moher, D., Cobey, K. et al. (2019). Predatory journals: no definition, no defence. Nature.
- Mercier, E., Tardif, P.-A., Moore, L., Le Sage, N., & Cameron, P. A. (2018). Invitations received from potential predatory publishers and fraudulent conferences: a 12-month early-career researcher experience. Postgraduate Medical Journal, 94, 104-108.
- Ross-White, A., Godfrey, C. M., Sears, K. A., & Wilson, R. (2019). Predatory publications in evidence syntheses. Journal of the Medical Library Association, 107(1), 57.
- Siler, k. (2020). Demarcating spectrums of predatory publishing: Economic and institutional sources of academic legitimacy. Journal of the Association for Information Science and Technology, 1-16.
- Strinzel, M., Severin, A., Milzow, K., & Egger, M. (2019). Blacklists and whitelists to tackle predatory publishing: a cross-sectional comparison and thematic analysis. mBio, 10(3).
- Stromberg, J. (2014, March 23).I sold my undergraduate thesis to a print content farm. Slate.
- Van Noorden, R. (2020, March 11). Hundreds of scientists have peer-reviewed for predatory journals. Nature.
Make your research findable
Consider the following during the pre-publication phase to help your audience find and use your work.
Optimise metadata
Good metadata descriptions are crucial for bringing your work to the top of search results. Metadata is data that describes books or articles in systems such as databases. It includes details like title, author names and affiliations, date of publication, and subject keywords. In the case of research outputs like data sets, high quality metadata also allows people to re-use the material and build on your work.
You can improve the quality of metadata associated with your work by:
- Supplying your unique ORCID identifier to publishers so that it can be included alongside your name for clear identification
- If supplying author keywords, include as many relevant terms as possible and consider both general and specialized vocabulary as well as variations of language and phrasing
- Describe datasets sufficiently for re-use
Use DOIs when linking to your work online
DOIs (Digital Object Identifiers) prevent issues with broken links. Most journal publishers and many other publishers assign DOIs to articles, eBooks, book chapters, and other digital outputs. However, it's advisable to check with a publisher if they can assign a DOI as this isn't always the case. Publisher-supplied DOIs can help improve findability of outputs, as well as making it easier to track the impact of the work.
Write effective titles and abstracts
Research suggests that effective article titles are short, use a phrase rather than a complete sentence, are straightforward and honest, and use keywords that reflect how people are likely to search for a paper on the relevant topic. Effective abstracts are clear, accurate, and describe the ket findings of the article. Writing these elements in a clear and engaging way encourages readers to go beyond the abstract.
If supplying author keywords, use as many synonyms as possible. Your Academic Liaison Librarian can help you identify appropriate synonyms for your topic.
Make supplemental material available
Making supplementary datasets, images, tools or resources available to your audience can have a significant influence on the impact of your work. Materials can also include presentations, video or audio files. You may be able to include this material in your article or primary output, or your publisher may be able to make material available on their website. Repositories can also be an option, and some publishers recommend the use of particular repositories. This creates another avenue for your audience to find and engage with your work, and increases the potential for reuse.
Need help?
The Library's Digital Collections team supports researchers and Higher Degree by Research students in curating digital content, publishing research data and using the Sydney eScholarship repository. Contact them at
ses.admin@sydney.edu.au
References
- Jamali, H. R., & Nikzad, M. (2011). Article title type and its relation with the number of downloads and citations. Scientometrics, 88(2), 653-61.
- Mack, C. (2012). How to write a good scientific paper: title, abstract, and keywords. Journal of Micro Nanolithography MEMS and MOEMS, 11(2), 020101-020101.
Use researcher profiles
Researcher profiles help to clearly differentiate you, making it easier for readers to discover your body of work. More broadly, they can also enhance your visibility to collaborators, funders, or potential partners. There are a huge range of options, but some are more important (and effective) than others.
ORCID
Using an ORCID, or Open Researcher and Contributor ID, is the most effective step you can take to ensure your work is findable and attributed to you. An ORCID is a unique number linked to a profile controlled by you.
Unlike other profiles and identifiers, ORCID is nonproprietary and not-for-profit. It also works with many systems. For example, your ORCID ID can be:
- linked to profiles such as the Scopus author ID for clear identification of your work
- used to search for your work in some databases
- used to add publication details to the Australian Research Council’s Research Management System
- supplied to publishers for inclusion in the metadata of articles and other research outputs
- added to email signatures, social media accounts, and business cards as an easy way of sharing your CV
- linked to the University’s Integrated Research Management Application (IRMA)
The Library's Getting started with ORCID video series provides advice about setting up and using your profile effectively.
APO
If you are a staff member, using your APO, or University of Sydney Academic Profile Online, can help to make your work more visible to the wider community.
Google Scholar
Google Scholar is heavily used by students, researchers and members of the public looking for scholarly literature or seeking an overview of a researcher’s publications. Creating or claiming a Google Scholar profile can help make your body of work more visible.
Academic social media
There are many outlets available for researchers to showcase their work. The best choice for you will depend on the audiences you want to reach. For example, check to see if there’s an active community from your field of research on the platform you’re exploring.
Options include:
Other social media
General social media channels can be great outlets to reach your target audience. Exploring platforms like Twitter or Facebook can help you to identify active communities and conversations related to your research. If these exist, it may be worthwhile to become active on these platforms. Some audiences also monitor particular channels more closely. For example, business and industry audiences are more likely to be monitoring LinkedIn.
Check before you post
Sharing your work online can have copyright implications. Before you post, make sure you know which versions of your work can be shared under the terms of your publishing agreement. If sharing your research widely is a priority, consider publishing in open access.
Tips
Maintain your profiles
Think about whether or not you have the time to maintain any profiles or accounts you create. While a profile like an ORCID requires little time to keep up to date, social media accounts or profiles with more social functions require you to be part of an ongoing conversation. Take this into consideration when assessing which option might be right for you.
Share your research online
Sharing your research online can help build and track engagement with your research.
Sharing your own work and copyright
Before sharing your published output, make sure you understand its copyright status. Many journal publishing agreements, for example, prevent you from sharing copies of your article except in places and formats specified by the publisher. Ensure that you have considered these implications before making your decision about where to publish and that you comply with any conditions as you share your work online.
Make an open access copy of your research output available in a repository
Archiving a copy of your research output in a repository allows audiences who don’t have access to subscription resources or can’t attend performances, events or exhibitions themselves the opportunity to access your work.
There are a range of repositories available:
Use DOIs
When sharing a copy of your work or supporting materials as part of your outreach, make sure your audience can find the work easily and you can track engagement by using DOIs.
What is a DOI?
A digital object identifier (DOI) is a unique identifier which provides a persistent link that is used to identify an object, such as a publication or a dataset. Publishers often assign a DOI when an article or book is published and made available electronically.
Why should I get a DOI?
- A DOI ensures that audiences will be able to find your work through the same link over time, even if it is moved to a different URL.
- A DOI is permanent and cannot be removed but it is possible to remove the public right to access the resource.
- Metrics tools, like Altmetric, use DOIs and other persistent identifiers to follow your work to see how often it’s being accessed, used or talked about.
- A DOI can often be used to help you manage your work in various scholarly systems e.g. populating your ORCiD profile.
Who can get a DOI?
DOIs are not just for journal articles but can be assigned to other research outputs that form part of the scholarly record, for example datasets, grey literature and non-traditional research outputs.
How do I get a DOI?
To maintain the integrity of DOIs, they are only issued by registered agencies and you will need to comply with requirements of that agency in order to get a DOI for your work (i.e., you can’t make an item available from your own website and then register it for a DOI yourself).
Some options include:
Tips
- A DOI is most useful when assigned at the time the item is made available
- To be able to measure how often your work is being accessed, used or talked about, the DOI needs to be used whenever your item is cited or discussed online
Communicate with specific audiences
Targeted outreach activities help you to reach your research end-users. This might be the same audience you had in mind when publishing your output or additional audiences who are less likely to find your work where it was originally published.
You can build a strong profile with these groups by making sure your research is made relevant and accessible for their community. Some general considerations are:
- Which aspects of your research have relevance for specific audiences?
- When is the best time to connect with these audiences?
- Which platforms or channels do these audiences use?
- How can these audiences share and interact with your work?
- How will you measure attention and interaction with your work?
- What resources do you have to dedicate to outreach?
The following are examples of how you might reach some specific audiences.
Government
The Sydney Policy Lab works with researchers whose work has the potential to influence government policy.
Other targeted outreach options include:
- Write for media outlets or publications, such as The Conversation, that are monitored by parliamentary library services.
- Contribute to Analysis and Policy Observatory, an open access research collection supporting evidence-informed policy and practice. A large part of APO’s audience comes from government.
- Make a submission to a parliamentary inquiry. Lists of committees, their terms of reference and current inquiries can be found on state or federal parliament websites. Receive notifications of new committees or inquiries by setting up alerts in MyParliament or the Capital Monitor database. Submissions are published on inquiry web pages and examples from a range of sources can be found on the pages of past and current inquiries
Educators
- Create educational materials such as lesson plans and teaching resources that can be used to teach specific syllabus outcomes or subjects and can be readily shared online.
- Materials can be shared through dedicated websites, blogs, or social media. For higher education, syllabi can be uploaded to the Open Syllabus Project. For primary or secondary education, consider contacting relevant teachers’ associations.
- Investigate opportunities to attend education-focused conferences or meetings.
- Explore opportunities to participate in school visits.
Practitioners and professionals
- Work with professional associations to produce and distribute guides to good practice, fact sheets, leaflets, training materials or downloadable toolkits that help translate your research into practice.
- Make outputs like patient education material available online.
- Investigate conferences attended by practitioners in the field.
- Consider developing training or workshops, either online or in person, to support the application of your research to practice.
Industry and business
- Develop your LinkedIn profile and consider adding content like posts and articles that help to translate your research for industry audiences.
- Look for opportunities to engage with industry as a consultant or to deliver staff training.
- Publish pieces in places like industry-related magazines, websites, newsletters or blogs.
- Attend industry conferences or events like trade shows.
General public
- Promote yourself as an expert to the media by developing your University of Sydney Academic Profile and opting into the 'Find an expert' directory.
- Write for The Conversation, which has a wide audience and encourages the re-use of its pieces which are often picked up by other media outlets.
- Be active on social media platforms where conversations related to your field of research take place.
- Take advantages of opportunities to speak in forums like public lectures or events like Sydney Ideas.
- Engage with community groups.
Use citation metrics to assess academic influence
In some fields, citation metrics can indicate the extent of the academic uptake of a publication or an author’s body of work. Like journal-level citation metrics, a range of these metrics exist which are calculated in different ways, but all have limitations and should be used in an informed manner.
Sources of article-level and author-level metrics
Major sources for article-level and author-level metrics have varying coverage of subject areas and output types such as journal articles, book chapters, books, and patents. These sources include:
| Source |
Provider |
Description |
| Scopus |
Elsevier |
Large multidisciplinary database with strongest coverage of the sciences |
| SciVal |
Elsevier |
Research analysis tool that uses citation data drawn from Scopus |
| Web of Science |
Clarivate Analytics |
Large multidisciplinary database with strongest coverage of the sciences |
| InCites |
Clarivate Analytics |
Research analysis tool that uses citation data drawn from Web of Science |
| Dimensions |
Digital Science |
Linked research information system that includes citation data and is a useful source for those disciplines not well covered by other databases |
| Google Scholar |
Google |
Useful source for those disciplines or journals not well covered by other sources, however only limited author-level metrics are supplied and issues with data quality and transparency make numbers less reliable |
Improve the accuracy of your metrics
Scopus and Web of Science produce author-level metrics based on author profiles automatically created from the name and affiliation metadata of individual publications. Issues such as similar names mean that these profiles can often be incorrect or incomplete, resulting in inaccurate author-level metrics. To ensure that your Scopus and Web of Science metrics are as accurate as possible, you can:
- Sign up for an ORCID and supply it every time you publish
- Claim your Scopus and Web of Science author profiles and link them to your ORCID
- Merge multiple profiles and request changes to details such as affiliation
For assistance with cleaning author profiles contact an Academic Liaison Librarian.
Make valid comparisons
Some metrics provide an indication of performance relative to the average. For example, a Field Weighted Citation Index of 1.00 indicates that a paper or author has been cited at the expected rate based on the global average. However, in some cases it will be necessary to identify a point of comparison.
SciVal allows you to identify global and national averages for different metrics, or you may wish to benchmark your publications against individual papers or authors. However, identifying similar papers or authors to compare against can be challenging.
When identifying papers or outputs to compare against consider:
- discipline and topic
- article or output type
- journal or publication outlet
- year of publication
If identifying authors to compare against consider:
- discipline and specific field of research
- career stage
- career breaks
Tips
Citation metrics must be used carefully and only as a complement to other measures, as the misuse of citation metrics can have negative impacts on research practices. Some funders, such as the NHMRC, have strict guidelines as to how metrics can be used in applications for funding. Refer to the relevant grant peer review guidelines for details.
Compare citation metrics
You need to use a combination of quantitative and qualitative metrics to assess academic impact, although this can differ vastly by field. The table below shows a summary of the most frequently used citation metrics.
Article-level citation metrics
| Metric |
Brief description |
Data sources |
Access |
Field-weighted* |
Calculation period |
| Citation count |
Number of citations to the document captured within the data source |
Scopus, Web of Science, Google Scholar |
Scopus, Web of Science, Google Scholar |
No |
Customisable |
| Field-weighted citation impact (FWCI) |
Measure of citations received by a document relative to the world average of citations received by documents of similar type, year of publication, and research field over a three year period. An FWCI of 1.00 indicates that the document has been cited as expected based on the global average. |
Scopus |
Scopus |
Yes |
3 years |
| Citation benchmarking percentile |
A measure of how the number of citations received by a document compare with the average for documents of similar type, date of publication, and field of research within an 18 month period. A document in the 99th percentile is in the top 1% globally |
Scopus |
Scopus |
Yes |
1.5 years |
Author-level metrics
| Metric |
Brief description |
Data sources |
Access |
Field-weighted* |
Calculation period |
| Scholarly output |
The total number of documents attributed to an author |
Scopus, Web of Science, Google Scholar |
Scopus, Web of Science, Google Scholar |
No |
Customisable |
| Total citation count |
The total number of citations received by documents attributed to an author. Can be calculated with and without self-citations. |
Scopus, Web of Science, Google Scholar |
Scopus, Web of Science, Google Scholar |
No |
Customisable |
| Citations per publication |
The average number of citations received by an author per publication |
Scopus, Web of Science |
SciVal, Web of Science |
No |
Customisable |
| Field-weighted citation impact (FWCI) |
A measure of the citations received by an author’s publications relative to the world average of citations received by publications of similar type, year of publication, and research field. An FWCI of 1.00 indicates that the author’s publications have been cited as expected based on the global average |
Scopus |
SciVal |
Yes |
Customisable |
| Category-normalised citation impact (CNCI) |
A measure of the number of citations received compared to the expected citation rate of publications of similar document type, publication year, and subject area. A CNCI of 1.00 indicates citation performance at par with world average |
Web of Science |
InCites |
Yes |
Customisable |
| H-Index |
A measure of the whole-career productivity and impact of an author’s publications based on the total number of publications and citations received per publication |
Scopus, Web of Science, Google Scholar |
Scopus, Web of Science, Google Scholar |
No |
Whole career |
| H-5 Index |
The h-index calculated for the past 5 years, rather than a whole career |
Scopus |
SciVal |
No |
5 years |
| Publications in top journal percentiles |
Percentage of outputs in the most-cited journals, ranked by journal-level metrics such as Source-Normalized Impact Per Paper or SCImago Journal Rank. Can be calculated based on the top 1%, 5%, 10% or 25% percentiles |
Scopus |
SciVal |
No |
Customisable |
| International collaboration |
The volume of an author’s scholarly output that features international collaboration, calculated from co-author affiliations |
Scopus |
SciVal |
No |
Customisable |
| i10-Index |
Number of an author’s publications with at least 10 citations |
Google Scholar |
Google Scholar |
No |
Whole career, last 5 years |
* Accounts for disciplinary differences in citation patterns
Use altmetrics to assess engagement
Altmetrics, or alternative metrics, capture a range of activity to measure engagement and attention from audiences beyond academia. Like citation metrics, altmetrics have limitations and should be used as a complement to other indicators.
Altmetric Explorer
Altmetric Explorer tracks engagement with individual research outputs through a range of sources including:
- public policy documents
- mainstream media
- patents
- social media
|
- blogs
- Wikipedia
- Open Syllabus Project
- Mendeley
|
- post-publication peer review platforms
- research highlight platform F1000 Prime
- citations
|
How is Altmetric Explorer helpful?
- It provides an “attention score”, an indicator of the overall amount of attention received by the output relative to other tracked outputs. A percentile ranking (e.g. ‘In the top 5% of all research outputs scored by Altmetric’) is also provided, which gives a good indication of how an attention score relates to other outputs.
- The details of the engagement are provided, allowing you to identify where the attention has come from and what form it took. This can be very helpful in identifying who the audience for your research is and exploring any impact it may have had. It can also help you to identify audiences for your work that you might not have been aware of.
- It tracks activity that often emerges more quickly than citations. This can be useful as an early indicator of the amount and type of attention your work is receiving.
How does it work?
For Altmetric Explorer to pick up activity relating to a research output within the sources it monitors, a form of identifier is generally required. Altmetric tracks a range of identifiers, including DOIs. More details are available at altmetric.com.
Customised searching
Tools like Altmetric Explorer do not capture all mentions and citations of research, but there may be other specialist resources that can be searched. For example, if policymakers are among your target audiences then you may wish to search Hansard records or parliamentary sources, or if your work is relevant to legal practitioners it may be informative to search legal databases. For books and book chapters, searching library holdings or identifying where the work has been reviewed can provide an indication of the work's reach.
Contact an Academic Liaison Librarian for assistance with searching specialised resources for mentions of your research.
Tips
- When sharing your research on social media or online, always use the DOI hyperlink. This will help to ensure that tools like Altmetric Explorer consistently pick up engagement with your work.
- Not all sources or mentions will be picked up by altmetric tools. Setting a Google Alert or searching Google for mentions may help pick these up.
Evolve your strategy
Information gathered from your publishing strategy assessment can help inform the choices you make for your next project or publication.
What worked well?
Publishing outlets
Was your choice of publishing outlet effective, or did you learn anything that could inform your choice next time?
Outreach
Were some outreach strategies more successful that others in reaching your audience? Can you work opportunities to network with other researchers or potential end-users into your outreach activities?
Re-evaluating audiences and end-users
Taking into account insights gained from citation metrics or alternative metrics, who engaged with your work and are there any groups that could represent new users of your research?
Future developments
Collaborations with other researchers
Was your work cited by researchers you might consider working with in the future? Databases like Scopus and Web of Science can also be used to explore researchers working in a particular field.
Partnerships with industry, community or other organisations
If your research has potential relevance for particular industries, community organisations, or cultural institutions, you may wish to pursue opportunities to partner with them for your next project.
The Library subscribes to resources that can be used to investigate domestic and international industries, businesses, and organisations. This can help you to better understand how your research might be applied and identify potential partners for schemes like Linkage Projects.
Need help?
Academic Liaison Librarians can assist with using library resources to identify potential collaborators and partners and researching businesses, industries and organisations.
