Research Impact and Visibility Check

Thinking about a current research project, what kind of impact are you seeking to achieve?

• Instrumental: changing policy, behaviour or practice

• Conceptual: building evidence, knowledge, awareness

• Capacity building: building skills, expertise, jobs

• None of these

• I don't know

Answer explanation

You are on the right track! The first step is to think about what kind of impact you want to have. Do you want to change policy, behaviour or practice? Or, will your impact be more conceptual: building evidence, knowledge, pushing the boundaries in fundamental research? Maybe you want to contribute to building skills, expertise, jobs for a particular target group? 

The question here isn’t do you want to achieve impact – of course you do! Rather the question is - what kind of impact?

Thinking about your research that you have done in the past or you are doing now - at what stage did you think about how to maximize the impact of this research?

• Before the project began

• While the project was underway

• When I was preparing to disseminate my outputs

• After publication

• I did not think about it at any stage

Answer explanation

Impact is not something that usually just happens. It needs to be planned and ideally – built into your research before it even begins. 

Depending on the type of impact you want to achieve, you would be wise to involve the relevant (societal) stakeholders in your research early on. 

• This could be the group that will benefit most from your research, which you could involve from the conception of the research question, the conduct of the study and dissemination.

• To impact changes in policy and/or practice, potential policy and decision makers could be engaged early on, preferably right from the beginning. 

• To have greater academic impact you may need to find collaborators and co-authors in a different department, institution or country.

Start thinking about these conversations and connections early on and building your network both inside and outside academia!

Do you always use the same name format to sign all of your publications and outputs?

• Yes

• No

Answer explanation

Make sure to use a consistent name throughout your research career. 

Don’t sign papers using different variants of your name, such as:

• P. Smith

• Peter Smith

• Peter M. Smith

Using a consistent name facilitates easy retrieval of your researcher's output and links all of your publications to you in citation databases. You don’t want potential funders or employers to get an incorrect citation record of your work down the line, or for the wrong person to be credited with your work.

Do you have an ORCID ID?

• Yes

• No

• I don't know

Answer explanation

To definitely ensure correct attribution of your publications – use an ORCID. 

ORCID (Open Researcher and Contributor ID) is an international and persistent digital ID that distinguishes you from every other researcher. It is strategically important because it enables all citation databases to automatically link publications to you by your ORCID. ORCID protects your unique scholarly identity.

> Find out more about ORCID here.

Do you have other online research profiles such as ScopusID, ResearcherID, Academia.edu, Research Gate, LinkedIn…?

• Yes, all of these.

• Some of these.

• No.

Answer explanation

Having online research profiles and joining online academic communities can help make your research and teaching activities known, increase the chance of new contacts for research cooperation as well as of your publications getting cited. Most of these do not require a big time commitment save for the time needed for initial setup and updates from time to time, but can help greatly in increasing your visibility.  

• Author disambiguation services: ORCID and ResearcherID 

• Researcher Communities: Academia and ResearchGate

• Reference management tools with social functions: Mendeley

• Search engines with author profiles: Google Scholar, Scopus

• Professional community: Linkedin

BONUS TIP: Make sure these are all linked to your ORCID!

Is your Pure profile filled in and up to date?

• Yes

• No

Answer explanation

The correct Pure is the Current Research Information System (CRIS) of the University of Groningen or the UG’s research database. It contains all the research output, activities, press/media, prizes and datasets created by the researchers of the University, and it can greatly contribute to your visibility. 

Keeping your Pure profile up to date is very important since most research analytics software used at the University for evaluations, reporting, collaborations and promotions draws data from Pure. 

BONUS POINTS: Make sure you add your ORCID to your Pure profile!

> Find out more about Pure support at the University of Groningen here. is 'Yes' because having a filled-in and up-to-date Pure profile is essential.

Do you publish, or plan to publish, Open Access?

• Yes, always

• Whenever I can

• No

• I don't really pay attention

Answer explanation

In the traditional publishing model, scientific articles are published in closed-access journals and universities pay subscription fees so that their researchers and students can have access to these journals. Content is locked behind a paywall and is therefore only available to subscribers. 

This means that most practitioners (e.g. GPs), small/medium businesses, journalists, and so on usually do not have access to scientific publications. 

OA is a different business model which is based on free, unrestricted, permanent online access to scientific publications at no cost to the reader. In the Netherlands, OA is considered a priority by the government, universities, research funders and all stakeholders involved with scientific research; the Dutch National Plan for OS stipulates that all Dutch research funded with public money should be 100% OA by 2020.

There are several impact benefits to publishing OA: 

• By making your publications OA you allow everyone to read them, which means that your papers have more visibility. 

• More visibility means that you have more chance of being cited in other papers, but also that your research is more likely to be read by people outside of academia, like policy makers, practitioners, journalists and so on.

The ethical arguments are no less important! OA promotes transparency, as it ensures that publicly-funded research paid for with taxpayers’ money is then available to the public for no extra cost. In addition, by publishing OA, you make sure that researchers in less developed countries that lack funds for subscribing to journals have access to scientific publications. 

Find out more about Open Access support at the University here.

How did you pick the title and keywords of your publication?

• 1. I pick those that accurately represent the research

• 1. I pick those that showcase the topic the publication is on

• 1. I do a keyword analysis for my topic in Scopus and/or in Google Keyword Planner

• 1. I try not to repeat words from the title in my keywords

• I try to use ‘search engine friendly’ terms - the one’s I think researchers will use to find publications on my topic

Answer explanation

Select your title and keywords wisely! 

Title and keywords have the potential to significantly impact the chances of getting picked up when searched, read, cited and included in systematic reviews. Journals, search engines, and indexing and abstracting services classify papers using keywords. Make sure your keywords are accurate and help showcase the research to attract interested groups. Don’t repeat words that are in the title! It is strategic to think about terms that readers might use to search for the study and include them in the title. Abbreviations and jargon are best avoided.

Do you broadcast your research by blogging or via social media?

• Yes

• Sometimes

• No

Answer explanation

Many studies have shown that there is a statistically significant correlation between online media mentions such as posts, tweets, blogs and citation counts. In addition, broadcasting about your research as soon as it is published will raise awareness and visibility, and potentially - impact. 

It is advisable to use online communities to proactively engage with individuals and groups within and beyond academia, including key policy influencers, decision makers and NGOs, researchers, target audiences and practitioners, sharing your research and commenting on relevant blogs. In this way, you not only promote your research but also strengthen your network. 

[Delete: You could also create a personal blog where you can share your thoughts, research ideas and/or key findings, promote your work, or write case studies of how your work has impacted others and write guest blogs on other websites]

> It has been shown that of all online activities blogging correlates highest with increase in number of citations. Seize the opportunity!

Do you track whether your research has been picked up by other researchers and wider audiences?

• I monitor my citation record via GoogleScholar, Scopus or Web of Science.

• I track mentions of my research outside of academica using PlumX or Altmetric.

• I do both.

• I do neither.

Answer explanation

Besides wanting to know how your research has been received by different audiences, there are additional benefits to tracking your citations and mentions: 

1. 1 - Reputation management. If someone is misinterpreting your research, whether it is a researcher, a journalist or a blogger - you will want to know and correct that wrong!

2. 2 - Academic impact. Promotion and tenure committees, funders, advisors, research team leaders and potential collaborators are all interested in information about impact.

3. 3 - Research Impact Metrics illuminate the impact of your research outputs and give a balanced, multi-dimensional view for assessing the value of published research.

4. 4 - Societal impact. If your research is cited in policy documents and patent applications, talked about by practitioners, decision makers and target groups, then this can be an indication of wider impact.

5. 5 - Benchmarking research performance. This enables you to compare your research with others, benchmark its progress, and analyze developments in a field over time.

6. 6 - Finding collaborators. It can be an effective way of identifying important or relevant scholars in a particular field who have shown interest in your work and who work on related topics.

7. 7 - Cutting across disciplines. If you can identify citations to your research from publications in other disciplines or areas of study, it is an indication of the interdisciplinary value of your research and open new avenues to explore. 

8. 8 - Journal relevance. Finding the journal which is well regarded in the specific field of research can avoid any loss of time by submitting manuscripts to inadequate journals

BONUS TIP! The University of Groningen has access to tools that can help you do all this. 

> For citation analysis check out SciVal and our Introduction to SciVaL online course.

> To track societal impact, login to Altmetric and explore our Altmetric 101 online course.