How to disseminate your work: simple ways to increase visibility and discoverability

Use effective keywords

Keywords aid the ‘discoverability’ of your article. Picking specific keywords which readers are more likely

to be familiar with, interspersed with some recognised subject or industry-specific terminology, will

greatly increase the likelihood of your article being returned in a search.

Use a combination of at least six different keywords to accurately summarise and reflect the content of

your piece of work. Try not to be too general; using very broad keywords such as ‘knowledge

management’, ‘information systems’ and ‘Germany’ will mean your article will be less discoverable.

Whereas if you use a combination of broad and more specific keywords such as ‘knowledge

management’, ‘enterprise information systems’, ‘digital preservation’, ‘health services’ and ‘Web 2.0’

your article will be returned more frequently in searches.

Additionally, search engines and institutional database discovery services are optimised to find keywords

in the article title first before searching the abstract or full text, so it is very important carefully select key

terms to include in the title. Think about the ‘currency’ of your keywords and whether they will still be

recognised in a few years’ time.

Be careful of creating your own buzzwords or coining new terminology and then using this in the title and

keywords of your article. If you have invented a new term to describe an area or phenomenon within

your field then it is unlikely readers will search for this if it hasn’t been heard of or written about before.

Make sure to include other recognised terminology in addition to this, to give your article the widest

possible chances of being discovered in a search.

Chose an informative and persuasive title for your article

Getting the title of your article right is very important. Be clear and concise and give all of the information

which the reader needs to be able to understand immediately what the article is about.

Give the reader an indication in the title as to the findings/argument or conclusion which is presented in

your work. This will help them to make a decision about whether to proceed with reading on.

Try not to use idioms. The title of your article needs to be understood by an international audience,

therefore in order for it to be as accessible as possible avoid using expressions or idioms which might not

be recognised, used or understood by readers in different locations around the world. A reader who

discovers your article online will be less likely to download and read it if they do not understand an

expression which is used in the title.

Your title needs to be memorable. Readers who wish to cite your article will need to then recall the

article title several months (or even years) later. Choosing a memorable title which stands out from other

similar pieces of work will help them to rediscover your article at a later date.

For more detailed advice on getting the title of your article right, why not have a look at this excellent

blog post from Patrick Dunleavy, writing for the London School of Economics and Political Science’s

‘Impact of Social Sciences’ blog: http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/impactofsocialsciences/2014/02/05/academics-

choose-useless-titles/

Write a compelling abstract

The abstract at the start of your article is equally as important as the text in the article itself; it is the sales

pitch for why you should keep reading. Be explicit about what a reader will gain or learn from the article

and why it is new. The abstract will convince the reader whether to proceed with downloading your

article to read it in full and this ultimately could lead to them citing it in their own work in the future.

Remember that competition is fierce! Academics are in competition with one another for the same

readers, therefore it’s no longer sufficient to just write and article and hope the work speaks for itself.

Sell yourself and use your abstract to compel readers to read on!

Make sure you have fully proofread the abstract before submitting it as often online submission systems,

such as ScholarOne Manuscripts, ask you to input the abstract into a free text field separately from the

Word document version of your article which you upload, as part of their online submission process. This

is a common stage at which spelling and grammar errors can be introduced accidently.

Promote your work once it has published

Utilize your email signature. Promote recently published articles or book chapter contributions in your

own email signature.

Email your Publisher to ask for information on the number of downloads your article has received. You

could then include this on your CV or in your publications list on your university webpage.

Remember to include the DOI number (Digital Object Identifier) of your article(s) in any locations where

your publication history is listed. This is the easiest way in which scholars can search for the work. It is

also how citations to your article are measured and recorded by abstracting and indexing services such as

in the Journal Citation Reports from Thomson Reuters (ISI) and in Scopus.

Don’t forget to use social media to your advantage

Do you have a Twitter account or use Facebook? Tweet about your article to your followers with a

shortened bitly link to the content: https://bitly.com/ or post a link to it on your university or institution’s

Facebook page. This will raise awareness of your work among colleagues and to other interested contacts.

If your institution has a Press Office why not see if they would be happy to help you make a video

abstract or a podcast? This can be used to highlight your work on your institution webpage or your own

personal website or blog. Alternatively contact the Publisher to see if this is something which they can

help arrange and host on their website.

Recommend your work to colleagues and at your institution

If you are a teacher as well as a researcher, think about including your own work on your syllabus as

either primary or secondary reading on your students’ reading lists.

If your institution or university does not already subscribe to a publication which you have authored in,

make a recommendation to your librarian that they consider subscribing.

Encourage colleagues and students to sign up to receive table of contents alerts from relevant

publications, including the one in which your article will be appearing.

Other ways in which Emerald can help authors prepare and disseminate their work

Guides to Getting Published

If you are interested in more detailed information on how to get published we offer a free service where an

Emerald representative would be happy to arrange a ‘Guide to Getting Published’ presentation at your

university or institution. We deliver hundreds of presentations each year in various locations around the world.

If you would like more information about this service or to talk to someone about how we can tailor a

presentation to the needs of a particular school or department at your institution please contact us at:

LiteratiNetwork@emeraldinsight.com.

Editorial opportunities

Contact us to register your interest in becoming an Editorial Board member or reviewer for a publication in

your field. Editorial Board members and reviewers receive complimentary access to their publication.

Reviewers also receive a discount code for 30% off our collection of book series volumes and monographs.

Further details of the subject areas we publish in can be found at www.emeraldinsight.com. We also publish a

number of books and book series, more information on which can be found on the Emerald Bookstore at

http://books.emeraldinsight.com.

Marketing support

Please see below an example of a ‘virtual special issue’ email campaign and, on the next page, a campaign to

notify authors their article has been highly downloaded. These are just some of the ways in which Emerald

helps to promote the work of published authors to academics and practitioners in the relevant subject area.

Key facts about Emerald

Established in 1967 by a group of academics from Bradford University School of Management. The

first journal published was Management Decision. The company has expanded over the years and in

2013 Emerald now publishes over 300 journals in Business & Management, Engineering, Education,

Information Science, Library Studies, Health & Social Care and various other subjects, as well as over

2,000 books and book series volumes. For full listings visit www.emeraldinsight.com.

All of the world’s top 100 business schools have contributors to Emerald journals and books.

93 of the 2013 Financial Times top 100 business schools worldwide are Emerald customers.

Over 21 million Emerald articles were downloaded in 2013 – more than 50,000 a day!

In 2012 subscribers from the FT top 100 business schools downloaded Emerald articles 1.25m times,

which is an average of nearly 12,500 per school.

Get in touch with us if you’d like any more information on how Emerald can help you disseminate your work:

Emma Bruun ebruun@emeraldinsight.com