Marketing, communication and visibility

Marketing, communication and visibility

/ Wed, 07/31/2024 - 14:09

Abstract

These guidelines will help Diamond OA publishers and journals implement the Diamond Open Access Standard’s (DOAS)  requirements regarding visibility and discoverability of the published content, and recommended communication and marketing strategies. By employing a combination of these strategies, Diamond OA publishers and journal editors can significantly increase the visibility, discoverability and impact of their journals, ensuring that the research they publish reaches the largest, most relevant audience possible and has a significant impact.

Main Text

1.Visibility

Here are several strategies that Diamond OA publishers and journal editors can implement to enhance journal visibility

Enhancing openness

Freely accessible content increases publisher and journal visibility and the likelihood that the published content will be read and have an impact. Although published articles in open access journals are directly accessible, visibility can be increased by publishing related datasets alongside research articles, ensuring that data are available for verification, replication, and further analysis. Sharing additional materials such as software, protocols, and methodologies further enhances the transparency and usefulness of research.

Providing clearly stated licensing terms helps users understand how they can legally share and reuse the content. Creative Commons licenses (e.g., CC BY) are commonly used to allow free distribution and reuse of open access content while respecting authorship rights.

Additionally, article features can be enhanced by including supplementary materials such as videos, audio summaries, interactive data visualisations, and other multimedia materials. To enhance openness, encourage authors to deposit preprints and published content in institutional, multidisciplinary, or subject-specific open repositories.

Transparency of editorial policies

Editorial documents play a crucial role in improving the journal's visibility and overall standing within the academic and research community. Clearly defined and easy-to-understand mission, vision and scope statements; guidelines; and editorial policies enable consistent and effective communication in all marketing efforts. 

A clearly articulated mission statement defines the journal’s purpose and goals, making it clear to potential authors, readers, and reviewers what the journal aims to achieve. A strong mission resonates with researchers who are aligned with the same goals, encouraging them to submit high-quality manuscripts. The mission helps in crafting marketing messages that highlight the journal’s contributions to the field. It can be used to attract a dedicated readership and engage with communities interested in the journal’s focus areas.

A compelling vision statement outlines the journal’s long-term purpose and aspirations. It guides the journal’s strategic decisions, including editorial directions, partnerships, and innovations that can boost visibility over time.

A well-defined scope clearly communicates the areas and types of research the journal publishes and contributes to ensure that submissions are relevant and in line with the journal’s focus. Consistently publishing within a clear scope helps build a strong reputation and credibility in specific research domains, leading to higher visibility among experts in those fields.

Clear, comprehensive author guidelines ensure that submissions meet the journal’s requirements. They can also include instructions on writing for visibility, such as compelling titles and abstract writing strategies. 

Reviewer guidelines help ensure high-quality, constructive feedback, improving the overall standard of publications, which in turn enhances the journal’s reputation and visibility. In addition, a detailed description of the rigorous and transparent peer review process employed to maintain high standards and attract quality submissions should be provided.

2. Findability / discoverability

Findability/discoverability focuses on making the journal and its articles easy to locate, particularly by those searching for specific topics. Improving findability enhances visibility, and visibility attracts more engagement.

Register with indexes, library catalogues, discovery tools and aggregators

Submit the journal to widely used and popular multidisciplinary indexing services, and others relevant to the journal's field. Identify and target niche databases and indexes that are disciplinary relevant and cater specifically to the journal's subject matter.

Establish partnerships with libraries to ensure journal inclusion in library catalogues and discovery services. Engage with content aggregators, archives, and databases that compile and provide access to academic content from multiple publishers and distribute it to libraries and other users.

Enable interoperability

Register the journal in institutional or other open repositories that support the Open Archives Initiative Protocol for Metadata Harvesting (OAI-PMH). Adhere to globally accepted metadata standards to ensure compatibility and ease of information exchange.

Metadata Quality and Persistent Identifiers

Ensure each article includes complete and accurate metadata (titles, abstracts, keywords, author information, etc.). This aids both search engines and databases in indexing the content effectively.

Persistent identifiers (PIDs) are essential tools in enhancing the visibility and discoverability of academic journals and their content. They enhance the discoverability of research outputs by providing a permanent and unambiguous way to reference and access digital or physical objects. Persistent identifiers make it easier for search engines, databases, and repositories to index and retrieve content accurately, improving search results. PIDs enable robust cross-linking between articles, datasets, and supplementary materials, enhancing discoverability within and across platforms. Integration of PIDs into submission, peer review, and publication workflows streamlines administrative processes, reducing errors and manual work. Widely used PIDs are Digital Object Identifier (DOI), Open Researcher and Contributor ID (ORCID), International Standard Name Identifier (ISNI), Research Organization Registry (ROR) and Open Funder Registry (OFR).

  • DOIs provide permanent and stable links to digital content, which ensures that published articles can always be located, even if the URLs change over time. They facilitate accurate citation tracking and metrics, allowing authors and journals to measure the impact of their work more effectively. DOIs enable interoperability between different indexing services, repositories, and databases, making it easier to aggregate data about the articles. Ensure that each article and possibly each figure, underlying data, or dataset within an article has a DOI.
  • ORCID IDs uniquely identify authors, disambiguating them from other researchers with similar names. This ensures that all contributions by a particular author are correctly attributed. ORCID IDs facilitate collaboration and networking by providing a persistent link to an author's complete professional profile and publication history.
  • Identifiers for institutions (such as ISNI or ROR) help accurately attribute research outputs to the affiliated institution. They enable more accurate data aggregation for institutional research assessments and bibliometric analyses.
  • OFR identifiers (formerly FundRef) help link research outputs to specific grant funding organisations, making it easier to track the impact of funded research. A long-term plan is to deprecate the OFR and merge it with ROR in order to make workflows more efficient for all concerned.
  • Persistent identifiers for research data (such as DataCite DOIs) ensure that datasets can be reliably located and accessed, promoting data sharing and reuse. Assigning PIDs to software and tools used in research ensures that all components of the research process are identifiable, cross-linked and citable.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

Diamond OA publishers can best ensure SEO by using best practices, such as relevant and specific keywords in titles, abstracts, and throughout the articles, to improve discoverability. Make the journal’s website well-structured and navigable, which helps search engines index the content effectively. Keep the website content fresh and updated to encourage search engines to crawl the site more frequently. Ensure the journal’s website is optimised for search engines, including HTML tags, sitemaps, and mobile-friendly design.

Linking and Citations

Establish proper internal and external linking practices to interconnect related articles to aid discoverability. Provide easy to be copied and used citations in different citation styles. Encourage proper networking practices where other researchers cite your journal's articles, creating inbound links that boost visibility and discoverability.

3.Marketing and communication

Marketing and communication efforts by various stakeholders, such as publishers, editors, authors, and reviewers, are crucial in improving a journal's visibility and findability. Each stakeholder can contribute uniquely to enhancing the reach and impact of the journal’s content.

Publishers

Implement targeted marketing campaigns through email newsletters, social media, and scholarly conferences. Highlight special issues, high-impact articles, and new developments in the journal. Distribute press releases for groundbreaking studies published in the journal to reach a broader audience, including journalists, researchers, the general public and policymakers.

Ensure social media and online presence by utilising platforms like X (formerly Twitter), Linkedin, Mastodon, Facebook, and academic networks to promote published content. Maintain a blog or website to highlight new publications, summarise key findings, and share relevant news. Send regular newsletters featuring new articles, editor’s picks, and upcoming journal events to a curated list of subscribers. 

Present journal articles at conferences and workshops and support the publication of conference proceedings. Establish partnerships with relevant academic networks, professional societies, and institutions to attract quality submissions and widen the journal’s reach.

Become involved in promotion and marketing by writing and distributing press releases for notable articles and engaging with the academic community through webinars, discussions, and forums. Promote articles in related journals and partner with those journals for cross-marketing opportunities.

Editors

Publish guest editorials or special issues on trending topics in the field, which can attract more attention and citations. Still, overusing special issues and possible unwelcome consequences should be considered. Provide clear guidelines on how authors can enhance the visibility of their work. Support authors in promoting their published work through social media kits, promotional videos, or infographics.

Encourage reviewers to share and discuss high-quality articles within their networks and at conferences. Organise webinars, panel discussions, and workshops related to the journal’s focus area to build a community of engaged reviewers, readers and contributors.

Authors

Authors can self-promote their published articles on personal social media accounts and academic profiles. They also inform colleagues and collaborators about new publications via email, academic meetings, and conferences.

Authors should be encouraged to deposit their published articles in the institution’s repository to improve accessibility and compliance with open access mandates. They can also present their research at webinars, academic conferences, and public talks to raise awareness and drive readership.

Reviewers

Provide constructive feedback to ensure the articles published are of high quality, enhancing the journal’s reputation and attractiveness to new researchers. Recommend the journal and its high-quality articles to peers, students, and at academic events. When appropriate, cite articles from the journal to increase the journal’s citation metrics.

General Communication Strategies

Create video abstracts, podcasts, and infographics summarising key articles to attract a wider audience. Host live or recorded webinars where authors discuss their work. Cross-promote articles in related journals and collaborate on joint special issues or thematic series. Participate in academic events, raising the journal profile within relevant academic communities. Engage with subscribers through interactive content like surveys and feedback forms to understand their interests and improve the journal accordingly.

Visual identity

A strong visual identity is a powerful tool for improving the visibility and perception of a publisher and its journals. By creating a consistent, professional, and recognizable brand through logos, colours, and other visual elements, publishers can differentiate themselves in a crowded market, build trust and credibility, and enhance their marketing efforts.

 Here’s how visual identity can improve visibility:

  • Distinctive and consistent use of logos and imagery across all platforms (websites, social media, printed materials) helps in building a recognizable brand. 
  • Consistent use of colours helps create a visual linkage between different communications and publications from the same publisher.
  • A well-designed website with a coherent visual identity improves the user experience, making it easier to navigate and find content, thereby increasing engagement and return visits.
  • A visual identity that reflects the journal's thematic focus (e.g., green colours for environmental journals) reinforces the subject matter and appeals to the target audience.
  • Eye-catching graphics make social media posts more engaging and shareable, widening the reach of the content. Branded visuals also make it easy for followers to recognize and share official posts, amplifying their impact.
  • Branded materials like banners, brochures, and presentations at conferences and different events increase visibility among attendees.
  • Consistently branded emails and newsletters ensure that communications are noticed and not lost in the recipient’s inbox. Recognizable branding can increase the open and click-through rates of such communications.

A consistent visual identity reinforces the perception of the publisher as organized, professional, and credible. When a publisher invests in a strong, professional visual identity, it suggests that they are equally committed to the quality of the content they publish.


Tips:

  • Design a professional logo. Ensure the logo is visible in all formats (digital and print) and incorporates elements that reflect the publisher’s mission and values.
  • Create a comprehensive style guide that outlines the use of logos, colour schemes, typography, and other visual elements to ensure consistency across all publications and marketing materials.
  • Invest in high-quality images that can be used across various platforms. 
  • Consistently apply the visual identity across websites, social media, email newsletters, conference materials, and promotional items.
  • If resources allow, work with professional designers to develop a cohesive and high-impact visual identity. Professional input can greatly enhance the quality and effectiveness of branding efforts.


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Licensing

This article is made available under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License

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Tags
Accessibility
Indexing / indexation
Interoperability
Metadata
Open Access
Governance
Persistent identifiers
Transparency
Visibility