Visibility, indexation, communication, marketing and impact
Abstract
Deliberate strategies to increase visibility can help published content be disseminated as widely as possible. These include traditional marketing activities by the publisher, also supported by social media usage and other communications activities by the authors including in multiple languages. Technical aspects such as indexation, search engine optimisation and use of good metadata can all contribute to making sure content reaches the intended audience.
Main Text
The full potential of open access is achieved when content is disseminated as widely as possible to academia and society at large. This relates to both communication and marketing of the content itself via a broad range of channels, as well as maximising technical aspects of metadata and of search engine optimisation, for example.
Newsletters, blogs, direct emails, mailing lists, content alerts, notifications, and RSS/Atom feeds are all useful mechanisms for publicising information. Marketing is key to ensuring that publications are viewed by their intended audiences and that activities are aligned with higher level strategic and operational goals (Schilan et al., 2021; Open Book Collective, 2023a).
Active use and regular updates of social media or social networking can also help to reach out to academia and society. Together with the use of traditional and modern dissemination methods, this can improve communication with a much broader audience. However, it is important for publishers to make sure that information provided on websites remains up-to-date in order to avoid misinterpretation and misinformation, and that any direct marketing activities are carefully targeted and carried out responsibly, in particular when soliciting content and contacting prospective authors.
Visibility of publications themselves can be maximised in search engines and aggregators by using search engine optimisation techniques (Jisc, 2021), such as by providing structured metadata and XML sitemaps, by implementing metadata exchange protocols (e.g. OAI-PMH), or by enabling APIs. It is important to make sure that good metadata is in place from the start (PKP, n.d.).
Discovery services, aggregator databases, abstracting and indexing databases, and citation indexes can all help with content visibility, particularly when these are specific services relevant for the target audiences (OAPEN, 2022; Open Book Collective, 2023b). A journal index is a collection of journal titles, categorised by discipline, subject, publication type, or other features. Indexing can play a crucial role in enhancing the discoverability of journal articles. However there are noted limitations in the use of journal metrics (Nobes et al. 2023; Foxall et al. 2023). It is also helpful to encourage authors directly to make the published content available in open repositories and sharing services in order to increase its visibility.
Impact statements or simple (multi)language summaries can bring the content of scholarly publications closer to the general audience when added alongside published content. It is also recommended to provide translations of publications potentially interesting for non-academic audiences to the local language or, at least, to summarise their results in blog posts, social media posts and the like.
Post-publication reviews or online comments can further boost interest in content by a wider audience. Organising events like book promotions, journal promotions, the launching of a new journal issue, or working with the media (such as by issuing press releases) can help reach broader sectors of society.
Finally, metric indicators are an important source of information about content usage. A comprehensive array of indicators can be employed from article/chapter-level metrics (such as visits, views, downloads, citations), to altmetrics indicators and measurements or the geographical spread of visitors. Analytics software and methods can be used to generate and collect metrics. Good examples are Matomo and Plausible which are open source and GDPR-compliant.
Related Toolsuite Articles
- Software and interoperability
- Metadata
- Preservation and content formats
- Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging (EDIB)
Related Guidelines
Related Training Materials
References
- Foxall, K., Nobes, A., Lujano, I. (2023) Open Access Journals Toolkit: Journal and article indexing. https://www.oajournals-toolkit.org/indexing/journal-and-article-indexing
- Jisc. (2021). New university press toolkit: marketing. https://www.jisc.ac.uk/guides/new-university-press-toolkit
- Nobes, A., Byers, A.. (2023a). Open Access Journals Toolkit: Building and maintaining a profile https://www.oajournals-toolkit.org/indexing/building-and-maintaining-a-profile
- OAPEN. (2022). Open Access Books Toolkit: Dissemination and discoverability. https://www.oabooks-toolkit.org/lifecycle/4016750-dissemination-marketing/article/6733432-dissemination-and-discoverability
- Open Books Collective. (2023a). Toolkit for small and Scholar-Led open access publishers: 14 marketing. https://toolkit.openbookcollective.org/books/14-marketing
- Open Books Collective. (2023b). Toolkit for small and Scholar-Led open access publishers: 12 dissemination and discovery. https://toolkit.openbookcollective.org/books/12-dissemination-and-discoverability
- Patterson, W., Byers, A.. (2023). Open Access Journals Toolkit: Journal and article-level metrics. https://www.oajournals-toolkit.org/indexing/journal-and-article-level-metrics
- PKP. (n.d.). Better practices in journal metadata. https://docs.pkp.sfu.ca/metadata-practices/en/
- Schilhan, L., Kaier, C., & Lackner, K. (2021). ‘Increasing visibility and discoverability of scholarly publications with academic search engine optimization’, Insights: the UKSG journal, 34(1): 6. https://doi.org/10.1629/uksg.534
Further Reading
- COPE, DOAJ. OASPA, WAME. (2022). Principles of transparency and best practice in scholarly publishing. https://doi.org/10.24318/cope.2019.1.12
- Betz, S. et al. (n.d.). Introduction: getting found, staying found, increasing impact: enhancing readership and preserving content for OJS Journals. Second Edition. https://docs.pkp.sfu.ca/getting-found-staying-found/en/
- Smith, I., Nyahodza, L,. Murray, S., & van Heerden, L. (2022). Webinar: OA journal indexing, other publishing platforms / Indexation de revues, autres plateformes de publication. https://www.eifl.net/resources/webinar-oa-journal-indexing-other-publishing-platforms-indexation-de-revues-autres
Glossary
Frequently Asked Questions
- What can I do to increase the visibility of my publications?
- What can help published content have a greater impact?
- What metrics should I be aware of?
Licensing
This document is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License