Research Metrics@HKUL: Increasing Research Visibility

Using Search Engine Optimization

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is a strategy to improve the discoverability and search rankings of your paper in different search engines such as Google, google scholar, PubMed, and IEEE Xplore, etc. If you want to boost your readership to a wider public and increase citations, you may try to optimize the search results for your work. 

Search engines return search results by analyzing the keywords, metadata, and other contents in your research paper with their sets of algorithms. You may refer to the following 5 suggestions in optimizing the search engine discoverability for your publications:

1. Creating titles that are search-engine-friendly

• Include 1-2 keywords related to your topic and place them within the first 65 characters of your title.
• Keep your title short (e.g. moving a phrase form your title to the first few sentences in your abstract).

2. Optimizing your abstract

• Summarize the most essential findings and keywords in the first two sentences of your abstract.
• Include the important keywords for 3-6 times in the entire abstract.

3. Using keywords throughout your entire article

• Identify the main keywords and put them in your title (1-2 times), abstract (2-3 times), headings, and keyword fields (5-7 times).
• Check and look for specific keywords that appear in Google Trends or the Google Adworks keyword tools.
• Use consistent keywords that are commonly used in your field.
• Do not over-use the keyword repetitively. Let the keywords appear in your work naturally and in a contextual way.

4. Being consistent

• Make the author names and initials consistent throughout the article. Make it the same as in your other publications if possible.

5. Building links

• Share the link to your article via multiple platforms, such as social media tools, networking and institutional sites.
• Encourage colleagues or people you know to share the link of your article.

Source: Search Engine Optimization (SEO) for your article (Sep 2021); Get found - optimize your research articles for search engines (Sep 2021)

Sharing Your Research Data

Making your research data and evidence accessible is also the key to improve the visibility of your publication. Other scholars would pay attention to your research when referring to your research data. While there are popular publication repositories like PubMedCentral and Social Science Research Network, HKUL also provides an institutional data repository named HKU DataHub (powered by Figshare) for HKU researchers and RPg students to publish their research data and other scholarly outputs. It is a cloud platform open to global where people can share, store, cite, and discover a wide range of research materials. Materials uploaded to DataHub will be indexed in Google Scholar and Google Dataset Search, which would also help to increase the discoverability of your data. You might learn how to use the DataHub on our LibGuide.

Using Social Media

To boost the visibility of your publication, you can make use of the power of social media. You may consider announcing the release of your research paper on these platforms because they are potentially accessible by a more diverse and broader audience. It also helps to create a network among scholars and audiences and keeps them updated whenever you have new findings. You may also ask your department/faculty/research centre to see how they could help you to promote your publication through their social media platforms. The below guide will introduce you a number of popular social media tools and platforms:

Social Networks

Mendeley  

Mendeley is a free downloadable citation management tool with online storage free up to 2 GB. (Additional storage space available for a fee), and it enables social activities on its platform, including:

-        Research Groups: you can create research groups or join a research group to collaborate with your colleagues and share your research either publicly or in private.

-        People:  search to connect with other people you know or other researchers in your field so as to share your research.

ResearchGate  

“ResearchGate is a social networking site for scientists and researchers to share papers, ask and answer questions, and find collaborators.” You may use a ResearchGate account to distribute your papers and follow others in your field.

Academia.edu   

It is a platform for academics to share, discuss and promote their research. Over 35 million academics have signed up. 

Twitter  

On Twitter, you may "tweet" links to your articles and other research publications or to new blog posts about your research. If appropriate, include a picture. It is more likely to be re-tweeted than just text.

You may refer to more hints at How to... Use Twitter for academic research and take a look at: Tweet your research: a how-to guide, A guide to Twitter for researchers: https://authorservices.taylorandfrancis.com/tweet-your-research/

Lindedin   

LinkedIn is the world's largest professional network on the internet. You may establish your professional scholarly profile on LinkedIn and share your work on it. You can also use a LinkedIn account to connect with other researchers in your field throughout the world, post about the conferences you attend, papers you find interesting, ask questions, list your publications, and participate in conversations. Join pertinent discussion groups and participate to demonstrate your knowledge of the field.

Facebook  

You may create a Facebook page for your laboratory to encourage casual discussion of your recent papers/presentations;

Blogs

You may use a blog tied to your website to engage in discussions relevant to your work.

Video and Slide Sharing Tools

To reach wider and appropriate audience, you may promote your work in other channels such as video and slide. The two major popular video sharing platform are YouTube and Vimeo. For presentation slides, you may use SlideShare to share your presentations, infographics, documents, etc. to increase the discoverability of your shared work.

Establishing Author Profiles

Setting up an author profile is helpful for the audience to distinguish your work from the other scholars. Listing your academic contributions and achievements on your profile provides easy access to all your publications, saving the time for other researchers and funders to search for your work and the impacts of your research. 

There are a few commonly used researcher profiles including Scopus Author ID, ResearcherID (Web of Science), Google Scholar Profile, and ORCID (Open Researcher and Contributor ID). You may find more details at our Author Profile LibGuide. You are reminded to include your latest work and keep your profile updated to make your work more visible.

Using HKU Scholars Hub

The HKU Scholars Hub, an institutional current research information system, aims to enhance the visibility of HKU authors and their research. A ResearcherPage will be created for every HKU researcher and Research Postgraduate (RPg) student​. It serves as an author profile available at the institutional portal.