Maximize Your Research Impact - Transforming Scholarly Communication & Publishing - University at Buffalo Libraries

 Source: http://library.buffalo.edu/scholarly/action/

Maximize Your Research Impact

Easy as 1-2-3:

• Step 1: Identify the right journal
  But, before you submit your manuscript, make sure to…
• Step 2: Increase the visibility/discoverability of your scholarship
  Finally,
• Step 3: Track citation-based metrics for your articles

---

Step 1: Identify the right journal

First, think about which journal has the
appropriate scope and audience of researchers interested in your
research. The more your research is read; the more it will be used and
cited by others.  Journal home pages and more experienced colleagues
can provide guidance.






Second, identify which journals publish research similar to yours. (Read More)










Third, evaluate the journal impact factor
which tells you how often the average article published with the last
two years has been cited. The journal impact factor and many other journal-level citation metrics can be found by searching Journal Citation Reports, which uses Web of Science citation data. (Read More)








What if a journal is not listed in the Journal Citations Reports. (Read More)









Fourth, consider journal affordability. Check the
subscription price, especially for institutions and the number of
libraries maintaining current subscriptions using WorldCat, a master catalog of North American library holdings. (Read More)









Fifth, find out if there are good peer reviewed open access journals in your field using the Directory of Open Access Journals.  There may be an article processing fee, but your work can be freely read by any researcher in the world. (Read More)

---

Step 2: Increase the visibility/discoverability of your scholarship

• Reserve your right to post an open access (OA) preprint, final manuscript, or published version of your article. (Read More)
• Be sure to use your full name and standard institutional name/address to assure easily identifiable citations to your work.
• Pay special attention to writing a descriptive title and an informative abstract.

---

Step 3: Track citation-based metrics for your articles

There are many tools that track citations to your work and calculate
standard metrics for tenure/promotion dossiers and other career
purposes. Resources include personal profiles, subscription databases,
and free web services. For example:




Personal Profiles

• ORCID – a new,
  broadly supported researcher profile that creates a unique author
  identification number. By creating an authoritative publication list
  associated with your id number, you can minimize confusion with other
  researchers with similar names.
• ResearcherID
  – an older id system associated with the Web of Science (WOS). Your
  ORCID and ResearcherID profiles can easily be linked. Citation counts
  for publications in ResearchID are automatically updated from WOS.

Subscription Databases (UB)

• Web of Science
  – the premier citation database covering journal articles from all
  disciplines, including social sciences and humanities, despite its
  name. (Read More)

• SciFinder
  – a broadly based science database focusing on chemistry, life,
  environmental, materials sciences, and physics. Citations since 1996
  are recorded. There is no citation report feature.  

Free Web

• Harzing’s Publish or Perish
  - By far, the best free web tool that uses Google Scholar data to
  calculate many citation metrics. Citations to and from all forms of
  scholarly material are captured, including articles, conference papers,
  book chapters (especially important to the Humanities and Social
  Science disciplines), patents, and technical report. Hence, metrics may
  be higher than Web of Science. Downloads for Windows, Mac, and Linux
  systems.
• Google Scholar My Citations – Only tracks your own publications.

The University of Wisconsin Milwaukee Libraries maintain a detailed citation analysis guide worth consulting.



It is important to identify the best citation resources for your
field. Getting an accurate, complete citation count is a complex
process requiring in-depth knowledge of the underlying database. Please
contact Mark Ludwig, Scholarly Communications Officer, A. Ben Wagner, Sciences Librarian, or your departmental library liaison to discuss your specific needs.

---

Last Updated: 9/17/2015



Maximize Your Research Impact - Transforming Scholarly Communication & Publishing - University at Buffalo Libraries