Citation impact workouts

Once you’ve published in a journal, nothing changes too much, the pressure to publish each year remains. So researching and writing should be ongoing: it is a cycle that feeds back and helps us to improve as professors and researchers, and to make an impact on our area of expertise.

Although the main focus should be on research and writing good papers, and knowing that the current citation system could be improved, we should somewhat consider the selling of our publications, helping to disseminate our paper with some activities in the current web 3.0 system; on what I have called “citation impact workouts” (summarized from my latest eBook “Publish in Journals 3.0:  from Manuscript to Citations”, released in September).

Workouts to do before the articles are published:

1. Publish in indexed and open-access journals, if possible with impact factor.
2. Standardize your name and affiliation to ease the collection of citations received.
3. Be strategic about the title and abstract, using key and findable words.
4. Write in English.

Workouts to do after the papers are published:

1. Set up a link to your article on your webpage, either your own or your university’s.
2. Include your papers in your profile in social networks as LinkedIn, Facebook or even Twitter.
3. Circulate a summary, just before publication, to your friends and colleagues.
4. Mention your paper in your blog, if you write any.

In conclusion, although the main focus should be on research and writing good papers, of course, the current imperfect but vital citation system prompts us professors to take action and be active sellers of our publications.