The Library: Research Visibility

Increasing your research visibility enables you to build your identity as a researcher and can increase engagement and citations. It helps ensure you receive credit for the work you create and publish.

Discovery profiles showcase your research, teaching, professional activities and grants in one place. Profiles are automatically created and personalised through Symplectic. By keeping your profile up to date, you can increase the visibility of your work both within the University and externally, enhancing collaboration opportunities and your professional presence online.

Please visit our Symplectic page for guidance on How to create or update your Discovery staff profile via Symplectic.

Social media is beneficial for increasing your visibility as a researcher and to create engagement with your work. Using it purposefully and efficiently is key.

Generate impact through social media

Fast Track Impact Social Media Strategy - A template by Prof. Mark Reed for how to avoid wasting time with social media by developing a strategy for what you want to achieve. There are also a range of useful videos and resources on this website.

X (formerly Twitter)

Top tips for using X efficiently:

• Have separate personal and professional accounts 
• Automate promotional tweets by using Hootsuite or similar e.g. if you have a new publication out
• Edit who you follow as your research interests evolve to avoid scrolling through unnecessary content
• Use your Twitter handle on all presentations and profiles to gain followers 
• Tag to reach wider audiences e.g.@BeckettResearch

Tiktok and other platforms

Newer social media platforms like Tiktok offer new audiences for your research but it can take time to acquire the skills needed to create content. Consider collaborating with peers or students to communicate your research in creative ways and take a look at researchers on Tiktok for inspiration.

Blogs, podcasts, YouTube and other mediums

These mediums allow you to communicate your ideas and research over a longer form and demonstrate different skills to build new audiences. This can help build networks and increase your impact. Some examples include The Conversation and Beckett Talks.

Creating a Google Scholar account is an easy way to collate and promote your publications and other outputs. Once you have a profile, you can automate updates and notifications and it is useful for tracking your citations. Take a look at existing Leeds Beckett Google Scholar profiles. 

How to create a profile:

1. Login into Google using your personal Google account (if you do not already have one you will need to set one up)
2. Go to Google Scholar and click on 'My Citations'.
3. Follow the instructions, adding Leeds Beckett University as your affiliation information, and your Leeds Beckett email address so it can verify you.
4. Add keywords relating to your research and add a link to your LBU staff profile if you have one.
5. Upload a photo if you want to.
6. Click 'Next'. 
7. Add your publications and other outputs. Google will make suggestions based on your name and affiliation. If you have a common name be careful as some content may not be yours. If you don't want certain outputs/publications on your profile, you do not have to select them.
8. If any publications are missing, search using article titles or DOIs. You can also add missing publications manually if necessary. 
9. Make your profile public so that your publications will be easily discoverable and visible.