Promoting your paper

Promoting your paper

How to promote your paper

You don’t have to wait for your paper to be published to start preparing the ground for its success. From writing an excellent abstract, to press releases and social media, the possibilities are endless!

Of course, BMJ will play its part in promoting your paper, however you can also take charge of some activities that can really make a difference.

 

What will BMJ do?
  • When you publish non-OA, we’ll give you a free to access version of your article that you can download and share with up to 50 colleagues for personal and research use (the terms and conditions governing use of the work are given in the Author Licence Agreement form).
  • Stand-out work will be selected for press release and editors will choose certain articles to be visible directly on the homepage of the journal.
  • Some authors will be asked for a podcast or video interview about their work; these multimedia channels are a gripping way to promote your paper and work well on social media and other digital platforms.
  • While we can’t individually promote every published article, many papers are shared on our social media accounts and in other forms of content marketing such as emails or blog posts.
 
What can you do?

Here are a few outlets and tools to get you started — remember that getting more deeply involved in your field’s online communities will help you find the most relevant and impactful outputs for your work.

 
Top Tips
  • Check out this podcast on bringing your research to life through public and media engagement.
  • Write a good abstract that includes keyphrases and keywords. To learn more about making your work discoverable, read this section.
  • Create an ORCID ID account. This has many advantages and can help you be more visible in the research community.
  • Check out The Health Foundation’s Comms Toolkit for Research, which includes guidance, templates, support materials and links to help develop a communication strategy, package findings for different audiences and engage stakeholders to extend influence and widen impact.
  • Create a video abstract. Read the Video abstracts section to learn how, or speak to your editor once your paper has been accepted.
  • Take part in a podcast. Ask your editor if there are any podcasts in the pipeline for your journal and subject of expertise, or feel free to suggest an idea.
  • Write a powerful research statement. If you think your paper might be of interest to the media, discuss further with your journal’s editor before publication. See how we work with the media in this section.
  • Present your paper at a conference or other professional event.
  • Interact online with other delegates during conferences and industry events. Use Twitter to find out the official hashtag and tweet during and after sessions.
  • Use social media to network and take part in online group discussions. Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Google+ each offer different advantages. Pick the ones that suits you best and start networking. You can read more tips in the social media section.
  • Create and upload a presentation on LinkedIn’s SlideShare (and mention your paper!).
  • Get in touch with bloggers in your field. If you know any good blogs, contact them and suggest writing a post or Q&A about the topic of your paper.
  • Create your personal blog or website, linking to this on your social media profiles will give your work instant exposure.
  • Use your email signature to link out to your work.
  • Work with your institution to spread the word, they might have a PR department or newsletter. Or just put up a poster in your department.
  • Share your work on Reddit, there is plenty of good science content on this platform.
  • WeChat and Weibo are very popular in China, create an account if this is a key market for your work.