Research and publication compliments academicians and clinical practitioners. In order to get a promotion or receiving funding for research, the number of paper publications and citations are crucial. Like the number and quality of publications, the number and quality of citations are as important to show one’s value in the specific research field.
Consider the below mentioned 9 effective methods which can help in increase the number of citations on your research paper.
1. Selecting a title of the paper
In a research article, a title concisely introduces the whole manuscript to the fullest extent. At least 2-3 keywords should be added to the title as it may improve the SEO and will receive a specific group of audience.
2. Writing on a trending topic
The author must have knowledge on the problems or developments being observed in the most recent research topics. They should think about a topic that can engage the audience. The paper must correspond to an audience that already has a particular opinion or stance on your topic.
3. Writing a review article
Review articles tend to be highly cited than those of other papers. Review articles represent the majority of articles which are read and cited in a journal. Review articles cite more references than any other form of articles and hence, citing works of reputed researchers may lead to generate reverse citations and higher weightage.
4. Effective keywords
Keywords must be carefully selected (tools like MeSH can help in finding the best terms). Like titles, keywords help in reaching a wider yet specific audience which in turn may generate more citations.
5. Opting for open access journals
Open access publication helps the online audiences to access the article freely. The open-access content has the potential to reach a much wider audience, and achieve greater impact. However, if open access publishing is not an option for the journal, the supplementary materials can be made freely available by the journal, this may also help in generating more audience.
6. Presenting the research work at conferences
Presentation of the research work in conferences and at seminars allows discussion with your audience and engagement with guest lecturers. The copies of the articles must be ready to share with the participants and attendees who may be interested in reading and ideally citing the work.
7. Promotion using social media and personal blogs
Social media is the best platform to reach out to a specific audience in your domain. The publication news can be announced in a tweet on twitter, the link of the published article can be shared on Facebook page and while the link to the final article once it is published could be shared in a Facebook post. The whole document or the abstract can be uploaded in the ResearchGate account.
Blogging about the published article can be proved to be an excellent way of promoting your publication by informing people about the research and its importance.
8. Self-citations
Citing your own previous published research or your co-authors’ articles will increase the number of citations directly. As around half of the audience is generated through Google or other search engines, SEO strategies play a major role in improving citations. Self-citations help in converting the previous traffic to the recently published paper.
9. Publication timing and reputation of the journal
If the publication date is due in 1- 2 months, there is a great opportunity for the authors of recently accepted papers to publish online ahead of print. This allows more time for citations to accrue. Moreover, publication in a reputed journal itself increases the chances of getting more citations.