How to get great research cited

Abstract

Academic success traditionally has been assessed by publications in highly ranked journals. Other measures of research quality such as citations are now available, and these measures offer a wider perspective of academic contribution beyond simple article counting. Citations now are an important consideration when evaluating research impact and quality. Google Scholar, Scopus, and other programs are readily available to provide citation counts; and other measures such as Hirsch's h-index have also been developed. In this editorial, we discuss the issue of research citation, focusing on strategies that can be used to ensure that one's research output is read by the intended academic and practitioner audiences. We first examine why articles get cited including a consideration of types of articles and types of citations. We then outline how to set up and present research. This includes a discussion of the research's strong contributions to the field; conceptual and theoretical development; compelling findings; and clear conclusions and implications. Third, we provide guidelines to create visibility and understanding of the article's contribution in the offline research community and beyond. Fourth, we examine the critical role of the online environment in creating visibility for an article. Here, after having given an overview of academic search, we discuss keywords; design and structure; graphics; metadata and university research repositories; and interactive social media content. We conclude by cautioning about unethical practices to increase citations.