Publish and Thrive Challenge

Welcome to Day 4 of the Publish and Thrive Challenge!

Once you have a publication (or more than one!) under your belt, it's important to consider where to put it, in addition to the publisher's version of your work that will live on the publisher's website. This can help you and your work gain traction and visibility! 

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Your Challenge: Identify Up to 3 Places to Share your Work Once it's Published (or to Share your Previously Published Works)

Consider some of these options!

1. A digital repository is a great place to start. Not all repositories behave exactly the same way, but as a general rule, by depositing work in a repository, you’ll get:

• A stable URL for the work that you can share with others or post to social media, your personal website, your CV, and beyond. This stable URL makes it easier for others to cite your work. You also won’t have to worry about broken links, or about migrating and re-posting your work to a new web page if you move to a new institution, or if your website moves to a new platform.
• Indexing by Google and Google Scholar, which makes your work more discoverable by others.
• Some form of feedback (aka metrics you can use in your promotion and tenure packet, grant applications, job applications) about how your work is being used: how many views it has received, download counts, shares, etc.

There are many different scholarly repositories (see if you can find some in your field, from this helpful list). One option is the DigitalCommons@UMaine!

• Who can deposit: University of Maine-affiliated faculty and staff; and UMaine graduate and undergraduate students with faculty sponsorship.
• What you can deposit: Work produced or sponsored by UMaine affiliates that is educational, artistic, or research-oriented (e.g., articles, creative works, posters, patents, conference proceedings)... and that matches the goals and scope of the collection.
• Author FAQ.
• Examples of work in the Digital Commons include journal articles, like this one by Anthropology professor Christine Beitl, and this one by Psychology graduate students and their advisor, as well as this campus exhibition from UMaine's Department of Art, this poster presentation from Susan Russell and Alan Kurtz in UMaine's Center for Community Inclusion and Disability Studies, and this "Rearing Queen Bees" bullet journal from a student-faculty collaboration.

Note1: When depositing your scholarly work in a repository, it's important to understand how copyright applies to your publications (as we learned on Day 3). The SHERPA/RoMEO database contains information about specific journal and publisher policies regarding the version(s) of your work that you can post in a repository (pre-print, post-print, publisher's PDF version). Need help tracking down publisher permissions for your work? Contact your library liaison!

Note2: Repositories are one way to make scholarly content freely available online. And, research suggests that the more open your scholarship is, the more likely it is to be found, read, and cited. Learn more about open access in this library guide.

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2. Share your work on social media! Social media platforms are increasingly used by academics to communicate their creative and scholarly work, find potential collaborators, share ideas and items of interest, and as a teaching space.

Here are some examples of social media use among academics:

• See Dr. Jacquelyn Gill on Twitter, with special attention to how she translates her expertise in paleoecology to the general, interested public.
• Visit Professor Jon Ippolito on Mastodon, with an eye toward how he promotes his teaching and scholarship, in addition to others' work in the field of new media.
• Scroll through Assistant Professor Morgan Talty's Twitter feed and note how he links to his own work (and awards) and to other writers (fiction and nonfiction). This type of posting encourages people to follow you for your insights and expertise, and for access to/awareness of related, creative or scholarly works.

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3. Post your publications, or your CV, to an institutional or personal website (there are many free site building options with no coding experience needed, such as Google Sites, Wix, Weebly, and WordPress).

• See this example from former UMaine graduate student, Dr. Brie Berry (personal).
• And this one from Dr. Bridie McGreavy (personal).
• And this one from Dr. Habib Dagher (institutional).

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4. Include publications and projects in your email signature. Consider linking to your most recent publication (or to one or two that you're most proud of), to your personal website, and/or to a recent grant you received. See Dr. Cindy Isenhour's email signature as an example.

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Another option is include a link in your email signature to your ORCID or Google Scholar profile, which will contain lists of your publications and presentations. Not sure what an ORCID and Google Scholar profile are, or how to set them up? Join us for the Research Impact Challenge!

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5. Share your expert insights with a popular audience, such as a news outlet. You don't have to wait for them to contact you - reach out to an organization that you think would be a good fit for the audience you want to reach, and see if they'd be interested in your story.

• See this Bangor Daily News article from Jessica Miller, Professor of Philosophy, and this one from Alan Berry, PhD student in Media Studies.
• Take a look at this article by Sue Ishaq, Assistant Professor of Animal and Veterinary Sciences, and colleagues in The Conversation.
• Read this article in The Beacon about Dr. Natalie Michelle's work, a former Interdisciplinary PhD student at UMaine.

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Let's learn from each other! What are your suggestions for communicating one's work to different audiences? Please share your thoughts and insights in the anonymous discussion board below. Double click on the board, or click on the plus sign at the bottom right of the board, to post a comment. 

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Further reading:

• If you're considering posting to social media:
  • A Professional Academic’s Guide to Using Social Media
  • Social Media in Academia: Putting It All Together 
  • How an Audience-First Approach to Social Media Increases Engagement with your Research
  • Social Media Platforms for Academics: A Breakdown of the Networks 
  • The Complete Guide To Mastodon And Twitter For Academics
• If you're considering a news outlet, check out these tips.
• If you're thinking of a policy brief, check out these insights.
• If you're considering a conference abstract, take a look at these tips.
• If you're interested in coming up with an elevator speech - for the general public, for family and friends, for your Twitter followers, or when you meet folks at a conference - consider this brief, but impactful guidance! 

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Nicely done! You're more than halfway through the Publish and Thrive Challenge!

For the grand finale, we'll learn publishing strategies and insights from faculty and graduate students at UMaine, as well as from a local fiction writer living and working in Bangor, Maine.