Excellence Everywhere - National University of Ireland, Galway

PROMOTING YOUR WORKYour patience and persistence have paid off, andyour article has been accepted by a good journal.Now you can use your newly minted publicationas a tool in a legitimate effort at self-promotion.You want to become known to your scientificcolleagues nationwide. Here are some things youcan do to promote your work:n Announce the publication on your personal Website and in email correspondence with your friends.Consider making it available in PDF format on yourWeb site, if that is acceptable to the journal. Manyjournals now also allow you to distribute PDFcopies of papers to interested individual readers asyou once would have done with paper reprints.n Give a workshop at your own institution on theresearch described in your article and your futureresearch plans. Doing so is relatively easy and isgood practice.n Call your friends at universities around the countryor region and offer to give a talk on your researchat their institutions or at conferences they areorganizing. However, do not invite yourself to ameeting by writing to the organizers if you do notknow them. You might come across as arrogantand put people in the awkward position of having toturn you down.n Once you have an invitation, take it seriously.Prepare and rehearse your talk.n Consider going public. Contact your institution’spublic relations office, if there is one, for helpcontacting the media. It is in the university’sinterest to have the good work of its scientistspublicized.n If your research was supported by an outside funder,let the appropriate staff at the funding organizationknow about the publication as soon as possible.n If a reporter contacts you, make an effort to speakwith him or her. Your university’s public relationsoffice can help you prepare for the interview. Keepin mind that many reporters are not scientists andyou will need to give them sufficient backgroundto understand the importance of your work. If possible,ask reporters to give you a copy of the storybefore it is published so that you can check foraccuracy. While some feature writers will respondpositively, most news reporters will turn down thisrequest. It never hurts to ask, though.increasing your impact: getting published133