Broaden your research audience with the help of the Library

03 Apr 2019

Our researchers now have access to more support than ever before in achieving new audiences for their research thanks to a new, premium service offered by the Library’s Research Services Team entitled Open Access+

Since 11 March 2019, the Library’s Open Access Gateway for depositing author accepted manuscripts has offered an additional tick box enabling researchers to request customised guidance to help raise the visibility of their paper once published.

Researchers who opt in via the Open Access+ tick box will receive an email featuring an attached spreadsheet listing influential Twitter users identified by the Library’s Research Services team for being likely to have an interest in their publication or subject area.

The Library will also promote the publication via an Open Access+ Twitter feed to support maximum readership and, ultimately, aid the potential for greater research impact. This compliments an existing tick box allowing authors to indicate that they would like their paper to have a press release if it may have potential to generate media attention.

Scott Taylor, Research Services Manager, said, “We’re really pleased to soft launch Open Access+ this month. It’s a significant part of the Library’s work to help scholars broaden their research audiences and we’re excited about the possibility it offers for targeting influential social media users who are particularly interested in specific academic topics.

“We believe that pushing out the University’s Open Access papers in this way could have a huge impact on the attention our papers receive. We actively encourage academics to request the customised support we can provide and to start following the recommended social media accounts to see how this helps their papers to be shared for greater impact.”

Researchers and their institutes or schools can simply retweet posts from the Open Access+ Twitter account as a simple way of ensuring all relevant links and tags are shared for maximum publication impact and analytics.

Follow the feed or find out more by contacting stephen.carlton@manchester.ac.uk, Research Services Librarian, or your Academic Engagement Librarian who will be happy to meet with you or researchers in your area to explain more.