Day 1: Create an ORCID Profile. Register in just 30 seconds!
Day 2: Create a researcher profile on Academia.edu, ResearchGate, Mendeley, or figshare.
Day 3: Make LinkedIn work for your research.
Step 1: Create a solid, full profile.
Step 2: Highlight your research. Add your best publications and notable awards.
Step 3: Connect with other researchers.
Day 4: Find your research community on social media.
Twitter is a fantastic resource to find research communities to engage with, but you can also use Facebook for professional connections. When using social media to connect to other researchers, choose if you want your social media presence to be purely professional or a mix of personal and professional.
Top tip: Share on social media when you publish a new article or present at a conference. If your research is publicly accessible and has a DOI (by publication, archiving, or sharing on figshare) then you'll be able to get altmetrics data on your paper or presentation.
Join Twitter chats! #withaPhD, #PhDchat, #ECRchat, #vitaechat are all general research communities you can engage with on Twitter. Your discipline may also have regular Twitter chats where you can engage with colleagues.
View the Cultivating Your Digital Identity library workshop slides for more tips.
Day 5: Create a Google Scholar profile. Discover when your work is discussed and shared online.
Step 1: Register for a Google Scholar profile at scholar.google.com and click the "My Citations" link at the top of the page.
Step 2: Add your publications. Google has likely been indexing your work already and will provide you with a list of publications that they think belong with you. Read through the list and select which publications to add to your profile. Add any missing publications to the list if you want them included.
Step 3: Make your profile public.
Step 4: Create an alert to find out when your work receives a new citation. When logged into your Google Scholar profile, click on "Follow" by your name, select "Follow new citations," and click "Create alert."
Day 6: Archive your research!
Multiple studies show that publicly accessible research is more discoverable, gaining more readers, and receiving more citations. Learn more about archiving your research.
Day 7: Share your conference presentations and posters!
Add your conference presentations and posters to SlideShare, SpeakerDeck, figshare, or ScholarsCommons.
Top tip: You'll get a free DOI if you share presentations and posters through figshare. Add the DOI to your presentation slides or conference poster, so you can track the attention your presentation receives! A DOI can be used to track the altmetrics for your research and will help you discover how people are talking about and using your research. figshare requires a Creative Commons license.
This guide is based on Duquesne University’s 5-Day Challenge.
The 5-Day Challenge was adapted from the 30-Day Impact Challenge: The Ultimate Guide to Raising The Profile of Your Research by Stacy Konkiel.
The book is licensed under a CC-BY license and is available for free as a PDF.
