Increased visibility – the good way
We will have to work on the positive visibility, where we also create value to the surrounding world. We can do that in many ways, but we must of course pay attention to doing it wisely
It is often said that any publicity is good publicity. This is undoubtedly a truth of limited validity. It is, however, certain that no publicity is untenable, especially in the long term. Visibility is important to us all, both as individuals in our careers and to our institution, to the university, the department and the section. It contributes to ensuring the attention that is required for the prioritization of our research interests so that we become attractive to talented students and researchers and that we are chosen as collaborators both at national level and internationally.
This means that we will have to work on the positive visibility, where we also create value to the surrounding world. We can do that in many ways, but we must of course pay attention to doing it wisely.
It is important to our research that it is seen, read and cited. The first step here is of course to ensure that the research is published in the best scientific journals. But that is not enough. The titles of the articles for example are important for attracting interest; try to consider alternatives with respect to what may make the readers want to read the article.
The next step is that the articles are actually being read. The flow of articles is growing steadily, so something must be done to increase the visibility. The most efficient way of doing this is probably by giving presentations at conferences, but also promotion on websites and ResearchGate may make a difference. At the same time we should also utilize the possibility of presenting a short version of the results as news in the DCA newsletter, either in English or Danish. There are also other newsletters, e.g. from ICROFS, that can be used.
Availability of the articles to the readers is a prerequisite for them to be read. Most of the journals in which we publish require subscriptions to which not everybody has access. This increases the focus on open access, and with most journals it is possible to buy open access rights of published articles. Actually, it is the policy of both the Danish government and AU that all published articles must be open access. In AGRO, we do not at all live up to that, and that is most likely bad for the dissemination of our articles and for having them cited. In 2016, we have so far published 147 articles, but only 26 of these are open access (18%). That is disgracefully few. We should in our research applications make sure to include funds for paying for open access rights. We will benefit from that in the future both as department and as researchers. It is simply a way of increasing the H-index.
A different approach to disseminating articles is to upload them to ResearchGate. This is of course not possible if it means that we breach the copyright with the journal. Many journals do, however, permit that the articles are made fully public after a certain number of years or that the final manuscript can be published. Remember to check this with the journal.
PhD courses and summer schools are also an efficient way of increasing our visibility. The added advantage is at the same time that we get into close contact with future researchers and thus also the environments that they come from. We should therefore increase the range of good courses that we offer. Another way is of course that we and our students go abroad for study visits with the best foreign universities. This is actually something that the Dean encourages very much.
Also at department level it is possible to do more. We hold too few seminars for our end users. This is something that the flagships will look further into in the future. At the same time we could also be more visible in the agricultural media and in the public debate. So it is just to get down to it, and Janne Hansen will most likely be happy to assist.