There are three simple steps that you can take now to make sure that your outputs are attributed to you.
Making sure that you have a consistent digital identity is essential if all your outputs are to be correctly attributed to you.
Use the links below or the drop-down menus to work your way through the three steps and find out more. 

Prepare your publications well and vary your outputs

• Form a reading club with colleagues to get constructive feedback on your outputs before submission.
• Different output types accrue citations at different rates. Consider writing a review or perspective paper, ideally in a high-impact journal.
• Consider provocative debate pieces, inputs into policy, and if appropriate for your field,
• multi-author surveys.
• If appropriate for your discipline, and not considered as prior publication by your chosen journal, post your manuscript to a pre-print server such as arXiv, bioRxiv, PeerJ Preprints or SSRN.

Cite yourself  (when appropriate and in moderation)

• Always cite your own work correctly, preferably using the DOI if one was assigned.
• Self-citations can be excluded from citation indices, but advertise your previous relevant work to others.
• Female authors don’t self-cite as often as male authors. Self-citation is OK when appropriate and in moderation.
• Cite your colleagues if appropriate.

Write clear titles and abstracts

• Think what keywords/phrases your audience might search for.
• Use keywords and phrases in the title, and repeatedly in the abstract.

Collaborate

• Co-authors from other countries or other institutions can give a citation advantage (check it out in SciVal).
• Explore opportunities to collaborate across disciplines thereby tapping into multiple citation networks.
• Articles with two authors double citations, on average

Share your data and research materials

• Share your supporting data and other materials, such as software code, using a data repository. Search for a repository at re3data.org, or use the University’s Research Data Archive researchdata.reading.ac.uk
• Cite and link to the data from your publication using a DOI or other unique identifier.
• Contact researchdata@reading.ac.uk for advice and assistance in sharing data.

Standardise names and affliations

• Your affiliation must always be ‘University of Reading’ and this should come first, before any departmental or other affiliation
• Always use the same format for your names and initials on every output.
• Use your University email name@reading.ac.uk
• Use your ORCID iD when you submit your manuscript.

Open Access

• Make sure your journal permits Gold or Green Open Access.
• Make sure you know your funder’s requirements on Open Access publishing.
• Apply for funds to pay for Gold Open Access via OArequests@reading.ac.uk

Journal impact

• Do your homework before submitting to a journal – visit: thinkchecksubmit.org
• Find a journal with the right audience –do you read it and cite it? Do your peers and competitors publish in it?
• Check journal metrics with Scopus, SciVal, Scimago, InCites Journal Citation Reports and Google Scholar.
• Make sure the journal/platform will issue a DOI for your publication.
• If possible, publish in a journal that is indexed by Scopus.

Publishing speed

• Choose journals with faster publication times. Contact the journal’s Editorial Office for information.
• Choose a journal that publishes online ahead of print, rather than waiting for the publication of the print edition.

Non-journal outputs

• Book chapters and conference proceedings often have poor online visibility. Choose a publisher with an online presence.
• Avoid submitting outputs that will not be not given DOIs.

Archiving

• Upload to CentAUR as soon as your output is accepted – this is mandatory for all staff and all research outputs.

Sharing

• Upload permitted versions to Academia.edu, ResearchGate or Mendeley – and tag with keywords.
• Send PDFs of your article to your peer network (if allowed by your publisher) – don’t assume they will see it in a journal.
• Use shareable links provided by the publisher to disseminate your paper to your peers.
• Include links to your latest publications in your email signature.

Promotion

• Link your works in CentAUR to your University staff webpage to increase visibility.
• Use social media to drive traffic to your publications. Post on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn etc.
• Blog about your research to encourage ongoing discussion, record a podcast, make a video, or design an infographic.
• Find links with current news stories – contact the University Press Office on pressoffice@reading.ac.uk as soon as a news story emerges.
• Edit relevant Wikipedia pages, inserting text and references to your research.
• Promote associated outputs such as research data or software code. Cite them by DOI or other unique identifier.
• Organise a conference for major outputs – contact the University Events Team on events@reading.ac.uk

Tracking attention and impact

• Use Altmetric Explorer to track mentions of your outputs on social media, policy documents and news sites.
• Track citations to your paper via Google Scholar, Web of Science or Scopus. If someone is citing you, they may be interested in your next paper.