Publishing your research

A well-thought-out publication strategy can help you reach the audience most interested in your work and increase the visibility of your research. It also allows you to publish in journals or platforms that have a meaningful influence in your field, thereby enhancing the impact of your findings. At the same time, a clear strategy can support your career goals by aligning with requirements for tenure, grants, or collaborations. Finally, it helps ensure you meet funder or institutional mandates, such as open access or data-sharing requirements.

If you want to reach your scientific peers, consider a publishing outlet that has the right scope, quality, openness and impact for your work. Consider the following aspects:

• Scope: If you go for a peer-reviewed scientific journal, consider the scope, most often stated on the journal's website. Ensure that you select a journal that aligns with the scope of your work. You can use the Journal Browser to select a journal.
• Diversify your outputs. Think beyond journal articles: conference papers, book chapters, datasets, software, poster presentations, and research talks can complement your strategy and help you reach a broader audience.
• Goal or purpose. What is the goal you want to achieve with your scientific communication? Do you want to disseminate your final research findings, persuade funders, increase your visibility, or do you want quick feedback? Not all content benefits from being published in journals. Posting your work as a preprint can enhance your publication strategy and lead to constructive feedback before formal publication.
• Quality: Consider the significance and novelty of your work and find a publishing platform with a matching standard.
• Openness: It is WUR policy to publish your peer-reviewed articles Open Access if you are the corresponding author. Use the WUR Journal Browser to find journals in which you can publish Open Access for free or with a discount on the APCs (Author Processing Charges).
• Impact: Think about how to increase the impact of your publication. Consider publishing in a journal that is indexed in large bibliographic databases, such as Scopus or Web of Science. Make sure your publication is registered in Pure and visible on Research@WUR. Use an ORCID ID or post links to your publication on social media.
• Publishing process: If you are under time constraints, check a journal's turnaround time for manuscripts. Consider publishing a preprint on a preprint server for early exposure of your work. Use SciRev to read about other authors' experiences with journals in terms of peer-review quality, duration, and other characteristics.
• Funder requirements: Funders may require immediate Open Access or to publish your work on the funder's preferred publishing platform.
• Research narrative: Consider the significance of your research from the perspective of your intended audience. Use storytelling techniques to craft a compelling research narrative. Begin with a strong hook or origin to introduce the context, present the central conflict or challenge, and describe the research journey leading to discovery. Build toward a climax that reveals key findings, and conclude with an insight that underscores the broader impact and significance of the study for your audience.

If your results can be applied directly, and you want stakeholders or policymakers to use them in practice, consider publishing in a report or in a professional journal. Take a look at the Groenekennis database to find professional sources you could publish in. In NatureToday you can share your research findings about Dutch nature.
Sharing your research with the general public can greatly amplify its impact and relevance. This can be done through popular science articles, blogs, or magazines, as well as media interviews, podcasts and school visits. Social media summaries or infographics are effective ways to reach broader audiences quickly, and public lectures, workshops, or webinars allow you to engage directly with the community and showcase the practical relevance of your work. You can use Nexis Uni to find possible media sources to publish in. The communication advisor of your science group can also help you prepare posts for social media or generate media attention for your research.

Open Access (OA) refers to making research outputs, including journal articles and books, freely and immediately available online. The Library offers tools, such as the Journal Browser & guidance to researchers on open-access publishing. These tools and guidelines are available on our dedicated Open Access webpage.