Sharing your work

Thousands of papers are published every day. Even good work can go unread unless you help people find it.

Make it findable

• Open access or a legal free copy (preprint or accepted manuscript, following Sherpa Romeo).
• Code and data linked, with DOIs.
• A clear title and abstract with the words people search for.

Tell people

• A short summary in plain words (a "thread" or post) with the key figure, for social media or your group's website.
• Talks: lab meetings, reading groups, local meetups, conference sessions (see Presenting Research).
• Email the few researchers whose work you build on most. Many will be glad to know.
• Your institution's press office, for findings of public interest. Check their summary for overclaiming before it goes out.

Be honest in summaries

The temptation to hype is strongest when sharing. Keep the limits in, and use the same careful words as the paper (Writing a Research Paper, "Not overclaiming").

Engage with responses

Answer questions, accept corrections, and update your preprint if you fix something. A paper that people discuss is a paper that lives.

RememberMake it open and findable, tell people in plain words with your key figure, and keep the summary as honest as the paper.