by ecancer reporter Audrey Nailor

For fiction and non-fiction authors, it's all part of the job: writing the book is only half the battle, quickly followed by the hard work of marketing, promotion and audience-building.

But academic authors have long avoided this part of publishing - and are now wondering how to catch up.

One of the most accurate indicators of an article's impact is its number of citations. Highly-cited articles are key for researcher's h-indices, which attempt to measure the productivity and impact of individual scholars.

In a competitive funding environment, researchers appreciate the value of earning that high h-index. But it's also important to note how an article is spread, used and shared. Altmetrics - which measure everything from an article's views to its impact on social media - are becoming increasingly important.

But a canny researcher will note that these barometers of productivity are hooked to their article's visibility. Not everybody can - or wishes to - publish in popular journals like Nature. 

For some academic authors, it may not be a question of "should we promote our own papers?" but "how have we managed to avoid doing it for so long?"

"Most researchers who are not in the select group of privileged [authors] who publish in elite journals wonder: what is the recipe to enhance the impact of their publications?" writes Ernesto Spinak at SciELO in Perspective.

Since highly viewed articles reflect well on the journal, publishers are also keen to encourage authors to help promote their work. Major publishing house Elsevier provides a fact sheet of suggestions for authors to increase their visibility; suggestions include sharing the piece on social media and providing blurbs for press offices.

ecancermedicalscience now features Article Level Metrics, allowing our authors to track their views. We also provide press releases and promotion for selected articles, with some of them attaining international attention - even going viral.

Our own suggestions for authors? In our experience, highly visible papers often have these traits:

• An excellent title, usually incorporating key words or phrases.
• Well-written abstracts that assert the importance of the article while attracting - and holding - attention.
• Good, clear figures that can be circulated - perhaps in press releases, on Twitter, at conferences, or in a colleague's lecture slides.
• Authors who are willing to engage in social media platforms like Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn - and who encourage their colleagues to do so as well!

And, of course, our favourite tip for producing visible papers - publishing them in ecancermedicalscience!