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Strategic Publishing, Research Impact & Researcher Profiles: Researcher Profiles

This guide covers scholarly publishing strategies, how to choose a journal, discusses Open Access publishing models, how to evaluate research impact, and provides tips around managing researcher profiles

What are researcher profiles and why do I need them?

 

Researcher profiles are essential tools for managing your online identity and showcasing your research output. Having well-managed profiles helps potential collaborators, funders and colleagues find you and your work.

 

Types of profiles

There are a variety of researcher profiles that you may need to use throughout your career. Some you will want to set up as soon as you start out as a researcher - even while you are a HDR student - others will become necessary later in your career.

different researcher profiles organised by career

Stage 1

As a HDR student or Early Career Researcher, there are two essential profiles you need to set up:

  1. A Symplectic (UTS Discovery) profile
  2. ORCID

 It's never too early to set these up - you can even do it before publishing your first article.

Stage 2

As your career progresses, more profiles become necessary. Some, like ResearcherID and Scopus ID are generated for you by publishers once you start to publish journal articles. Others, like Google Scholar, require you to have at least one published article you can claim before creating a researcher profile. 

These profiles extend your online presence - but they do not replace the need to manage your ORCID and Symplectic profiles.

Stage 3

You might consider adding these extra profiles to extend your online presence as a researcher:

  • Having a profile on ResearchGate or Academia.edu to help you share your research and connect with other scholars.
  • Starting a Twitter account or personal blog to help you share your research with the general public.

ORCID

 

Your ORCID ID is both a researcher profile and a permanent identifier that is used by publishers and databases to identify you. Having an ORCID ID is particularly useful when moving between institutions or changing your name, as the identifier will always link back to you.

Useful links:

Symplectic - UTS Discovery profile

 

One of the most important profiles you will need to set up is a UTS Discovery profile. This profile allows the UTS community and external collaborators to locate you and your research and to verify your affiliation with UTS. This profile is managed using a tool called Symplectic Elements.

 

Five steps to setting up your UTS Discovery profile

 

Links and Documents:

Other researcher profiles

 

In addition to your ORCID and UTS Discovery profiles, you might also want to consider adding and maintaining a Google Scholar profile and ensuring your Scopus ID and Web of Science Researcher ID profiles are kept up to date.

 

Useful links: