Evaluating Social Media Tools for Driving Journal Readership: A Case Study

Abstract

Busy editorial offices trying to keep up with publishing trends should evaluate the tools available to them to ensure they are having a measurable outcome. In this case study, social media was evaluated for its ability to drive readers to a new peer-reviewed journal. The competition for reader attention is high. There are easily tens of thousands of scientific journals—as well as an endless number of other media platforms and an ever-changing landscape of digital connectivity—creating an overwhelming number of places for readers to go for information. This has resulted in an explosion of ideas for editorial offices to attract reader attention. This race for novelty and attention has the potential to strain an editorial office already at capacity trying to keep up with all the other trends and movements in publishing. Several great ideas have been proposed in the discussion for attracting readership, including graphical abstracts, article videos, journal podcasts, and more. At conferences, these ideas are easy to discuss, and listening to bigger publishers with a lot of resources give an overview of them creates excitement; but to implement them effectively when editors get back to the office takes real resources. Editorial offices can strain to keep the normal production wheels turning efficiently—trying to meet the demand of quick times to publication—so some of these ideas can challenge capacity and require that other things be moved aside to create the space needed to implement them. Further, the proper execution of these strategies can be challenging, especially for smaller […]