Maintaining an active academic web presence increases citation counts and research visibility
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Peer-reviewed literature demonstrates that academic social networking and online visibility positively correlate with increases in citation counts and research discoverability.
Background: E-visibility embodies the online presence of a researcher and their research, the researcher’s discoverability, and the accessibility of the research. Academic social networking tools (ASNT) enable the creation of altmetrics for research within these academic online research communities.Objectives: This article reports on the correlations between e-visibility and altmetric-bibliometric indicators on ASNTs (Academia.edu and ResearchGate) for the Environmental Sciences researchers at the University of South Africa.Method: Altmetric and bibliometric indicators were collected from the ASNTs (Academia.edu and ResearchGate) and bibliometric data from the traditional citation resources (Scopus, Web of Science and Google Scholar), as part of a longitudinal study exploring research e-visibility and altmetric-bibliometric trends. Statistical analysis (using Spearman’s rank coefficient) was conducted on the altmetric and bibliometric data to identify the altmetric-bibliometric correlations.Results: The altmetric-bibliometric spearman correlation results show positive correlations that translates to increases in bibliometrics and altmetrics on ASNTs and citation resources.Conclusion: This study is significant as it concludes that altmetric-bibliometric indicators correlate positively and translate to the increase in research e-visibility and it allows for the enhancement of research and societal impact for environmental researchers within a South African context.Contribution: The findings of this study are beneficial to all researchers aiming at increasing their citation counts and enhancing their research- and societal impact. The main contribution of the study is the identification of altmetric-bibliometric correlations. Recommendations for researchers include well-maintained research profiles on ASNTs and citation resources for the increase of research e-visibility and the enhancement of research and societal impact.
Active promotion of scholarship is an aspect of the publication cycle. Commercial and non-profit services help researchers increase visibility and recognition
Research networking (RN) is about using tools to identify, locate and use research and scholarly information about people and resources. Research networking tools (RN tools) serve as knowledge management systems for the research enterprise. RN tools connect institution-level/enterprise systems, national research networks, publicly available research data (e.g., grants and publications), and restri
Author/Researcher Identification—these services provide infrastructure that may be used in the other two categories, such as unique identifiers and name disambiguation.
Academic and Professional Networking—most succinctly described as "social networking for academics," these services focus on connecting users based on research interest, affiliation, geography or other variables.
Reference and Citation Management—these tools and services include some of the functionality and features of other categories, although their primary focus is on management of citations that a researcher compiles for use within a publication or for sharing with other researchers.
Importantly, data harvested into RN tools can be repurposed, especially if available as Linked Open Data (RDF triples). These RN tools enhance research support activities by providing data for customized, web pages, CV/biosketch generation and data tables for grant proposals.
The website described was not designed to replace classroom teaching, but to serve as an additional tool for students attending a traditional course. Based on my experience and the data obtained from the evaluation questionnaire, the following points can be made: students are enthusiastic about the Internet and will access a web page that accompanies a particular course or courses a website can allow for objectives, not normally engendered by traditional methods, to be achieved. These may include, for instance, fostering a sense of community, providing new means of communication between professor and student and serving as a portal to the vast resources of the Internet. A single-theme website can effectively address the learning needs of students at different levels, in this case both undergraduate and graduate students A well-designed website can increase the visibility of the educational institution that sponsors it It is not easy to measure a website's effectiveness in helping students achieve traditional course objectives or its impact on student learning. The questionnaire results confirm students' satisfaction with the website and their belief that it was an important and useful learning tool. This is significant and positive. Future research is needed to measure the degree to which a website can increase learning in a particular area. The site required about 150 hours to construct and about 6-8 hours per week to maintain. This is a considerable amount of faculty time.
professional visibility and authority-building among entrepreneurs and business leaders. LinkedIn can also be used to organize offline events, create and join
LinkedIn () is an American business and employment-oriented social networking service used globally. The platform is primarily used for professional networking and career development, as it allows jobseekers to post their CVs and employers to post their job listings. As of 2026, LinkedIn has more than 1 billion registered members from over 200 countries and territories. It was launched on May 5, 2
LinkedIn is particularly well-suited for personal branding, which, according to Sandra Long, entails "actively managing one's image and unique value" to position oneself for career opportunities. LinkedIn has evolved from being a mere platform for job searchers into a social network which allows users a chance to create a personal brand. Career coach Pamela Green describes a personal brand as the "emotional experience you want people to have as a result of interacting with you," and a LinkedIn profile is an aspect of that. A contrasting report suggests that a personal brand is "a public-facing persona, exhibited on LinkedIn, Twitter and other networks, that showcases expertise and fosters new connections."
LinkedIn allows professionals to build exposure for their brand within the site itself and on the World Wide Web as a whole. Business Growth Strategist Wendy Shore, writing in Entrepreneur, has described LinkedIn as a dynamic platform for personal branding, professional visibility, and authentic connection-building, noting that it has evolved well beyond its origins as a job search tool into a primary channel for establishing authority and growing revenue.
With a tool that LinkedIn dubs a Profile Strength Meter, the site encourages users…
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