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How to get published papers noticed and cited more?

In our July “how can we help you?” thread, a reader writes:

I wanted to ask what one should do to get their paper more noticed and ideally cited. I suspect that this is a phenomenon that is quite widespread but I’ve found that in the areas of philosophy that I work in, a lot of papers go uncited and unengaged with. For example, a couple of papers I’ve published in my subarea about 2-4 years ago (within the top 20 generalist journals) were only marginally engaged with in the work that has been coming out in this area. I recall that even when I was publishing those papers, those reviewing my paper didn’t direct me to other papers that were published that engaged with the arguments I was making. People just seem to keep repeating the same dialectical epicycle seemingly unaware that others have said similar things, and I found this is true even of work that I think is more influential than my own. Maybe philosophers are just terrible at doing lit review or are just lazy. One thing I’ve been thinking of doing (after hearing that some do this) is to email folks who have published recently letting them know about my work and its relevance (like a ‘hey what do you think about this argument that you missed?’). Does this seem like a plausible strategy? Are there any better ones?

I’d be curious to hear answers from readers as well. My own experience is that it mostly just takes time, particularly if you publish consistently. But maybe my case isn’t representative.

What do readers think?

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6 responses to “How to get published papers noticed and cited more?”

  1. Anon

    There are two good strategies. The best would be to shoot for higher-ranking journals. Another would be to be very active and visible at conferences and other events within your subfield.

    I would not email people telling them that they overlooked your work. This will not be perceived well. If you want to email people, do it in the interest of building genuine professional connections that may later lead them to read your work voluntarily. The first email needs to make a light ask, or ideally no ask at all.

    Reply
    1. Anonymous

      I agree–I think you’re more likely to get positive engagement from reaching out to people and showing that you are an interested and knowledgeable interlocutor than from (implicitly or explicitly) calling them out for not citing you.

      Reply
  2. Anonymous

    Obviously I’m not in a position to prejudge your work — but is the paper making a fairly local point within an existing debate? Top journals publish lots of excellent work like that, but such papers can naturally get little uptake because they don’t change the larger dialectical landscape. My instinct would be: rather than chasing citations, try to make the next paper harder to bypass by building a bigger point.

    Reply
  3. Michel

    2-4 yeas post-publication is too short a window, IMO. If you think about it, it can take a few years just to go from a finished draft to a published paper, because of both the vagaries of the review process, and slow times to publication.

    I think most of the best work you can do to promote your work comes before publication. Present your work at lots of conferences. Become a known and friendly face in your subfield, active in your subfield organizations (if there are any), etc. People who already know you will take more notice of you.

    It’s also worth noting that venue matters. Major subfield journals will get more subfield eyes on your work than major generalist journals will, even though the major generalist journal may count for more for hiring and promotion.

    Build up a network of friendly subfield acquaintances. Cheer them on when they publish. And when you publish, announce it on social media so your friendly acquaintances can see. Again, people who already know you will take more notice of you.

    Reply
  4. Anonymous

    I am a little reticent to give advice on this sort of topic (but I have been cited 3000+ times, so … here goes). I would NOT contact people who you think should be citing your papers and scold them. That will get you nowhere. I have, in the past, sent people who I cite in my papers copies of the papers. This has sometimes been productive, but only if I really discuss their view in some sort of detail. As you note, philosophers are generally quite bad at literature reviews. But, one thing that might help to increase engagement with your papers is framing your discussions of others’ work in positive ways: instead of saying “x fails to do such and such” say “x contributes such and such, but leaves open such and such”. It costs very little to acknowledge in a positive way what someone has done, even if in the end you are going to be critical of their view or go far past it.
    I do think, as Marcus notes, it just takes a lot of time. My most cited paper – over 300 citations – was in print 12 years before it peaked at 30 citations in a year. Since then it collects about 9 to 21 citations a year.

    Reply
  5. Anonymous

    Ideally what should happen is that people do more lit review and give people proper credit. But in our world, I think a bit of self-promotion is needed, like

    a) try to just happen to be on the radar of the person who wrote and/or will revise the SEP entry. This happened to me purely out of luck, but I do see that when a particular lit review takes place, it is always the exact items on SEP that tends to get cited.
    b) try to get to know the people who review a lot; ideally become one of those people. In the latter case, never just recommend your papers because you want a citation though. Try to recommend your own work (and those you think are excellent) when and only when they are relevant and constructive.
    c) write a Philosophy Compass, IEP, or 1,000 Word Philosophy entry if they don’t yet exist.
    d) Attend conferences and workshops. Many of specialised conferences and workshops are highly rewarding intellectually, but it is also great to be on the radar of the major and emerging players in one’s field.

    Reply

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