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To gain the visibility and recognition that you deserve in your field, you must showcase your achievements with your own unique researcher profile. Now, more than ever before, digital visibility is critical to success in your given field. If you do not properly develop your researcher profile, your work will not achieve the level of success and recognition that it deserves.
In this article, we’ll be laying out the process for you to write your researcher profile and tips to improve your existing profile.
What is a researcher profile?
A researcher profile is a unique place on the internet that easily summarizes all of your professional work. The profile provides the world with easy access to a summary of who you are as a professional and your unique contributions to your field.
It also allows you to highlight and manage your publications list so that potential collaborators can identify the ways in which you can benefit each other in future endeavors or how they might be able to cite your research in their work.
By placing your work in a researcher profile, a search for one aspect of your research will open up all of your work, thus making it more likely that a random search will showcase all that you have to offer.
How do I find my ResearcherID?
You can easily find your ResearcherID by going to where you would set up your identification summary in the first place. The standard for ResearcherIDs is at www.researcherid.com. If you don’t already have one, you can set it up by including your name, organization or institution, your role within the organization, and any other aliases that you might have published under. Consider creating an ORCID account and ID as well.
What is the purpose of a profile?
A researcher profile accomplishes many important goals. First and foremost, it highlights you. Colleagues and potential collaborators should be able to easily see how they might be able to tap into your experience and publications to further their own careers. The field of research is highly competitive, and all of it is on the web somewhere.
An effective research profile is a way to elevate your own research over all the other material floating out there. It allows the searcher to quickly hone in on you, not just one random publication of yours that may come up in their search. We’ve all been overwhelmed with the rabbit hole where online research can take you. When your research profile comes up in a search, everything the reader needs to know is right at their fingertips.
Another problem that is solved with a good profile is the ease with which you can update your online information. For example, if you change your institutional affiliation, or begin working with an additional institution, it’s an easy update. The same is true as your contact information changes, or you add additional work to your achievements.
How do I write a research profile?
How do you write a summary of your research experience? A summary is just that, keep it simple and clear. It’s best to write in the first person, and explain your research in a short, easy to understand format. It should start with a sentence or two stating your specific focus, without all the complicated jargon. If it piques someone’s interest, you can provide links to all of the details, but first you have to capture someone’s eye who has probably been skimming through hours of content. If you had 30 seconds to describe your work to someone before they went on to the next person, what would you say?
If the material is too dense, or there is too much text, they are going to move on. Those that want to dive deeper can. Be personable and have a warm, friendly voice that draws the reader in and makes them want to learn more about you.
Your profile should be set up in a way that allows the reader to easily skip down to whatever publication is of the greatest interest to them. The layout is usually only a page or two and allows a fellow researcher or other interested persons the means to quickly find the relevant link.
How can I improve my research profile?
Look at your profile to be sure that you are coming through as an effective communicator. Is there a warm person there? Does your voice come through? It helps to have a variety of people read over your profile to assess ease of understanding. Can someone read your profile and know what you do? Whether it’s a colleague or a lay person, you and your work should be summarized briefly and in simple language.
Look at successful colleagues in your field to see how they have shaped their profiles. Then compare yours and make the changes needed. Remember that the goal is to pique a person’s interest so that they want to further examine your work. Provide the links for them to do that without trying to relay all the details. Keep it simple.
Using social media to promote your research is another way to direct people to your research profile.
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