Findability: work nobody can locate has the impact of work nobody wrote

Publication is not the end of the process.

Work that cannot be located does not get read, cited or acted on — which means it has roughly the impact of work nobody wrote.

Identifiers

• Use your persistent identifier on every submission.
• Ensure the published version carries the work's identifier.
• Link data and code deposits to the paper and to your profile.
• Identifiers are what let systems connect your outputs to each other and to you.

Title and abstract

• Use terms people search for, not idiosyncratic phrasing.
• Put the important terms early.
• Say what the paper found, not what it discusses.
• Avoid clever titles that contain none of the searchable terms.
• These two fields do most of the discovery work.

Deposit

• Deposit the accepted version in a repository — free, permitted by most publishers, and it reaches people without subscription access.
• Deposit at acceptance; deferred deposits do not happen.
• Check the permitted version and embargo.
• Include the identifier in the deposit record.

Keywords and indexing

• Use standard terminology of your field.
• Include both specific and broader terms.
• Consider what someone outside your subfield would search.
• Include terms in the local language where relevant, if the venue allows.

Beyond the paper

• Keep one profile current and complete.
• Deposit data and code with their own identifiers — they get found independently.
• Present the work; talks reach people who have not read it.
• Cite your own related work appropriately, which connects the pieces.

For work in less-indexed venues

• Repository deposit is especially important — it may be the only way the work is discoverable.
• Ensure the record has complete metadata.
• Link it from your profile.
• Cite it in your later work.
• Local-language work benefits most from careful deposit.

One thing worth remembering

Deposit the accepted version in a repository on the day of acceptance.

It is free, most publishers permit it, and it is the single most effective thing you can do to make work findable by people who cannot reach the published version — which, for a great deal of the world, is most people.

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