Steve Dudley
BOU
Do you care about your research? Do you want your latest paper to reach the widest possible audience? Of course you do! So read on . . .
The BOU promotes ornithology with #theBOUblog
The BOU blog (#theBOUblog_ has become the key blog in ornithology. We have grown it over the years, and assisted by authors’ increasing understanding of the need to promote their research and the introduction of altmetrics, it really began to fly from 2014.
In 2016 we published 41 science blogs linked to papers from 12 journals (up from 32 blogs in 2015) delivering over 43,000 ‘page reads’ [update: >48,00 in 2018 and >53,000). Our 10 most-read science blogs in 2016 show the diversity of topics covered and that we attract blog post authors from wider than the 24 ornithology journals (table 1). See our most-read blogs from 2015 and 2014 here.
| Title | Author(s) | Journal |
|---|---|---|
| Red Kites are back in town | Mel Orros | IBIS |
| Of drones and birds | Elisabeth Vas | Biology Letters |
| An Australian shorebird breaks the rules on moult | Mike Weston | IBIS |
| The secret lives of nightjars | Katrina Sharps | IBIS |
| Is handling stressful for birds? | Hannah Watson | IBIS |
| Resolving the puzzle of Short-toed Eagle migration | Ugo Mellone | IBIS |
| How social are ornithologists? | Steve Dudley & Jen Smart | IBIS |
| Tracking Pied Flycatchers | Malcolm Burgess | J. Avian Biology |
| Reversing population declines in migratory bird species | Cat Morrison | Proc Roy Soc B |
| Shetland’s phalarope’s go where? | Malcolm Smith | IBIS |
Table 1. The BOU’s 10 most-read science blogs in 2016 (click on blog title to read)
View the most-read articles from 2014 and 2015.
The number of ‘reads’ the BOU blog has received has risen dramatically since 2012 (right) and coincides with the interest and rise in science blogging thanks to altmetrics (see below), and in 2015 was up to 30,000 ‘page reads’ and in 2016 we had over 43,000!
Why blog?
Blogs are simply lay summaries of science papers, and these provide a more accessible article for those both within and outside your own research community. They also provide online content for you (and your society and/or publisher) to promote on social media platforms to drive people to your paper and/or research. And of all the social media tools, blogs contribute more to you published paper’s Altmetric Attention Score. We promote all our blogs heavily on social media, driving people to your blog post which in turn drives people to your paper and/or research.
When altmetrics were introduced in 2014, our community was quick to understand the value of blogging and this has driven the increase in blogs over the last two years.
But just take my word for it! Read the RSPB’s Elwyn Sharp’s post on the benefits he found by blogging with the BOU.
So if you care about your research, then actively engaging with social media and in particular by blogging, directly yourself or via your journal or publishing society, will help your work reach more people and also contribute to your papers’ Altmetric Attention Score.
If you want to blog with #theBOUblog please see our guidelines and not that we usually have a 6-8 week waiting list (we are very popular) so the sooner your contact us (see guidelines) the sooner we can get you pencilled in to our schedule. Thanks!
Next time . . . How the BOU drives your papers’ Altmetric Attention Score
Find us on . . .
Twitter | Facebook | Instagram
More social media blogs and content from the BOU
How social are ornithologists? – an IBIS Viewpoint article
How social are ornithologists? – our NAOC2016 poster
How social is #NAOC2016? – a blog from NAOC2016
Let the BOU work for YOU . . on social media
The benefits of blogging about your research
What is Altmetric?
Making social media and the web work for you
Social media is relevant to your research
Presentations from the BOU’s ‘social media in ornithology’ workshop at #EOU2015
What do you mean you ‘don’t know how to optimize your paper for SEO?!
Twitter – building an online ornithological community
The global ornithological online community
Ornithological Twitterati, Tweetie-pies and #birdieluv
Twitter #masterclass 1 – #hashtags and retweets
Twitter #masterclass 2 – stop using auto-generated tweets
Twitter #masterclass 3 – editing and structuring your tweets
Twitter #masterclass 4 – organise your incoming tweets
Twitter #masterclass 5 – content is everything
Twitter #masterclass 6 – #hashtag best practice
Twitter #masterclass 7 – using images – best practice
Twitter #masterclass 8 – conference tweeting (for delegates, presenters and organisers)
Twitter #masterclass 9 – Twitter basics 1: terminology
Twitter #masterclass 10 – Twitter basics 2: replying to tweets
Twitter #masterclass 11 – Twitter basics 3: replying to tweets
About the author
Steve Dudley, the BOU’s Senior Administrator of 19 years, is responsible for social media and communications.
More social media articles by Steve
Blog posts express the views of the individual author(s) and not those of the BOU.
Blog with #theBOUblog
If you want to write about your research in #theBOUblog, then please see here.
