Six Mistakes That Limit the Global Reach of Your Research
Your organization has got exciting, globally impactful research to share and has devoted time and effort into promoting it. But you end up engaging with scientists from just a handful of countries. If the research is globally relevant, why aren’t you getting global engagement? You may be making these mistakes.
Complicated English
Conventional scientific writing is difficult to follow for even native English speakers, including junior researchers and specialists in other fields. At the very least, you should include a plain language summary: a synopsis of the study’s aims, findings, and implications in simple, non-technical language. Plain language summaries are easier for non-native speakers to process and can be written such that they are easily translatable for a global audience.
Insufficient Visuals
Visuals not only attract more viewers but also make it easier for viewers to understand and remember your research. Infographics, videos, and other digital resources make your research more accessible to a wider global audience, especially those from non-English-speaking countries.
Stereotyped Visuals
When preparing your visual material, make sure it represents the audience you’re trying to reach. For instance, you may be using White figures to represent the researchers and participants (fun fact: China has over 400,000 more researchers than the US!).
Non-Mobile Friendly Content
Even if your website or platform is mobile-friendly (you might even have an app), you need to recheck whether all the content you produce is also mobile-friendly. In countries like China, over 90% of the population use smartphones to access the Internet. Again, here’s why infographics and videos have an advantage over full-length journal articles.
Limited Social Media
When designing a strategy to promote your research on social media, do you think of only Twitter, Facebook, and perhaps LinkedIn? Platforms like WhatsApp, WeChat, and TikTok actually have more users than Twitter. So, if you want to build a presence in a specific country, find out the most popular social media platforms locally (e.g., WeChat, QQ, and Weibo in China; KakaoTalk in Korea; WhatsApp in India and Brazil).
Over-reliance on High-Speed Internet
Every part of the world doesn’t have high-speed Internet, especially in low-income countries. Provide alternative versions of infographics and videos with lower resolutions, which make them easier to download. Livestreaming is appealing to viewers with excellent Internet connectivity, but you should also offer the option to download the video as an mp4 after the event/webinar.
When trying to increase the global reach of your organization, especially in the realm of scientific research, you can’t afford to ignore local systems, policies, and practices. The research community is not limited to native English speakers residing in Western countries (e.g., China publishes more journal articles and conference papers in engineering than the US). An organization that wants to increase its global reach and impact must build strong local presences.
