Scientific Journal Communication Plan

Editorial University of Seville

Scientific journals, as a dynamic and operational formula for disseminating research progress, are one of the most traditional representations of university publishing. The University of Seville ensures that the publications identified with its editorial label are in line with the quality and prestige inherent to the institution.

The natural editorial format for scientific journals is electronic and open access. All of them are managed through the OJS platform and can be accessed through the University of Seville's Editorial portal (editorial.us.es) and the journals' own portals (revistascientificas.us.es).

The plan we present aims to guide the responsible parties of the journals in a series of specific actions designed to improve visibility and positioning. These actions can be summarized in the following points, which will be addressed in the subsequent sections:

1. Thematic categorization of the publication
2. Defining the target audience to shape communication channels
3. Establishing dissemination actions
4. Identifying the agents responsible for communication actions and their frequency
5. Acting in the event of a crisis
6. Measuring the impacts

1. Thematic Categorization of the Publication

Currently, our catalog includes sixty journals, nine of which bear the prestigious FECYT quality seal, thanks to meeting internationally recognized professional requirements. The journals are distributed by areas of knowledge. The first aspect that editors should address is the categorization of the journal within the corresponding thematic area. This will facilitate proper indexing in databases. If any error is detected in this regard, they should contact the person in charge of providing technical support to publications (Antonio Gómez Morilla: eus5@us.es).

2. Defining the Target Audience to Shape Communication Channels

It is essential to distinguish at least three user profiles to configure dissemination actions. First, we must consider potential readers, who, given the nature of the publications, will primarily be from the academic field: professors, researchers, and students at various levels (undergraduate, master’s, doctoral), or members of entities related to the thematic area. Second, communication actions will target potential authors, and finally, we must consider communication with university libraries and indexing agencies.

The information each of these profiles requires is as follows:

• Potential readers: Publication of new issues and highlighted articles.
• Potential authors: Article review protocol, publication deadlines, achievements in indexing, editorial team formation, anti-plagiarism policy (tools used for detection: software programs), ethical commitment.
• University libraries: Publication of new issues, highlighted articles, achievements in indexing.

3. Establishing Dissemination Actions

The following are the main actions that should be carried out to improve the national and international dissemination of this information, grouped according to the profiles from the previous section. It should be noted that many of these actions are effective for more than one category, although in this document they are only mentioned in the group where each action plays the most relevant role. We will distinguish two levels for each action (priority level and advanced level) to mark the order in which each action should be carried out:

A. Potential Readers

Priority Level:

• Make information about the editorial team, scientific committee, and external advisory board publicly visible, along with updates. The journal websites must always be up to date.
• Prepare a summary of each published issue to facilitate dissemination through news and social media.
• Use internal communication channels of the University of Seville to inform about new issues or highlighted articles: Internal News Bulletin of the University of Seville (BINUS) (published every Wednesday, so the information should be sent to binus@us.es a few days in advance), community email distribution lists (subscribe to news distribution lists), resources in courses/subjects, and websites of centers and departments.

Advanced Level:

• Establish social media accounts (if qualified personnel are available for management): Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, etc., to inform about these milestones. When publishing issues through these channels, the articles themselves can be promoted, ensuring a regular cadence in this regard. Even with independent networks, it is important to use the Editorial US’s networks for dissemination. In cases of special relevance, it is recommended to use the University’s official account (you can find the available addresses in Appendix 2 of this document to direct information from each journal).
• Project information to users outside the University of Seville: journal website, podcast repositories, contact databases (internal database of each journal), University EUS and BUS websites, institutional repository. It is necessary to subscribe to all thematic/scientific distribution lists relevant to the publication.
• Consider the option of using University resources, such as the SAV multimedia room, to create short videos of authors explaining their published research to animate the networks.

B. Potential Authors

Priority Level:

• Have an updated, well-designed website that facilitates article searches, aligns with the University’s corporate image, ranks well in search engines, supports social media dissemination, and allows video inclusion. Use a logo.
• Establish key milestones for each journal: call for papers (also use international databases), monographs, new issues, indexing achievements, quality seals, etc.
• Publish the anti-plagiarism policy and ethical commitment on the website.
• Improve external communication through the university community’s email distribution list.
• Maintain contact with scientific committees and external advisors to serve as dissemination channels. Regular information about new issues can be shared.
• Add communication recommendations to the author instructions to help authors disseminate accepted articles through their own networks and media: lists, social media, etc. When communicating article acceptance, attach a “dissemination instructions letter” (see Appendix 1) stressing the importance of promoting the DOI for better visibility and more citations.

Advanced Level:

• Translate the journal’s website content into English. Internship scholarships could be offered through the University of Seville’s Ícaro portal (https://icaro.ual.es/US) for students in related degrees (e.g., Bachelor’s in English Philology, Master’s in Translation and Interculturality) to carry out these tasks with proper tutoring.
• Annually, specifically promote the most-cited article, congratulating the authors.
• Create press releases to disseminate outstanding achievements such as quality seals. The University of Seville’s Communications Directorate can be used as a channel. Include these achievements in the University’s own media, such as BINUS, Revista US, Web Portal, and RadiUS.

C. University Libraries

• Create alerts in OJS so that university libraries can be aware of new issues published.
• Enable the “information for librarians” option in OJS to indicate that the journals should be included in their catalogs and specialized websites.
• The editorial team should inform US libraries of updates in Dialnet.

4. Identification of Agents Responsible for Communication Actions and Their Frequency

It is recommended to clearly define who executes each action, what tools are used, the frequency, and who is responsible for each communication task. In general, the parties responsible for scientific journal communication actions are:

• The academic directorate
• The academic secretariat
• Members of the editorial teams of the journals
• Authors
• The institution’s support community for the journal

The direction of the journals should assign dissemination tasks to the involved agents and supervise their timely execution. It is crucial that all actions listed in Section 3 are carried out with great care, as their use could impact the University of Seville’s public image and prestige. Therefore, we recommend that the communication policy be handled by people familiar with the channels used in each case. It is essential to know the content of the University of Seville’s Social Media Usage and Style Manual, which can be downloaded here.

Below is a table detailing the agents responsible for each action:

5. Acting in the Event of a Crisis

A crisis is any situation that threatens to damage people or property, seriously disrupt business, significantly harm reputation, or impact the foundations of activity. The publication of an article, although limited to the academic field, is susceptible to causing a crisis, where the information might be argued to infringe on ideological freedom, damage an entity’s image, or contain a high proportion of plagiarism. We recommend following the following ten steps to establish a crisis management protocol:

1. Anticipate crisis situations
2. Identify the crisis management team
3. Identify spokespeople
4. Train the spokespeople
5. Establish notification and monitoring systems
6. Identify and understand affected interest groups
7. Prepare initial response statements
8. Evaluate the crisis situation
9. Issue key messages until the situation is resolved
10. Perform a post-crisis analysis

It is recommended to inform the University of Seville’s Communications Directorate of such situations through email dircom@us.es to provide a unified institutional response. If legal advice is required, you can consult with our legal department (servjuri1@us.es).

6. Measuring Impacts

Once the communication plan is executed, it is necessary to use tools that measure the impact of each action and the results of each objective to determine if it has been achieved or if the work plan needs adjustment. Below is a list of options for tracking impacts:

• Google Analytics: Website/blog audience
• Twitter Analytics
• Facebook Insights
• (Common tool for social impact of articles via DOI)
• Ordinary feedback via email
• OJS statistics: Visits and downloads of each article
• CrossRef statistics (DOI)

Appendix 1: Model Dissemination Instructions Letter

To improve the visibility of your article, we recommend following these actions:

1. Boost your academic and social impact

• If you have social media accounts: Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc., share your article with the DOI; this activity will be recorded in altmetric databases that measure the social impact of publications. You can follow these tips: https://guiasbus.us.es/altmetrics/mejore
• Share