In academia, visibility doesn’t just happen—it’s built. And for many researchers, the best time to build it is right now.

Summer offers a rare window: fewer meetings, a little more breathing room, and space to think strategically about the year ahead. On OpenScholar, even a modest investment of time—whether refining a current site or establishing a new one—can yield meaningful visibility and engagement throughout the academic year.

Here’s how to make it count.

The Summer Visibility Checklist

Consider this an opportunity for a strategic refresh. Whether you're an individual researcher, a lab lead, or part of a team managing multiple sites across an institution, summer is an ideal time to ensure your web presence accurately reflects the caliber and direction of your research.  Even without a full overhaul, targeted updates can significantly improve how your work is presented, discovered, and supported—by funders, collaborators, and the broader research community.

1. Update Your Latest Publications
Ensure recent publications, preprints, and working papers are up to date and properly linked. In OpenScholar, your publication page is auto-generated and auto-updated every time you add something new, making the process easy and seamless. Reviewing and refining this data improves accuracy and credibility.

2. Refresh Profiles and Bios
Has your role shifted? New title, project, or award? Check that faculty and team bios reflect current roles, projects, and affiliations. Even subtle updates—such as a new research focus or collaboration—can improve how your work is understood and contextualized by funders, partners, and the public.

3. Highlight Key Achievements
Funding success? Media coverage? Conference talks? Highlighting recent wins builds credibility and momentum, reminds visitors that your work is active and supported, and positions your work for external engagement. See how researchers are using OpenScholar to showcase their work.

4. Add or Update Collaborators
Make it easy for others to see who you’re working with by ensuring current collaborators, co-investigators, and lab members are represented accurately. This helps clarify the structure of research groups and supports interdisciplinary outreach.

5. Check Mobile and Accessibility
View your site across devices to confirm that content is legible, navigation is clear, and key pages are easy to access. OpenScholar sites are built to be responsive across devices and include a built-in accessibility checker, ensuring your content is both mobile-friendly and aligned with web accessibility standards.

6. Ensure Consistency
Whether you're maintaining a single site or overseeing a broader portfolio of faculty, lab, or departmental websites, consistency matters. Take time to review visual branding, content structure, and key information across pages.  A cohesive digital ecosystem improves both internal alignment and external perception.

Why It Matters

Academic websites serve a far greater purpose than simply listing credentials—they’re platforms for visibility, engagement, and supporting the broader impact of research. Whether it’s a grant reviewer looking for clarity, a journalist seeking expert insight, or a student exploring research opportunities, your site shapes how your work is discovered and understood.

OpenScholar is designed to support this mission at scale. Updates are easy, fast, and tailored for research workflows—so you can focus on your research, while your site continues to work for you throughout the academic year.

Ready to tune up your site?
Log in to your OpenScholar dashboard or get in touch to see how we can help.