Academic conferences might be one of the most effective ways to advertise your journal. Academic conferences are defined on Wikipedia as,
An academic conference or scientific conference (also congress, symposium, workshop, or meeting) is an event for researchers (not necessarily academics) to present and discuss their scholarly work.
But what you might find to be missing from this description is that they’re a great place for networking. If you’re running an academic journal, and want to connect with potential clients, academic conferences are a great place to do it.
What is an academic conference?
There isn’t an explicit definition of what constitutes an academic conference. Some conferences are in person and others are virtual. In some cases, conferences are enormous, multi-day events. Sometimes, they are hybrid events, where participants from around the world can attend virtual events, but people can also go to in-person events.
Regardless of the model, academic conferences are an important part of academia—and of academic publishing.
The purpose of an academic conference is to bring together academics, researchers, and also other institutions, to share knowledge on any number of subjects.
How are academic conferences organized?
Here’s where academic conferences become relevant to you and your business.
Conferences are usually organized by any number of different organizations (or groups). It might be a university, a company, or a scientific society. Or a combination of them. Sometimes these conferences need sponsors, and sometimes they have opportunities for journals and other academic companies to contribute. Your journal having a presence, real or virtual, at a conference can help to create (or improve) your brand recognition.
Learning the who’s who of your field is critical.
Many journals try to establish a presence at these conferences to make find potential clients and academic board members.
How to participate
It’s important to remember that your reputation is based on what your journal does. Working towards the good of an event, and not out of self interest, is one way to make sure that your reputation is a positive one. Don’t expect immediate rewards for your invested time and effort—good things come to those who wait.
Being patient will be beneficial to your reputation, and also to your bottom line. Eventually.
Remember that participation isn’t just about putting a booth at a conference. Y
You need to be involved and participate in the community. Finding other ways to get involved can also help you to develop a reputation as being an active contributor to the scientific community. Find out what it costs to get a booth at a conference and make sure that investment pays off. Communicate with your customers, tell them about how your journal is help them, and start making those connections.
Sponsorships
They say that it costs money to make money, and here is where an opportunity also exists. Being involved in an academic conference by means of sponsorship let’s your company’s name be more visible. Remember that while you want to rub elbows with academics, it’s also helpful for them to see your company’s name in case they don’t have a chance to speak to you. As a matter of fact, sponsoring an event can extend the reach of your company’s name. Furthermore, if you provide some form of financial support to the conference it can open the door to future collaboration.
But it costs money.
One of the challenging things at the start of running a journal is that you won’t have a steady stream of income right away. As such, you need to find ways to make sure that your existing finances cover your needs. Even though a conference might be helpful to you, you might not be able to afford it.
Why should you focus on your reputation?
Academic conferences are a great place to help you establish your reputation. But why is your reputation so important?
Academic publishing is a vast industry. There are good publishers and there are bad ones. Some are reputable and some are not. Because you want to establish yourself as a reputable publisher, you need to make sure that your reputation is good. There are many factors that you can consider when looking at your reputation. Are you a fast publisher? Reliable? Or maybe you’re known for having a great peer review process. Whatever the case is, you should ensure that criticism of your journal is valid. One way is to make sure you’re doing what you can to ensure you have a good reputation. Being involved in the academic community and having a presence at conferences can help. But you also need to ensure that your participation isn’t just superficial. Showing up is fine, but participation is better.
Look into the conferences you can go to and reach out to the organizers to see if there’s anything you can do. Subsequently, make sure that you follow through with anything you offer. Having a conference team speaking highly of your involvement can be a game changer.
