Increasing research impact is the new Holy Grail for researchers. Since high profile researchers tend to get more grants and enjoy greater opportunities for collaboration, it makes sense for researchers to promote themselves as widely as they can - even if this seems like shameless self-promotion.

One-click science marketing by Martin Fenner in Nature Materials (doi:10.1038/nmat3283) has some tips on how to get ahead of the game. It covers communicating with colleagues, reaching out to the wider public and setting up a researcher profile. Online tools such as blogs and Twitter and networks like Mendeley are covered as is the file sharing / research promotion service figshare.

Figshare is fast becoming a key research-sharing site; it has now taken on the early dissemination role formerly played by Nature Precedings.