At the start of your research project, write a dissemination plan. It will help you:

• plan how and when you will communicate your research
• plan for funding you need for more expensive routes (for example a documentary)
• think about your stakeholders across the board to make sure the outputs reach the desired audiences
• avoid, or be aware of, competing deadlines across projects and publishers  
• avoid the concentration of work at the end of a project
• provide a framework for discussion with all researchers involved in the dissemination of project findings
• consider expectations of collaborators and research associates involved in projects 
• map your personal career path over the next few years
• decide which new projects, requests and research directions will enhance your project or goals, and which will detract from them. 

For any project or research plan, think about who the stakeholders are:

• who is going to be interested in the research you are doing? 
• which aspects of it will be useful for them? 
• are they going to be interested throughout the project or at particular points?

There are many tools available to analyse stakeholders and their role and importance to a project; for larger projects it can be useful to use these.

Having identified stakeholders, you can plan your publications to reach them:

• is there a particular publisher that promotes this kind of research? 
• is there a specialist journal for researchers on your field? 
• is there a conference where many of your stakeholders will attend? 
• are there mailing lists that they subscribe to?

The “best” place to publish depends on what you are aiming to achieve, the audience, the timing, the project, your career stage and the research areas that you are working in. 

If you’re looking for specific advice, think about consulting:

• colleagues within your school or research centre
• your director of research
• academic networks beyond Kent
• academic or professional bodies.

Track the dissemination of your research to see which routes reach which audiences, and to evidence the reach of your work.

If you have any queries, email researchsupport@kent.ac.uk

Find out all the ways you can get in touch: