Social media planning for authors

Contact the social media team here

Social media is a powerful tool for conveying the critical connection between scientific discovery and its potential to impact human health. Effective and compelling social media is about storytelling. One format for story posts includes three components:

  1. Hook (e.g., the patient population, disease burden, or knowledge gap)
  2. Obstacle (e.g., the diagnostic challenge or research setback)
  3. Resolution (e.g., the discovery and/or clinical implications)

See key strategies for communicating your story and amplifying your story.

Social media channels

@jclinicalinvest

@jclinical-invest.bsky.social

journal_clinical_investigation

journal-of-clinical-investigation

https://www.facebook.com/jclininvest

Please stay connected with the JCI as you build and execute your social media plan to ensure effective cross-promotion with the journals by emailing socialmedia@the-jci.org.

Public posts and reposts on X (formerly Twitter) and Bluesky contribute to Altmetric attention scores. Altmetric score reflects attention across a range of sources, including but not limited to news articles, blog posts, policy documents, Wikipedia entries, X (formerly Twitter) and Bluesky posts.

EXAMPLE: "Proud of [INSERT HANDLE], 1st author on [INSERT DOI/URL] — because of our team's key findings we uncovered a target for treatment."

Key strategies for communicating your story

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  • Use plain language that nonspecialists and the public can understand.
  • Consider any character limits for the channels you’re using (see “Social media channels").
  • Use visual media from your article — graphical abstract, figure, or supplemental video – to complement or support your post.
  • Include the article’s Digital Object Identifier (DOI) or URL, provided by the Journal.
  • Use your network:
    • Note the contributions of lab members, trainees, researchers, collaborators, and funders/industry partners driving the science; include their account handles.
    • Notify your institution’s news media, communications, marketing, and/or public relations experts. These teams have existing plans of action and established channels to promote your work (e.g., social media presence, press releases to internal and external news outlets, and newsletters, blog posts, and e-blasts sent to vast constituent listservs).
    • Encourage coauthors to post on their social media channels and engage with your content.
    • Reach out to colleagues in your scientific network to let them know about your published article.

Key strategies for amplifying your story

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  • Post when your article is in the In-Press Preview (IPP) format, if applicable, and repost when the issue is published.
  • Tag the JCI so that we may share your post.
  • Repost or reply to original posts if your article is featured on the JCI’s social media channels.
  • Build an “Xtorial” (Tweetorial) or “Skytorial” comment thread for more detail on a supplemental video or point of discovery.
    • Consider other aspects:
      • Are you building off other work in the field?
      • What was the question your research addressed?
      • What were the challenges?
      • What are the implications for the field?
      • Who are the people driving discovery?
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