Why Great Research Goes Unnoticed (And How to Change That)
The Science of Making Your Academic Work Contagious
It’s easy to feel like your research is getting lost in the void.
You’ve put in the work—hours in the library, weeks refining your analysis, countless drafts of your manuscript. But when you finally hit “submit” or “publish,” you wonder:
Will anyone actually read this?
The fear is real.
We all want our work to have an impact, yet without the right strategies, even our most brilliant ideas may not get the attention they deserve.
This is where making your content contagious can change everything. By applying principles that help ideas spread—not just in marketing, but in ways that engage an academic audience—you can ensure your research resonates, inspires, and sparks meaningful conversations.
In Contagious: Why Things Catch On, Wharton professor Jonah Berger identifies six principles that drive viral content. While these strategies are often associated with business and media, they are just as relevant for academics striving to make their work both impactful and accessible.
As tenure-track faculty, we face the challenge of balancing rigorous scholarship with the need to make our work visible, all while juggling the demands of publishing, teaching, and service. It’s easy to feel overwhelmed or to question whether our research is good enough.
But these principles offer a roadmap to not only overcome self-doubt but to do so with intention, purpose, and passion.
Let’s dive in.
1. Social Currency: Help Your Research Make Others Look Good
We’ve all been there: sitting in a faculty meeting or a conference session, thinking, “If only I could get someone to read and share my work.”
But here’s the thing—people are more likely to share your research if it helps them appear more informed or insightful. It’s not about you; it’s about them.
Research on the brain’s reward pathways shows that we’re wired to seek social approval and validation. This explains why people often share content that boosts their credibility in the eyes of their peers.
As an early-career academic, you might feel like your ideas aren’t worth sharing. But the truth is, your research is valuable. When you position it in a way that allows others to feel like they’re sharing something important or groundbreaking, or that simply makes them look better, they’re more likely to engage with it.
How do you implement this principle?
Show how your research builds on or challenges the work of others. By positioning your findings as part of a larger conversation or as a natural progression of existing research, you invite others to engage with it as a continuation of their own work.
For example, reference key studies in your field and demonstrate how your research either extends their conclusions or offers a new perspective. This not only increases the relevance of your work but also encourages others to share it as part of a broader academic dialogue.
Bonus points: Send an email and thank some of the people that you cite with a link to your paper.
2. Triggers: Make Your Research Resonate with Everyday Life
One of the reasons people share content is that it resonates with their everyday experiences. For academics, this means tying research to broader cultural or social issues. The more your work connects to daily life, the more likely it is to be shared.
Why? The brain’s ability to remember and share information is closely linked to cues or triggers—certain words, images, or experiences that activate specific thoughts or feelings. Research on priming, where exposure to one stimulus influences the response to another, shows that our brains are constantly seeking connections to what we already know.
Because the brain is highly responsive to environmental cues, linking your research to familiar aspects of your readers’ daily lives makes it easier to recall and share. Yet as scholars, we sometimes get caught up in niche topics and overlook the importance of making our work relatable. Connecting research to current issues, debates, or trends can significantly expand its reach and impact.
How do you implement this principle?
Identify how your research intersects with issues that matter to a broader audience. For example, if your work examines systemic inequality, relate it to current events that highlight these dynamics and include it in the introduction to your article. Share your findings in a way that demonstrates how they help us better understand the world we live in.
3. Emotion: Make People Feel Something
When it comes to sharing content, emotion is a powerful motivator.
Neuroscience shows that emotional experiences are processed differently than neutral ones. The amygdala, which plays a central role in emotional processing, also strengthens memory consolidation. When something evokes a strong emotional response, it becomes more memorable—and more likely to be shared.
Emotions not only enhance memory but also activate areas of the brain involved in decision-making and action. Content that sparks strong feelings—whether excitement, curiosity, or concern—stimulates the brain’s motivational systems, making it far more likely to be shared.
Academic writing often prioritizes facts, data, and logical arguments, but emotion is just as crucial. Research shows that people share content that moves them. Yet, it’s easy to fall into the trap of believing emotion has no place in scholarship. The truth is, emotions drive action. If you want your work to have an impact, you need to connect with your audience on an emotional level.
How do you implement this principle?
Identify the emotional core of your research. How does it make you feel—outrage, hope, urgency? Use that emotion to shape your writing. Don’t just report the data—convey why it matters and how it moves you. Even if this does not show up in the actual scholarship, you can incorporate these feelings in tweets, blogs, or opinion editorials about the work.
Before we dive into how to make your research truly resonate, I want to remind you:
If you’ve ever felt like your work is getting lost in the shuffle, you’re not alone.
At The Tenure Track, we understand that growth in academia isn’t about being perfect from the start. It’s about taking action, adapting, and continuously learning as you go.
The key isn’t just about producing more—it’s about making your research visible, relatable, and impactful. How do you ensure your work stands out and gets the attention it deserves?
Ready to make your research matter? Subscribe to The Tenure Track for insights, strategies, and inspiration to help you break through the noise, connect with others, and ensure your work has the impact it was meant to have.
4. Public: Make Your Work Visible and Accessible
In academia, much of our work is hidden behind paywalls or buried in journal articles. But if you want your research to have an impact, you need to make it visible.
Social proof—the idea that people are more likely to engage with something when they see others doing the same—can be a powerful tool for increasing the reach of your work.
Social proof has a neurobiological basis in the brain’s tendency to use others’ behaviors as shortcuts for decision-making. This is linked to the mirror neuron system, which helps us understand and emulate the actions of others. When we see people engaging with certain content, our brains instinctively assess it as valuable or worth exploring.
Mirror neurons encourage us to “mirror” the behavior we observe, which is why social proof works—it signals that something is credible or important. When your research is publicly visible and actively shared, it increases the likelihood that others will see it as significant and worth engaging with.
As a junior faculty member, you may feel like your audience is too small to make an impact. But every scholar can leverage their network to amplify their message. The key is to start small and build from there.
How do you implement this principle?
Make your work visible by sharing insights, summaries, or key findings on platforms like Twitter, BlueSky, LinkedIn, or academic blogs. Engage with other scholars, present your research in workshops or departmental seminars, and encourage colleagues to discuss and reference your work. Visibility is key to building influence and ensuring your research reaches the people who need to see it.
5. Practical Value: Show Your Research Helps Others
People love to share information that is useful—something that makes their lives easier, more productive, or more meaningful.
As academics, we often emphasize theoretical implications, but offering practical takeaways can help others see the real-world value of our work.
Humans are wired to share knowledge that benefits others. This tendency is linked to the brain’s reward system: helping others releases dopamine and oxytocin, chemicals that foster feelings of happiness and connection. When you provide something useful, your audience is naturally motivated to share it because doing so feels good.
Oxytocin, in particular, strengthens trust and social bonding. Sharing valuable insights triggers these rewarding feelings, increasing the likelihood that your work will spread.
You may worry that your research is too abstract to be applicable. But even the most theoretical work has practical implications. Ask yourself: How can others apply my research to improve their teaching, policymaking, or approach to social change? Finding these connections makes your work more accessible and relevant.
How do you implement this principle?
When presenting your research, highlight its actionable insights. How can it inform practice? What tools, frameworks, or perspectives can others apply? Give your audience something they can immediately use in their own work or lives.
6. Stories: Make Your Research Memorable
Humans are wired to remember stories. Yet, as scholars, we often bury our findings in dense, jargon-heavy prose. Storytelling, however, can make research more engaging, relatable, and memorable.
Stories engage the brain in ways that abstract facts cannot. When we tell or hear a story, the brain activates regions responsible for understanding and empathy, both of which play a crucial role in memory. Stories also structure information in a way that makes it easier to process and retain.
The brain processes stories holistically, engaging multiple areas: the prefrontal cortex (planning and decision-making), the hippocampus (memory), and mirror neurons (empathy). Because storytelling activates multiple cognitive and emotional pathways, it makes information far more memorable than data alone.
You may think your research isn’t “story-worthy.” But every academic study has a narrative—whether it’s the problem being addressed, the people affected by it, or the journey of discovery itself. Finding and framing that story makes your work more impactful.
How do you implement this principle?
Incorporate storytelling into your writing and presentations. Open with a compelling introduction that highlights a challenge or question. Use anecdotes, case studies, or real-world examples to illustrate key points. A narrative-driven approach helps your audience connect with your research on a deeper level.
Making Your Research Contagious
These six principles can transform how you approach your research. It’s not just about getting published—it’s about being heard. Your work deserves to make an impact, to spark conversations, and to contribute to meaningful change in both academia and society.
As you navigate your career as a tenure-track professor, remember: your voice matters. By writing with purpose, passion, and strategic intent, you can ensure that your research is more than just an academic exercise. You can make it something that resonates, challenges assumptions, and influences the future of your field.
So, how can you start applying these principles to amplify your work?
Take one action today—whether it’s framing your research in a more relatable way, sharing your insights in a public forum, or experimenting with storytelling in your writing. Small shifts can lead to a broader impact.
Next week, we’ll explore why sharing your personal academic journey isn’t just about visibility—it’s about service. By making your experiences in research, teaching, and mentorship more transparent, you can inspire and support others in your academic community.
Becoming Full,
P.S. As always, thank you for reading this week’s issue of The Tenure Track. If you found this article helpful, I encourage you to share it with a colleague or friend who might benefit from these insights. Together, let’s continue to build a supportive and creative academic community.
I love this.