To Be Visible, or Not To Be, That Is the Question

Due to the unstoppable and exponential growth of the scientific publication output going hand in hand with the evolution of the social web, visibility has become one of the major concerns for all the stakeholders involved in the process of scholarly communication. Bibliometrics can take advantage
of this development. It should not only be reduced to an evaluative instrument for reward or punishment, but rather be used as a guiding compass for young scientists in order to improve their publication strategies and thereby to increase
their visibility. This article, based on the experiences gained at the University of Vienna, provides a solid terminology by defining the term visibility. It furthermore describes applicable bibliometric methods in order to assess the concept of visibility for evaluative purposes, and finally suggests basic
recommendations for scientists and organizations to be taken into consideration for their publication strategies or policies.