by Alexandra BENHAM
As a professional, you want yourself and your work to be easily
identifiable across the world. In English-language databases of
papers, applications, citations, your work will often be
separated into components, stored in separate files,
and sorted alphabetically by your surname.
How can you ensure that others will easily find you and identify all your work
as yours - over space, across databases,
through time?
1. Select your professional name carefully
2. Always use the same version of your name
3. Indicate your SURNAME
4. Put your name on all components of your work
5. Obtain a user-friendly email address
6. Indicate your gender identity
7. Help others pronounce your name correctly
DETAILS
1. Select your professional name carefully
Select one complete professional name for yourself in English.
Choose it carefully.
Your name has one moment to make a good first impression.
If transliterating your name into Roman letters,
choose one standard version.
Avoid using diacritical marks whenever possible.
If you have a long set of names, try selecting a subset to constitute your
professional name.
Do distinguish yourself from others with the same surname.
You want your applications, publications, and citations (on
search engines and in science citation indices) to be linked
correctly and uniquely to you. Use Google to discover who else with
your surname works in your subject area, and who else in the whole
world uses the full professional name you are planning to use.
If many other individuals are already using it, design a less common
version for yourself.
2. Always use the same exact version of your name
Use your professional name as an unchanging barcode on everything you write.
Others can then identify you across contexts, over time.
If you change your name in private life, decide carefully what to do
about your professional name. Remember that your earlier work and
the citations to it will be identified by your earlier name.
If you add a nickname, for example George or Anna to a Chinese name,
decide when you’ll use it and do that consistently. Avoid being
“Anna Chen” in some places, “Chen Mei-Ying” in others. It’s
very hard to keep track of someone who uses different names on
emails, CVs, and papers.
3. Indicate your surname - unambiguously
Foreigners trying to decide which is your surname (also called family name) will often rely
on clues: the usual order of names in your country, the properties of
your name such as number of syllables, the context (form of
signature, etc.), and rules for selecting among multiple surnames. These
clues frequently mislead.
Avoid problems. Put your surname – and only your surname - in CAPS.
Start the CAPS at the name to be used when filing alphabetically.
4. Then – identify all your work
Whenever journal editors, department chairs, conference
organizers are looking though a set of documents and come upon
yours, you want them to know immediately
who wrote this? | your name |
what is it? | your work’s title or category (maybe the venue or organization too) |
which version? | date/time |
your email address
your “sender name”
subject line of your email
your text
filenames of attached files
contents of attached files