The open access advantage: Real stories from multidisciplinary Scientific Reports authors
Author: Siobhan Bates
When your research is openly accessible, it has the power to travel further, reach more diverse audiences, and drive meaningful change. This benefits researchers from all backgrounds, across all fields, and from all career stages, but if your work is multidisciplinary or supports the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), visibility and accessibility are especially critical to drive real-world impact. As one of the world’s most cited open access journals, Scientific Reports is designed to help your research do just that.
In this blog, we spoke with researchers about how publishing in Scientific Reports helped amplify their work—boosting visibility, increasing accessibility, and supporting practical applications that align with global sustainability goals.
If you're a multidisciplinary researcher looking to publish your work openly and make a meaningful impact, Scientific Reports offers an ideal home for your research. With our broad readership, trusted editorial standards, and multidisciplinary scope, we provide a platform where your findings don’t just get published—they get noticed. This visibility is especially important for researchers whose work crosses disciplines or address global challenges aligned with the SDGs.
We spoke with five researchers about how publishing in Scientific Reports helped increase the reach and impact of their multidisciplinary research. From attracting more citations to connecting with collaborators across fields, their stories highlight how choosing the right journal can amplify your work in powerful, tangible ways—and help translate research into progress on the SDGs.
Here’s what they said.
Kristina Wolf
Kristina Wolf is a Research Associate with the School of Engineering at Newcastle University. She has a deep enthusiasm for public safety and disaster risk management, which stems from her research at the Tohoku University in Japan. By leveraging geospatial technology and a multi-agency incident management approach, her work contributes to improved emergency planning and response in the UK—ultimately strengthening urban resilience and supporting SDG11.
As one of the worlds most cited open access journals, Scientific Reports helped boost the discoverability and visibility of Kristina’s research. For Kirstina, publishing to Scientific Reports, resulted in increased citations, visibility, and understanding of her research.
“Publishing OA helped increase the readership of my work among researchers and practitioners. Making the work more accessible and visible to researchers has also led to more citations… Also, appearing in Scientific Reports’ video campaign is a fantastic opportunity to give people an insight into my work and virtually show them the facilities in Newcastle.”
- Kristina Wolf, Research Associate with the School of Engineering, Newcastle University
Read Kristina’s full interview.
Amisha Singh
Amisha Singh is a Research Scholar, Psychologist, and Assistant Professor at the University of Delhi, specializing in sports psychology. Amisha is also deeply committed to fostering interdisciplinary collaboration to advance knowledge in her field. As a result, when selecting a journal for her research, she felt it was essential to publish her work open access (OA) to maximise the dissemination and impact of her findings.
For Amisha Singh, “When I began considering where to publish this research, Scientific Reports stood out to me for several reasons. The journal’s open-access model was particularly appealing because it ensured that the research would reach a broad audience, from sports psychologists and coaches to athletes themselves. The visibility and credibility of Scientific Reports were also important factors, as the platform allows for rigorous peer review while making the research accessible worldwide.”
In addition, Amisha found publishing to Scientific Reports to be an effective solution, bringing her research global impact. She adds “One of the most rewarding aspects of publishing my work has been seeing its impact on a global scale.”
“Publishing in an OA journal like Scientific Reports has been invaluable. The reach of my work has extended far beyond what I had initially imagined. I’ve received feedback and inquiries not only from academics but also from sports practitioners looking to apply the findings in real-world settings.”
- Amisha Singh, Ph.D. Scholar, Department of Psychology, University of Delhi, India,
Faith Ka Shun Chan
Faith Ka Shun Chan, a Professor at the University of Nottingham, Ningbo China, currently conducts research on international water management practices, with a particular focus on flood risk management in East Asian mega-deltas and coastal mega-cities. His multidisciplinary research addresses several of the SDGs including “addressing poverty and vulnerable communities for SDG 1, [...] SDG 6 on water, SDG 11 on building sustainable communities, SDG 13 on climate change and other SDGs related to terrestrial and coastal estuarine aspects. Thus, our research is very diverse and important to contribute towards our major goal of delivering sustainable development particularly as I spoke above – to contribute to our urban future and benefit the next generations, not only for the Chinese cities but in the Asia-Pacific Region.”
“Publishing in an OA journal like Scientific Reports [is] very helpful to improve the visibility for sure as there are quite a few people who emailed me/us after our papers were published at Scientific Reports. That provides convenience and a free download mechanism for their readers. That will certainly help readers to go through the paper and follow up on some major issues in the past five years.”
- Faith Ka Sun Chan, Professor at the University of Nottingham, Ningbo China
Read Faith Ka Shun Chan’s full interview here.
Simona Francese
Simona Francese, Professor of Forensic and Bioanalytical Mass Spectrometry at Sheffield Hallam University, is a chemist with a research background in “all things mass spectrometry”, and a passion for forensic science. When Simona realised her findings could help increase cancer screening uptake and save lives, it became essential for her to publish with a reputable Journal with high reach.
“This is why we looked at Journals of high scientific prestige and high reach in order to disseminate our findings and connect with the relevant communities to progress and eventually implement this research. Scientific Reports fit the bill and was the obvious and the right choice for us.”
- Simona Francese, Professor of Forensic and Bioanalytical Mass Spectrometry at Sheffield Hallam University
This decision paid off for Simona, with her paper benefiting from the open access advantage. She says, “The reach mentioned above is naturally maximised by publishing in OA because additional scientists and Institutions, potentially important for future collaborations, can access scientific papers and I believe that this, together with the significance of the paper, has contributed to such a high number of downloads.”
Anurag Roy
“Publishing with Scientific Reports is particularly important for OA because it allows your research to be freely accessible to a global audience. This OA model ensures that your work reaches not only other scientists but also industry professionals, policymakers, and the public, enhancing its impact and application across various fields.”
- Anurag Roy, University of Exeter (UoE), Penryn Campus, UK
Early career researcher, Anurag Roy, is a material chemist specializing in solar energy materials. He argues that open access journals like, Scientific Reports, are important precisely because they widen access to research for the benefit of society. He says, “The decision process for choosing where to publish primarily involves evaluating the nature of the research, its scientific outcomes, and its potential impact on society or the targeted audience. These factors, along with the integrity and relevance of the work, are carefully considered. Open access journals play an important role in this process, as they enhance visibility and increase citations, which my institution actively supports and encourages for the public benefit.”
Read Anurag Roy’s full interview.
Conclusion
Your hub for global discovery. As the world’s fifth most-cited journal, Scientific Reports has global impact, with more than 734,000 citations in 2023, over 225 million downloads in 2024, and widespread media attention and use in policy documents.
Over recent months, in this blog series, you’ve heard from five researchers from a variety of disciplines and at various career stages. They each shared the impact publishing to Scientific Reports has had on their research and their career.
Now it’s your turn. Take the next step and find out how to start your submission to Scientific Reports.
Scientific Reports is an open access journal publishing original research from across all areas of the natural sciences, psychology, medicine and engineering. As the 5th most-cited journal in the world, we offer authors a trustworthy and highly respected home for their research. Learn more about how we support researchers at every stage of their research career and how you can publish with us.
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Author: Siobhan Bates
Siobhan Bates is a seasoned Marketing Manager based in London, specializing in B2C Content Marketing. With a Master’s degree from The University of Warwick and Chartered Marketer status (CIM), she is passionate about developing valuable resources that support and empower the academic community. Siobhan oversees the creation of content for Springer Nature Collections, brands, and imprints.
