Scientific publications that use promotional language receive more citations and social media mentions

Researchers often use promotional language (“hyping”) in scientific publications to draw attention to their findings. Here we examined whether promotional language is indeed associated with higher academic impact and public attention. A content analysis of over 130,000 abstracts published in three major interdisciplinary outlets (Science, Nature, PNAS) between 1991 and 2023 showed that promotional language predicted more citations and more full-length paper views, more paper mentions on social media and higher Altmetric scores. Further, despite women being often advised to engage in more self-promotion, following this advice was not associated with a smaller gender gap in impact indicators. If anything, promotional language predicted a larger gender gap with men (vs. women) receiving even more citations, paper views and mentions in the media. Our findings highlight the role of communication strategies for researchers aiming towards academic impact and public attention, as well as gender diversity in academia.