Impact zones and the role of publishers: changing the way academic research makes wider impact

‘Pure’ research has the potential to make a big impact on an audience of scholars, but publishers might hold the key to increasing its wider public impact, argues Martyn Lawrence of Emerald Group Publishing. Based on his presentation at the Investigating Academic Impact Conference, he argues that publishers have a vital part to play in increasing academic impact, and uses his matrix to show that applied research boasts demonstrated impact among a much wider audience, despite making less contribution to rankings.