Every academic should have a website, and here is why

As recently as less than a decade ago, one in three academics in the UK were hermits — there was no meaningful information about them on the internet.

If this figure has improved over the years, that would largely be through institutional websites. Indeed, by now, almost all universities have dedicated pages on their academic staff.

Nevertheless, individual control over these pages are often limited, at least in terms of:

• what can academics put on these pages,
• how these pages are organised, and
• who can update them.

Therefore, I believe every academic should have a personal website. Addressing the limitations above, personal websites offer three main benefits.

Academic outreach

Personal websites increase the accessibility of our work for the scientific community. Make sure your website includes all your publications¹ and your working papers that are ready to be seen.

Public outreach

Personal websites are arguably even more important for non-academic audiences to access your work. They typically lack the resources and/or know-how to read our work on publishers' websites, especially if these are behind the paywall.

Unlike the staff pages on institutional websites, personal websites offer space also for non-academic writing, such as blogposts.

Impression management

First impressions matter, especially in academia. What would you like others to see when they google your name? A personal website would give you a high degree of control over their impression.

If you do not manage your online presence, others — your current and previous institutions, conferences that you have ever attended, etc. — will.