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Purpose - The aim of the study is to investigate the application of online platforms by professional librarians for research visibility in Nigeria universities. Design/methodology/approach - The study adopted online survey method. Questionnaire was designed to collect data from respondents using Google form. Data was collected from 367 academic librarians both practicing and lecturing in 28 universities in Nigeria. Findings - The study revealed that majority of the academic librarians have created profile on Google Scholar and also joined ResearchGate network. While, the platforms with the least profiles are Scopus and ORCID. Majority of the academic librarians agree that creating profile in the online platforms raises the profile of the author's institution, brings recognition to the author, influences author's institution ranking, increases readership of the paper (s), make articles reach greater audience, and attracts possible research funding. It also emerged that no institutional e-mail, no google e-mail, some academics not interested, don't know how to create profile on these platforms, no motivation from the institution, too busy to create my profile, and network challenges are some of the drawbacks associated with creating profile in the online platforms. The qualitative analysis revealed that publishing in open access, creating google scholar profile, and joining researchgate network, and publishing in journals that are indexed and abstracted were the popular ways to increase the visibility of one's paper. Research implications - This study will inform and educate scholars in the universities to see the need to register their presence on the web through creating profiles and linking their publications in these platforms. These platforms will no doubt enhance the academic evaluation and give additional weight to publications that are accessible globally. Originality/value - The study reported the extent academic librarians in Nigeria have created profiles on the research visibility platforms such as Google scholar, SCOPUS, researchgate, and ORCID. The findings will inform policy makers, administrators and academic staff to understand how the universities are performing in terms of scholarly activities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]