For many years, citation-based metrics have been synonymous with research impactResearch impactA way to describe and measure the ways in which research causes some sort of positive impact on a community. Research impact can be measured through quantitative or qualitative data.
. However, the internet has given us many more ways to observe how research outputs are used in various ways, from sharing or discussing an article on social media, to tracking the numbers of views, downloads, or comments it receives, and more. Generally speaking, these are referred to as altmetrics, or alternative metrics. However, how they relate to impact, and on which audiences, cannot always be demonstrated. The Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) has published a framework for using a variety of measures to demonstrate impact on two distinct audiences: scholars and practitioners. Many altmetrics fall into the practitioner category, as many research outputs in librarianship are used by librarians rather than cited in subsequent research. The framework outlines a number of potential measures for practitioner impact across a wide range of research outputs.
Table 1. ACRL Impactful Scholarship and Metrics Framework, 2020.
However, your research may have other intended audiences, including community partners, members of the general public, international scholars, students, or policymakers. In each case, it’s important to match metrics that demonstrate potential impact for these audiences. For example, the number of likes on a social media post meant for a community audience may demonstrate community impact, while citation in a policy paper would demonstrate policymaker impact. It’s not always possible to say for certain who exactly is engaging with your work — a total number of likes could be a mix of members of the public, fellow librarians, other scholars, and other identities, while downloads of a research output could be from a scholar, practitioner, student, or member of the public. Combining metrics can help narrow down the audience down. For example, combining a more general measure such as downloads, with measures associated with more specific audiences, such as Mendeley downloads or citation counts, can help gauge the more likely uses and audiences. A relatively high download count and relatively low citation count, for example, is a good indicator of primarily non-scholarly audience engagement and use.
Two suggested resources for obtaining some of these metrics are publisher websites and the Altmetric bookmarklet. Many publishers track a variety of metrics, including views, downloads, and comments, and this is often the only way to collect these metrics. Some incorporate Altmetric or PlumX, two tools for collecting altmetrics for research outputs with a DOI.
Altmetric also has a bookmarklet for tracking altmetrics, again for research output with a DOI. Both Altmetric and PlumX provide some basic information, such as a summary of number of tweets, but a subscription is needed to see all the individual tweets. These metrics can also be supplemented by strategies like searching for a DOI, URL, or portion of the title in Twitter/X or other social media or in a search engine. This approach is a great way to discover inclusion in a variety of materials such as syllabi, research guides, blogs, and more.
Non-Scholarly Impact Measures
For many years, citation-based metrics have been synonymous with research impactResearch impact A way to describe and measure the ways in which research causes some sort of positive impact on a community. Research impact can be measured through quantitative or qualitative data. . However, the internet has given us many more ways to observe how research outputs are used in various ways, from sharing or discussing an article on social media, to tracking the numbers of views, downloads, or comments it receives, and more. Generally speaking, these are referred to as altmetrics, or alternative metrics. However, how they relate to impact, and on which audiences, cannot always be demonstrated. The Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) has published a framework for using a variety of measures to demonstrate impact on two distinct audiences: scholars and practitioners. Many altmetrics fall into the practitioner category, as many research outputs in librarianship are used by librarians rather than cited in subsequent research. The framework outlines a number of potential measures for practitioner impact across a wide range of research outputs.
However, your research may have other intended audiences, including community partners, members of the general public, international scholars, students, or policymakers. In each case, it’s important to match metrics that demonstrate potential impact for these audiences. For example, the number of likes on a social media post meant for a community audience may demonstrate community impact, while citation in a policy paper would demonstrate policymaker impact. It’s not always possible to say for certain who exactly is engaging with your work — a total number of likes could be a mix of members of the public, fellow librarians, other scholars, and other identities, while downloads of a research output could be from a scholar, practitioner, student, or member of the public. Combining metrics can help narrow down the audience down. For example, combining a more general measure such as downloads, with measures associated with more specific audiences, such as Mendeley downloads or citation counts, can help gauge the more likely uses and audiences. A relatively high download count and relatively low citation count, for example, is a good indicator of primarily non-scholarly audience engagement and use.
Two suggested resources for obtaining some of these metrics are publisher websites and the Altmetric bookmarklet. Many publishers track a variety of metrics, including views, downloads, and comments, and this is often the only way to collect these metrics. Some incorporate Altmetric or PlumX, two tools for collecting altmetrics for research outputs with a DOI.
Altmetric also has a bookmarklet for tracking altmetrics, again for research output with a DOI. Both Altmetric and PlumX provide some basic information, such as a summary of number of tweets, but a subscription is needed to see all the individual tweets. These metrics can also be supplemented by strategies like searching for a DOI, URL, or portion of the title in Twitter/X or other social media or in a search engine. This approach is a great way to discover inclusion in a variety of materials such as syllabi, research guides, blogs, and more.
Topic 3 References
“Bookmarklet.” Altmetric (blog). Accessed May 31, 2023. https://www.altmetric.com/solutions/free-tools/bookmarklet/.
Borchardt, Rachel, Bivens-Tatum, Wayne, Boruff-Jones, Polly, Chin Roemer, Robin, Chodock, Ted, DeGroote, Sandra, Hodgers, Alex R., Sigrid, Kelsey, Linke, Erika, and Jennifer Matthews. “ACRL Framework for Impactful Scholarship and Metrics.” 2020. http://www.ala.org/acrl/sites/ala.org.acrl/files/content/standards/impactful_scholarship.pdf