Developed for the Mississippi State University Library's Scholarly Communication Initiative with Nickoal Eichmann, History Research Librarian

1. Amanda Clay Powers, MSU Libraries
October 13, 2015

2. Find “Alternative” tools to assess your research impact
Tell a complete story of your research impact
Get faster feedback on research

3. Promotion and Tenure
National Reputation
 Scholar
 Institution
Grant Applications
Assess and Adjust Research Agenda

4.  Impact Factor
 Journal Level (Journal Citation Reports)
 Easily Manipulated
 Limited to Web of Science Journals (Science and Social Sciences)
 Open Access / Feedback Loop / Favor Corporate Publishers
 Citations
 Delayed feedback
 Dependent on discipline
 Niche research can be problematic

5.  Author level
 H-index
 G-Index
 Article level
 Downloads
 Source Normalized Impact Per Paper (SNIP)
 Journal levl
 Eigenfactor

6.  Altmetrics
 Attention Metrics
 Article-level Metrics
 Scholar-Level Metrics
 Data Metrics
 Webometrics

7.  Provide a more coherent understanding of research attention
 Understand the broader reach and early impact of research
 Track attention to a broad range of research outputs, including articles, posters,
data sets and working papers, etc. for funding agencies
 Wellcome Trust
 Research Excellence Framework
 Help researchers get credit for impact activities

8.  Research outputs in non-traditional sources
 How research is being received and used
 Complementary to traditional citation-based analysis
Journal Impact
Factor
Citation counts
H-index
Number of
publications
Mentions in news
reports,
References in policy
Mentions in social
media, Wikipedia
citations
Reference
managers
+

9.  Published journal articles
 White papers
 Posters
 Presentations
 Data
 Non-peer reviewed publications
 Books
 Technical reports
 Pre-Prints
 Videos
• Standards
• Patents
• Working papers
• Committee reports
• Newsletters
• Government documents
• Technical documentation
• Conference proceedings
• Symposia
• Bulletins
• Non-traditional outputs (DH)

10. Social media
and blogs
• Twitter
• Facebook
• Google
• Sina
• Weibo
Reference
managers
• Mendeley, CiteULike
• Reader counts
Other sources
• Wikipedia
• YouTube
• Reddit
• F1000
• Pinterest
Post-publication
peer review
• Publons
• PubPeer
Policy documents
• NICE Evidence
• Intergovernmental Panel
on Climate Change
• Many more…
News outlets
• Curated lists
• Text mining
• Global coverage

11.  Tools to track impact
 Institutional Repositories
 ResearchGate & Academia.edu
 Aggregators
 Scopus
 Altmetric Bookmarklet
 PLoS
 ImpactStory

12. What type of attention is this research receiving?
Where has this article received the most
traction?
Which countries are engaging most with the
content?
Has this article influenced policy, spurred
new research, or engaged a new audience?
Are reactions to this article positive or negative?

13. Quality of the paper
Quality of the researchers
Whole story

14. Set up email alerts for
your output in the
Summary tab

15. Cochrane Library paper investigated use of probiotics to
treat eczema: There is not enough evidence to recommend
using probiotics for the treatment of eczema.
The paper has a relatively low score of attention but
received mentions across policy documents and
Wikipedia:
• Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health -
Allergy Care Pathways for Children: core
competency for health professionals treating
children with eczema

17.  Scopus
 “Butterfly genome reveals promiscuous exchange of mimicry adaptations among species”
 “The genome of the green anole lizard and a comparative analysis with birds and mammals”
 “Design and kinematic modeling of constant curvature continuum robots: A review”
 Impact Story
 Altmetric / Altmetric Booklet
 PLoS metrics
 Journal / Publishers

22.  Alternative Assessment Metrics Initiative (NISO)
 Becker Medical Library Model for Assessment of Research Impact (Becker Model)

23.  Decide what you want – Policy influence? Mainstream media?
 Publish Open Access, if possible
 Tweet about it! Conferences, Hashtags, etc.
 Compare to other articles in your field – what attention are they getting and
where?
 Work on your online presence – what will they find?
 Get an ORCiD ID and/or a ResearchGate/Academia.edu account
 Share links to your research in your email signature
 Share your data, posters, working papers, etc. (figshare, Dryad, social networks)

24.  Altmetrics Manifesto
 Altmetric, Social Media, and Impact
 The Evolution of Impact Indicators: From bibliometrics to altmetrics
 From bibliometrics to altmetrics: A changing scholarly landscape
 The History and Meaning of the Journal Impact Factor
 How to Track the Impact of Research With Data Metrics
 Impact and Attention: What Can the Metrics Tell Us?
 The Impact Factor Game
 The Metric Tide: Report of the Independent Review of the Role of Metrics in Research
Assessment and Management
 Three Simple Ways to Improve the Tenure Process in the United States
 The Thomson Reuters Impact Factor