The Beginning of Altmetrics
Altmetrics, a shortening of "alternative" metrics, was first conceived on Twitter in 2010 by Jason Priem, a doctoral student who later co-founded Impactstory.org.
Social Sciences & Scholarly Communication Librarian
Brittany Fischer
She/Her
Contact:
Chester Fritz Library
Grand Forks, ND 58202-9000
Email: brittany.fischer@und.edu
Grand Forks, ND 58202-9000
Email: brittany.fischer@und.edu
701.777.4632
Metrics Toolkit
- Metrics ToolkitA learning platform "to help scholars and evaluators understand and use citations, web metrics, and altmetrics responsibly in the evaluation of research."
- Dimensions - The Free AppFree Altmetric info for 99.5 million (and growing) publications including grants, patents, clinical trials, and policy documents.
What are altmetrics?
Altmetrics...
- Began as an online academic-led discussion on research impact via social media and the need for a greater focus on article level metrics and the ways articles are being shared beyond citation counts.
- Question how we define impact.
- Are more qualitative in nature.
- Contribute to the development of new multidisciplinary, cross-institutional and global research partnerships.
- Illustrate diverse impacts (e.g. public policy, ‘buzz’, disciplinary change, expert recommendations)
- Show where articles have been:
- picked up by news outlets;
- blogged and tweeted about;
- referenced in Wikipedia and web-based reference managers;
- mentioned in Facebook and Google+ posts and in videos;
- and referenced in policy sources.
- Assess social and global impact through tracking how research outputs are viewed, discussed, shared, saved, read, and reused by global scholars online.
- Illustrate an alternative story about the broader view of a work’s impact in which importance and influence can be measured, though not always quality.
- Complement “traditional” metrics in supporting applications for tenure and promotion and grant applications, discovering new research, and highlighting university research impact.
- Provide metrics in real time to all types of research outputs (traditional citations can take years to accumulate and largely apply to articles only).
The YouTube video below describes how to use altmetrics effectively in tenure dossiers for promotion and tenure as well as in job applications.
- What Are Altmetrics?Helpful site for researchers discussing, and providing examples on, the basics of altmetrics, who uses them, where to find them and how to use altmetrics in promotion and tenure.
Current conversations in altmetrics
- Altmetrics ConferenceA yearly conference held in Toronto, Bucharest, Amsterdam and London, offering attendees the opportunity to learn about the latest developments, applications and opportunities offered by alternative metrics.
- Keeping Up With... Altmetrics (American Library Association)"Altmetrics is an emerging category of impact measurement premised upon the value of “alternative metrics,” or metrics based distinctly on the opportunities offered by the 21st century digital environment. Originally defined in contrast to the more established field of bibliometrics, altmetrics is fast becoming a fluid area of research and practice, in which various alternative and traditional measures of personal and scholarly impact can be explored and compared simultaneously."
- All the News That Fits — What’s Really Driving Altmetric’s Top 100 Articles List?By Kent Anderson. DEC 13, 2017. The Scholarly Kitchen blog.