The

Evolution
of Impact
Indicators: brought to
you by
From bibliometrics
to altmetrics
Table of Contents:

Reexamining Research Impact

The rise of the Impact Factor (IF)
The Impact Factor challenges
Beyond the Impact Factor

Enter Alternative Metrics

What are the benefits of altmetrics?
Questions surrounding altmetrics

How Are Altmetrics Becoming a Part of the Scholarly Publishing Process?

Complementing, not replacing bibliometrics
Demonstrating the benefits of effective outreach
Case study: Integrating altmetrics at Taylor & Francis
An internal feedback loop
Accessible metrics
Case study: Altmetrics at Michigan Publishing
5 ways to get started with altmetrics

What Are the Benefits of Altmetrics for Researchers?

Monitoring and tracking early attention
Showcasing Engagement
Researcher use case: using altmetrics to identify and showcase the influence
of your work to funders
A tool for discovery
Top tips: Getting your work the attention it deserves

Looking to the Future of Research Impact

2
As scholarly communication and
publishing models continue to evolve,
it is crucial that those involved in
the publication and dissemination of
research develop a good understanding
of the changing environment in order
to identify opportunities to improve
how we understand the reach and
influence of research. This ebook
covers key insights about traditional
and alternative research impact
indicators: from the latest perspectives
and thinking on research evaluation,
to how new models and metrics can
be practically applied by journal
publishers of all sizes. We discuss how
researchers are increasingly adapting
their workflows to incorporate new
impact indicators into their academic
activity, and examine what challenges
and uncertainties editors and scholars
adapting to the new impact landscape
might encounter.

Engaging with a wider audience and

increasing your awareness of the online
activity and discussion surrounding the
research you author, edit, or publish
need not be a daunting prospect -
included in this ebook youll find some
handy tips and real-life case studies
to help you get started with your own
approach.

3
About the authors

Catherine Williams is Head of Danielle Padula is Community

Marketing at data science company Development Coordinator at
Altmetric. Cat is responsible for Scholastica, a comprehensive
determining and overseeing the cloud-based peer-reviewed journal
overall marketing and outreach management platform where editors
strategy of the company, and is can manage submissions, coordinate
actively involved in the scholarly peer review, and publish open
community. Prior to joining access articles and issues on the
Altmetric, Cat held roles at Nature web. Danielle heads up community
Publishing Group, SAGE publications, outreach and content creation at
and society publisher the Institution Scholastica, managing the companys
of Mechanical Engineers, where blog, Abstract newsletter, and social
she worked in end user and library media feeds, and creating resources
marketing across a range of science, to help publishing scholars, referees,
social science and humanities titles. and journal editors (like this one!).
She is actively involved in organising Danielle would love for you to stay
the annual altmetrics conference and up-to-date on the latest community
speaks regularly on altmetrics and offerings the Scholastica team is
their application to scholarly research. working on by following Scholastica
on Twitter at @Scholasticahq.

4
Reexamining
Research
Impact
Impact: [n. im-pakt; v. im-pakt] to have a
strong effect on someone or something.
synonyms: affect, influence, make an
impression on

Today garnering research impact is arguably What are the best ways to quantify
easier than ever, with the rise of the Open
Access Movement as well as new forms of digital
the impact of research on the web?
research dissemination enabling journals and
scholars to make their research available faster Should impact measures serve
and to wider audiences. As scholarship moves as research qualifiers as well as
beyond the confines of print pages and traditional
publishing models, research is becoming more
quantifiers - and perhaps more to
accessible both within and outside of academic the point, can they?
institutions to be found, shared, and discussed
online. The impact of modern scholarship can be How can impact indicators be used
seen all across the web.
to determine the true impact of
In academia, simply producing influential individual scholars works and the
research is not enough, though. Scholars are impact of individual and collective
finding it increasingly vital to provide evidence
that the research they publish is having an works online both within and
impact, by constructively affecting work in its beyond journals?
respective field and beyond, in order to garner
promotion, tenure, and funding opportunities. At
the same time, journal editors are keen to prove Academics are confronting the limitations of
that the research they publish is having such traditional impact measures in our increasingly
influence, in order to attract new submissions and digital world and working to find the best means
subscriptions. While academics have traditionally of combining new and old impact indicators to
used bibliometric impact indicators to track tell the full story of the reach and influence of
the reach of their work, the rise in alternative their scholarly works.
digital publishing outlets and venues for research
discussion is expanding the scope of research
impact beyond citations, and causing certain
questions to arise within academia:
5
The rise of the Impact
Factor (IF)

Since it was proposed in 1955 by Eugene Garfield,

American linguist and one of the founders of bib-
liometrics and scientometrics, the journal Impact
Factor (IF) has been the gold standard of measuring
research impact. The Impact Factor, which Garfield
devised as a way to more easily identify additional
source journals, reflects the average number of cita-
tions a journal receives for its recent articles, typ-
ically calculated at two and five year intervals. For
example if there are 50 papers published in a jour-
nal in 2013-2014 and there are 10 citations made to
those articles in 2015, the 2015 Impact Factor of the
journal (made available in summer 2016) would be
0.2 (citations in year 3 to articles published in years
1 and 2/number of articles published in years 1 and
2).

The Impact factor citation data was first derived

from the Science Citation Index, a citation index
created by Garfield and produced by the Institute
for Scientific Information (ISI). ISI was later
acquired by Thomson Reuters along with the
Science Citation Index, which Reuters grew into the
Science Citation Index Expanded. That index is now
housed in the Web of Science, a subscription-based
scientific citation indexing service encompassing
six other online databases. Today, Thomson Reuters
calculates IFs using the data from all of the journals
indexed in the Web of Science, and releases an
IF listing on an annual basis in its yearly Journal
Citation Reports, which is available to publishers
and institutions with paid Web of Science
subscriptions.

Over time, the use of the IF has expanded beyond

Garfields original purpose to help scholars find
source journals. Journal editors and publishers
began to rely on IFs to perform market research,
to determine where publications rank within their
fields, and to communicate journal prominence to
submitting authors. High IF journals are now gener-
ally perceived as more prestigious than low or no IF
journals. The IF has also become widely adopted as
a way of demonstrating research quality and impact
in promotion, tenure, and funding proceedings.
6
Impact factor
challenges

Despite its widespread use, in recent years certain cracks

in the foundation of the IF have emerged challenging its
In our digital
position as the leading indicator of research impact. Chief world an articles
among concerns about the IF is that it is a journal-level
metric. While journal-level-metrics made sense in the 1950s, association with
when scholars found research by reading print publications,
in our digital world an articles association with a particular
a particular
journal is much less consequential to how people find it or journal is
choose to cite it. Today, a quality online article may garner
many citations, thereby having high impact. But if it is much less
published in a less established journal, then relying on the
IF alone will make it impossible to see the full picture of
consequential to
that articles influence. Further, for researchers publishing how people find it
nontraditional digital research outputs, such as digital
humanities websites and big data-sets, the IF offers no way or choose to cite
to gauge their impact at all. The fact that the IF cannot be
applied to legitimate but non-traditional research outputs
it.
poses a problem.

In addition to failing to show the true impact of individual

scholarly works and the impact of alternative research
outputs, the Impact Factors reliance on citations has the pace of research within any given
resulted in many other logistical challenges. Because the field, and how quickly that research
IF only calculates citation impact, it limits the scope of tends to be cited. Even comparisons
impact assessment to a select list of scholarly journals, not of the IFs of journals in the same
taking into account the ways other scholarship is having field can be flawed, since journals
an influence, such as in public policy documents or popular that publish niche research that is
media. Additionally, because it relies on citation counts, not applicable to as many scholars
there is often a significant lag between the time a paper is as their mainstream counterparts
published and when it begins to contribute to the IF of the often have limitations in the number
journal it was published in. In the current publish or perish of citations and consequently the IF
culture academics are expected to publish impactful articles they can expect to generate. Journals
at unprecedented speeds, making waiting for citations - can also manipulate their publishing
which can take anywhere from months to years to accrue - a methods to increase their IF, such
real drag. Waiting for citation impact can be particularly as publishing a higher percentage
problematic for early-career researchers still seeking to of review articles, which tend to be
establish themselves in their field. cited more than regular articles, or by
encouraging authors to frequently cite
IFs also do not inherently account for the fact that scholars other articles in their journal, thereby
and journals in different fields cannot expect to garner gaining IF via self-citations. As a result
citations at the same rate or volume. Citation patterns vary of both intentional and uncontrollable
greatly between disciplines, and are often heavily influenced variations in citation patterns,
by many external factors. These include fluctuating dynamics comparing journals via their IF can be
such as how often scholars in STEM vs. humanities publish, quite lopsided.
7
Additionally, the Impact Factor has developed into
a sort of positive-feedback loop over time because
academics tend to favor journals with a high IF for
submissions and references, consequently causing
those same journals to have high IFs year after
year. In light of the Open Access Movement, schol-
ars are being forced to reconsider the significance
of high IF when choosing journals to publish in,
thereby challenging this positive-feedback loop.

Mounting tensions between the goals of the OA

movement and traditional corporate publishers
that own a majority of high IF journals, which
have been resistant to making their articles freely
available, have brought many academics to a cross-
roads. Scholars are being forced to choose between
publishing in journals with lower IFs that have
sufficient Open Access options, or continuing to
favor the same high IF journals despite their closed
publishing models. In order to ensure that their
articles are taken seriously by tenure and funding
committees, many academics are seeking ways to
show how their research published in newer or
open access journals - with lower IFs than more
established titles - is having an influence on schol-
ars and society. As more funders begin to require
research to be published OA, the need amongst
researchers to have alternative ways to distinguish
the impact of their OA digital works continues to
grow.

8
Beyond impact factor

Over time, supplemental indicators of impact that the h-index unfairly favors researchers
and influence have arisen to address issues whose papers have been out longer, because
with the IF. Many of these new indicators have a scholars h-index counts all citations to date
fallen under the umbrellas of author or article without weighting by the age of the work.
level metrics, which in addition to measuring Since the h-index counts citations across
citations of papers can also measure how often all of a scholars articles, in theory a scholar
they publish, page views and downloads of publishing many mediocre papers could also
articles, and the number of online comments develop an unfair advantage because they could
articles generate. Amongst the alternate impact have a higher citation score than a scholar who
indicators produced by Thomson Reuters are the published one landmark paper which, if on a
Immediacy Index, which calculates how soon an niche subject, may only lend itself to a limited
article is cited after publication, and the Cited number of citations.
Half-Life of an article, showing how often an
article is referenced after being published.
Another flaw inherent in the impact measures
mentioned is that the impact they calculate is
Other alternative metrics include:
dependent on the citation indexes from which
they derive their information. In addition
The g-index: quantifies scientific productivity
to failing to account for alternative research
based on publication record
Source Normalized Impact Per Paper (SNIP):
outputs, these citation indexes do not take into
weighs article citations based on the total account all journals. For example, Thomson
number of citations in a subject field Reuters IF only calculates citations for journals
Eigenfactor: rates the importance of a indexed in Reuters Web of Science database.
scientific journal based on the impact of the Since that database was designed to index
journals that cite its research journals following the traditional publishing
model, it makes certain assumptions about how
Perhaps the most popular alternative to the IF journals should work that may not apply to
is the h-index. Created by Jorge E. Hirsch in alternative online journals. For example, Web
2005, the h-index seeks to measure the impact of Science requires journals to be timely in
of individual authors by measuring researchers publishing a certain number of pre-determined
productivity and citations of their published issues a year. Publication timeliness is difficult
works. For example, if an author published 5 to calculate for online journals publishing articles
articles and those articles received 30, 20, 15, on a rolling basis. While Thomson Reuters
7, and 6 citations than the author would have developed a timeliness standard for rolling
an h-index of 5 because the author published 5 publications, stating that rolling publications
articles that each received at least 5 citations. must produce a steady flow of articles,
ultimately the definition of steady flow is a
Since the h-index, like the IF, still relies on matter of opinion. This ambiguity can result
citation counts it limits research impact to the in quality digital publications that publish less
academic sphere. Scholars have also commented frequently being left out.

9
Despite the imperfections of existing impact
measures, evaluative bodies such as tenure and It would
research funding committees continue to use
them in decision making. According to Rachel
be virtually
Borchardt, Science Librarian at American impossible for
University Bender Library, committees still rely
on IFs because it makes their jobs manageable. funding bodies
Evaluators cant read everything and, even if
they could, they cant all be experts in everything
to fairly gauge
that crosses their desks, Brochardt explained. It the impact of
would be virtually impossible for funding bodies
to fairly gauge the impact of niche subject area niche subject
research from content alone.
area research
However, a growing expectation among funding from content
bodies for research to not only be made freely
available on the web, but also for academics to alone.
ensure that their research is having an impact
beyond the scholarly ecosystem, is beginning
to drive a shift towards new impact standards.
Bibliometric impact doesnt take into account
how research is being used in public policy
documentation, or how scholars, individuals,
and businesses are viewing, saving, sharing
and discussing research online beyond the
traditional realm of journals and conferences.
In response to this reality some governmental
review processes and funding bodies, such as
the Research Excellence Framework (REF) and
the Wellcome Trust, are starting to embrace
alternative indicators of impact that can evidence
much broader influence. These funding bodies are
increasingly encouraging scholars to incorporate
evidence of broader influence and engagement
into their research evaluations, in part through
the use of altmetrics and other indicators.

So, what are altmetrics and how are they shaking

up the impact game? Read on to find out!

10
Enter Alternative
Metrics
Given the limitations of bibliometrics, many In recent years, companies have emerged with
academics and editors are looking to new non- different tools and services to track article level
citation based article-level indicators of impact metrics and altmetrics including Impact Story,
as an alternative. Altmetrics, a type of article Plum Analytics (owned by EBSCO), and Digital
level metric, are metrics gathered from mentions Science company Altmetric (co-creator of this
of research in nontraditional online outlets that guide along with Scholastica). These tools can
can be used to analyze how scholarship is being be used by journals to gather altmetrics data for
found, shared, cited, and discussed. Depending on their publication at the journal and article level,
the information source, altmetrics can encompass and by individual scholars to track the online
a range of insights including the number of views activity surrounding their published works.
and downloads a research output receives, and
how often that research is referenced online in
public policy documents, databases, social media,
news media, post-publication peer review forums,
blogs, Wikipedia, and more.

11
What are the benefits of
altmetrics?
Rachel Borchardt, Science Librarian at American University
Bender Library, said it well in a recent interview with
Scholastica: different impact indicators can say different
things about the same article. Over time, scholars
and journals have become increasingly concerned that
traditional impact indicators may not be saying enough, and
so many scholars have begun to turn to altmetrics to tell a
fuller story, particularly of the impact of alternative research
outputs.

Unlike the IF and other bibliometric impact indicators,

altmetrics can be applied to nontraditional scholarly
outputs because altmetrics consist of data from much Many scholars
more than journal article citations alone. Additionally,
altmetrics address an important logistical challenge of have begun to
the IF: it can take months to years to generate article
citations, especially for research in the humanities and social
turn to altmetrics
sciences. Alternative metrics make it possible for authors to tell a fuller
of newer works to show that their research is being read
and used long before it is formally cited, and often almost story, particularly
immediately following publication.
of the impact of
Many are beginning to embrace altmetrics as an alternative research
alternative impact indicator because they:
outputs.
track the dissemination of research beyond academia
show the attention, reception, and response to a
published work prior to it being cited
can be applied to non-traditional research outputs like
data-sets and blog posts
show research impact in real-time -- scholars and
journals dont have to wait for their score to be released,
like in the Journal Citation Reports

As more and more universities and funding institutions in

the UK, US, and beyond seek proof of the impact of scholars
work beyond academia, prominent organizations such as
the Wellcome Trust are gradually accepting altmetrics (and
in particular the underlying data - such as examples of news
stories featuring scholarly works) as a way scholars can show
how their research is being used and commented on by non-
academics in areas like business or public policy proceedings,
as well as mainstream social media.
12
Questions surrounding
altmetrics

While academics, journals, and funding bodies and individual scholar level. Rachel Brochardt
are beginning to embrace altmetrics, certain is a member of NISOs committee on altmetrics
questions remain. For so long, many academics definitions and use cases, which has been looking
and journals have perceived IF as untouchable closely at the Becker Medical Library Model
and many are quick to say altmetrics will be for Assessment of Research Impact (known as
riddled with issues, said Rachel Borchardt. The the Becker Model) as they try to come up with
truth is IFs are subject to many of the same standards for altmetrics use. The Becker Model
concerns people have about altmetrics - such as offers an organized list of different indicators that
gaming the system. There is no perfect impact can be used to show biomedical research impact.
indicator - when it comes to showing the reach
of research the truth is somewhere in between. Standardization has been the biggest impetus
Looking at multiple impact indicators can offer a for this committee, Brochardt explained. For
more holistic view. altmetrics toolmakers, journal editors and
publishers, and researchers, we want to determine
One misconception surrounding altmetrics is that the best ways to use altmetrics to be as rigorous,
high counts of online shares or media mentions unambiguous and productive as they can be.
are meant to show whether research is good
or bad. Consequently, many people worry that The NISO committee hopes these standards
scholars and journals will try to game the system will encourage journals, scholars, and funding
by heavily promoting catchy articles that may bodies to use altmetrics to their full capacity. In
not in fact be quality scholarship. In reality, as the meantime, many scholars and journals are
explained by Brochardt and stressed by altmetrics beginning to adopt these indicators on their own
producers like Altmetric, alternative metrics to show the value of the research they produce
are meant to be impact indicators showing that and to make for a richer scholarly discourse.
research is being discussed but leaving it to
the reader to determine whether that buzz is
warranted, or indeed occurring for positive or
negative reasons. The cause of altmetrics impact
can vary, much like high counts of bibliometric
article citations can be linked to article
endorsements or references to previous articles
errors.
For more details on how journals are
As scholars, journals, and funders continue to using altmetrics to improve their
navigate what altmetrics are meant to be and publications check out Scholasticas
what they are not, many are seeking greater recent interview with Catherine
standardization of these new impact indicators. Williams, Head of Marketing at
The National Information Standards Organization Altmetric.
(NISO) has heeded the call by launching the
Alternative Assessment Metrics (Altmetrics)
Initiative, which has the goal of developing
greater standardization of altmetrics for use in
displaying research impact on the journal, article,
13
How Are
Over the last few years publishers have
been increasingly adopting altmetrics
across their publishing platforms. Their
decision to do so is doubtlessly driven

Altmetrics
in part by a desire to be innovative
(and increasingly to keep up with
their peer publications) but also by
the growing author-pays model of

Becoming a
Open Access article processing charges
(APCs), which leaves publishers
looking for new ways of adding value to
the service they offer in order to entice

Part of the
submissions.

Altmetrics provide instantaneous and

easily accessible feedback directly to

Scholarly the author on the conversation and

reach of their work, and often reflect
any press outreach or online promotion

Publishing
undertaken by the publisher - thereby
reinforcing the benefits of choosing to
publish in that particular journal.

Process?
Integrating altmetrics into a
publishing program does not just
add value for authors. Such data can
also help publishing teams measure
the effectiveness of existing journal
activities and develop future strategies.
In this section well also take a look at
how publishers are using altmetrics
data to monitor and report on the
success of their marketing activity,
and explore how they are taking into
account factors such as audience
feedback and article reach to inform
marketing and editorial planning.

14
Complementing, not
replacing bibliometrics

In the majority of cases, altmetrics are being offered by publishers as a supplement to more traditional
bibliometrics data (such as downloads and citation counts) to help give authors and readers a fuller
picture of the broader impacts of published research. You can see this in action on the Nature metrics
pages, where altmetrics data from Altmetric.com is combined with citation counts from a variety of
providers:

15
Key to altmetrics is their ability to offer real time and near instantaneous feedback. This is reflected in
the example below, where a look at a more recently published article highlights a large amount of online
activity, long before any citations have had time to accrue:

In another example of an integrated

approach, PLOS journals have also
implemented a home-grown article-
level metrics package that includes
shares, mentions, and captures of
the work from both traditional and
nontraditional sources.

For publishers, offering such altmetrics

data is a clear value-add for authors who
often get little to no feedback about the
broader dissemination of and response
to their published work. Doing so in an
automated way makes the information
instantly available for authors, and can
help them to better manage their online
reputations, and to provide evidence of
the influence and reach of their research
in funding or job applications.

16
Demonstrating the benefits
of effective outreach

Altmetrics present a massive opportunity for

publishers of all sizes to showcase the value and
reach of their content. Articles in established
journals like Nature and Science have long been
recognized as those that will often receive the
most press coverage, and eventually high numbers
of citations. However, through the application of
altmetrics, publishers of smaller journals are also
getting the chance to showcase the online activity
and attention surrounding their articles, even in
less high-profile outlets. Channels such as niche
blogs or subject specific media are becoming much
more visible via the application of altmetrics, and
publishers are beginning to take a much more
proactive role in building strategies to effectively
promote and share their research online. Through the
Beyond the article level, publishers are finding application
innovative ways to display and make use of
altmetrics data. Elsevier, for example, has chosen to of altmetrics,
feature a shortlist of the articles that have attracted
the most attention on the journal homepage of some
publishers of
of its titles. Upon launching Altmetric badges across smaller journals
their platform, Taylor & Francis also showcased their
Top 20 articles, as ranked by Altmetric data. are also getting the
chance to showcase
the online activity
and attention
surrounding their
articles.

17
Integrating altmetrics at Taylor & Francis

The situation
A leading scholarly publisher, with content spanning many disciplines,
Taylor & Francis identified a need to offer their authors and readers
additional insight into how research articles are being shared and
discussed online. They wanted a straightforward solution from a
reliable data source, which could be easily integrated into their existing
journal platform (on individual article pages).

The solution
Having noted the spread of non-traditional metrics throughout the
platforms of many STM publishers, Taylor & Francis felt that the data
they provided their authors should reflect attention from the sources
that would be most relevant to them. To do this, they decided to embed
the Altmetric donut badges on all of their article pages. Authors and
readers can click on the badges to view the details page, the collated
record of the attention the research has garnered from public policy
documents, mainstream and social media, blogs, and other interactive
mediums such as Wikipedia and online reference manager Mendeley.

Roll out
Taylor & Francis took a number of steps to announce and introduce the
launch of Altmetric data across their journals to their key stakeholders.
This included publicity, blog posts for specific audiences (such as
editors, authors and their wider readership), promotion via e-bulletins,
an ongoing social media campaign across all channels, and the building
of a Top 20 microsite to highlight the research that had generated the
most online engagement across their portfolio.

Feedback so far
The integration of Altmetric data across Taylor & Francis content has
generated a very positive response from their key stakeholders so far.
Authors report that they are excited to see the comments their work is
getting in near real-time, and editors are already starting to benefit and
take note of which articles are getting the most traction.

18
An internal feedback loop

In addition to showcasing altmetrics for articles across subjects to highlight further - perhaps even
on their journal websites, publishers are pulling together a multidisciplinary overview on
finding innovative ways to make use of the data a specific topic that incorporates research from
internally. multiple fields, such as climate change.

Some publishers are using altmetrics insights Marketing and press departments are also using
to guide editorial strategy and report back to altmetrics to monitor the broader uptake of their
editorial boards to identify content that attracts content, and in part to measure the success of
a lot of attention or to keep an eye out for new outreach activity and campaigns. The geographical
authors that they might like to invite to publish data altmetrics feature helps determine which
with them. A particular example of this is in the global regions are the most engaged, and
case of MIT Press, who used Altmetric data in highlights any possible gaps in strategy or target
determining which of their previously published markets. Journals are also keeping a close eye
articles should be used to form the content for on the activity and attention surrounding their
their new Batches eBook series - collections of competitor titles, using tools like the Altmetric
specially curated journal content for the Kindle. Explorer database to benchmark the online
MIT Press incorporated altmetrics attention data activity surrounding their own articles with that
with other metrics and expert review to form of peer publications.
what has proved to be a successful series of new
titles focussing on specific subject areas. Actively evidencing to institutional libraries
the broader attention generated by research
Similarly to MIT Press, journal editors can published in a publisher portfolio by their faculty
examine the online attention data for their provides a chance for publishers to demonstrate
articles published over the previous year or two to a commitment to a shared goal of scholarly
understand which content resonated most with dissemination and advancement, and can help to
their intended audiences, and identify key pieces encourage renewal of titles under review.

19
Accessible metrics

A key benefit of altmetrics for younger or smaller

publishers is that, unlike the Thomson Reuters
Impact Factor, there is no criteria applied to make
a title eligible for altmetrics. Beyond assigning
a unique scholarly identifier (such as a DOI or
handle.net idenfier) to each individual output,
publishers are not required to demonstrate any of
the benchmarks required for obtaining an Impact
Factor (such as publishing regularly and typically
being around for about 3 years before they will be
considered for inclusion).

Increasingly, its not just journal articles to which

publishers are interested in applying altmetrics.
Publishers such as Springer and Michigan
Publishing have rolled out similar data to other
forms of content - books in the case of Springer,
and reports and grey literature at Michigan
Publishing.

Charles Watkinson, Director at University of

Michigan Press, has been particularly innovative
in his thinking on the adoption of altmetrics
across their content. As an institutional
publisher, he states, they not only place a focus on
supporting the academics who publish with them,
but there is also a need to demonstrate the value
and worth of their publishing activities back to
the institution that funds them. Using altmetrics
to evidence engagement of their research
amongst a broad audience plays a big part in this,
and helps the publishing team articulate their
successes back to their internal stakeholders.

20
Altmetrics at Michigan Publishing:
applications for a university press,
publishing services program, and
institutional repository

The situation
As part of one of the worlds leading research libraries, the staff of Michigan Publishing are
responsible for a large portion of the publishing activity within the University of Michigan.
Their activities include book publishing through the University of Michigan Press imprint,
an open access journal publishing program, and the institutional repository, Deep Blue,
which hosts a wide variety of grey literature outputs such as technical reports, white papers,
and electronic dissertations. Substantially supported by the University (and as a fully open
access publisher), Michigans team members are keen to consistently demonstrate their
support for furthering the disciplines in which they publish, which include a mixture of
humanities and the social sciences. A second key priority for Michigan is demonstrating the
value of their activity to the publicly-funded parent institution that supports them. As such,
they are constantly looking for ways to help researchers not just further progress in their
field, but also to maximize the broader influence and awareness of their work in a way that
can be captured and given context.

The solution
Michigan saw that incorporating altmetrics data across their platforms could provide
valuable feedback for their authors, as well as data that could be used to report on the reach
and influence of their publishing activity internally. Starting with their journals, with the
intention of expanding coverage to other outputs later on, Michigan has begun to use the
Altmetric badges to track and report on the online attention their publications receive.

Roll out
First incorporated on their journal articles, Michigan has now rolled out Altmetric data on
their open access book program, Digital Culture Books, and on the institutional repository,
Deep Blue. They hope to find ways of including other content over the next few years,
especially the monographs they publish through University of Michigan Press. A particular
aim across all this activity is to provide authors whose impact is often underrepresented via
traditional measures (books, for example, do not get an Impact Factor) with a much more
granular picture of how their work has been interpreted and reused. Through altmetrics,
Michigan can deliver these faculty members examples and evidence that can be used to
demonstrate their influence and the reach of their research.

Feedback so far
Particularly internally, Michigan Press has seen a really positive response to the inclusion
of Altmetric data. The management committee values being able to have a wider view on
the impact of their publishing program, and the staff within the press are using the data to
identify success stories and to help build future outreach strategy. Feedback from authors is
also proving positive, with many reporting that they regularly check in on the altmetrics for
their own work and that of their peers.

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Altmetrics also offer great potential to provide
better feedback to authors and readers of Digital
Humanities content. Although such applications 5 ways to get started with
of the data are only in the early stages of being altmetrics
properly explored, altmetrics have the potential
to deliver valuable insight and evidence of broader Journals of all sizes can benefit from
engagement and influence that was previously the data and insight that altmetrics can
unattainable for scholars in those disciplines. provide. Heres some easy ways you can
get started:
The key message for publishers and journals of all
disciplines and sizes to take away from altmetrics 1. Install the free Altmetric
is: dont be overwhelmed. Altmetrics are easy Bookmarklet in your browser
to use - and you can pick and choose those that toolbar - this can be used to see a
are the best fit for you and your audience. There summary of the online attention
are lots of free tools out there to help you start for any article with a unique
incorporating altmetrics into your workflow, and identifier (such as a DOI), including
an increasing number of conference presentations those in your own journal!
and case studies of publishers sharing their
experiences using these new data. 2. If you publish research yourself,
set up a trial ImpactStory profile to
create an online CV that showcases
the altmetrics for your own work

3. Get yourself an ORCiD profile

and then try out the Altmetric.ID
bookmarklet on it

4. Take a look at your competitor

journals - what metrics do they
provide? Where is their content
getting the most attention online?

5. Think about your audience and

authors: what sources of attention
are likely to be of most interest to
them? This can help you determine
what altmetrics data might be best
to provide.

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What Are the
Benefits of
Altmetrics
for
Researchers?
Its not just journals and publishers
that can benefit from altmetrics
they offer huge value for authors
and readers of scholarly content as
well. Broadly, the potential uses of
altmetrics for academics fall into
three main categories: for monitoring
and tracking early attention, for
showcasing engagement, and for
discovery purposes.

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Monitoring and tracking early
attention

At present, authors rely on download stats, citation A key advantage of altmetrics is that they enable
data (which takes a long time to accrue), and authors to see not just how many people are talking
direct feedback from the academic community about their work, but also what is being said. This
to gauge how their work has been received. With means that authors can now be quickly alerted to
altmetrics, those same authors can start to see not any misinterpretation or misuse of their research,
only how academics but also how the wider public and have the opportunity to respond directly to
are responding to their work as soon the source - a key factor in enabling
as it is published. If a fellow scientist them to more easily manage and
writes a blog mentioning their work, retain control of their professional
an influential figure shares it on reputation and online presence.
Twitter, or it is highlighted in the
mainstream media, altmetrics enable For readers of scholarly content,
the author to see this immediately altmetrics add context that was
and without the need for previously unavailable directly from
intervention from any third parties. the publisher site. Along with the
The aspects of which altmetrics data abstract giving a summary of the
are most important and considered content, altmetrics make it possible
an indicator of potential impact will for readers to also see the attention
differ from researcher to researcher. that research has generated from
For example, someone publishing a media sources and social networks,
study on water use in Africa may be particularly reviews it has attracted on post-publication peer-
keen to see that many of those tweeting and review forums, and what the people making
sharing the work are based in that region, whereas those comments thought of it. This, combined
economics scholars might want to keep track of with their own analysis of the article, can help the
where their work is being referenced in public reader decide the importance and relevance of the
policy or by leading think-tanks. publication to them.

A key advantage of altmetrics is

that they enable authors to see
not just how many people are
talking about their work, but
also what is being said.

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Showcasing Engagement

Authors are facing more competition than ever for funding and career
development opportunities. The volume of scientific content has risen
dramatically in the last 10 years, and continues to do so. Processes in
place to evaluate research vary greatly from country to country, with
criteria coming from a range of governmental initiatives, funders, and
even internal review bodies. Demonstrating the broader impacts of
your work is crucial to telling the full story of your research, and the
benefits that it gleans.

But how can scholars demonstrate, or even at first identify, these

broader impacts? Altmetrics, although of course not the whole story,
can provide a handy indicator for identifying where there is a tale
worth telling. As we discussed previously, the importance of the
different sources of altmetrics data captured will vary enormously
based on the criteria of the author.

Showcasing insights gathered via altmetrics (for example, that your

work has been featured in news outlets local to the geography that the
work focuses on, or that it has been shared and discussed amongst a
certain target community online) alongside things like citation counts,
face to face interviews, economic measures or other quantifiable types
of impact, can really help to highlight the full picture of your research.

Altmetrics can be particularly useful for early-career researchers and

authors who do not typically select to publish a journal article as their
main form of research output. In both instances it is possible that the
author would struggle to accrue citations and other more traditionally
recognized indicators of impact. Altmetrics offer a record of the wider
attention and engagement that their work has generated: where it has
been shared, where someone influential has picked it up, perhaps even
where it has gone on to influence public policy or product development.

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Researcher use case: using
altmetrics to identify and showcase
the influence of your work to
funders

The situation
Terrie Moffitt is the Nannerl O Keohane University
Professor at Duke University. In looking to demonstrate the
broader impacts of her work to her NIH and MRC program
officers, Terrie was keen to understand more about the
attention and online activity relating to her work, and to
determine if any of that information would be good to
include in her report.

The solution
Terrie used Altmetric data to uncover a lot of activity around
her work that she was previously unaware of. Altmetrics Terrie Moffitt,
were able to show her that her work had been referenced in O Keohane University
policy documents published by two major organizations - Professor at Duke University
evidence she considered bona fide data demonstrating that
practitioners not researchers but folks who can affect
lives through legislation, health care, and education, are
using my research to better their work.

Terrie realized she had previously had no idea of the

scope of news coverage or people sharing her work online,
particularly on Twitter where she found practitioners
discussing her research, and this made her think that
perhaps she should reconsider her approach.

Feedback from program committee

On receiving Terries application the program officer
gave very positive feedback on the additional context she
had uncovered via altmetrics. Her NIH program officer
commented, [This Altmetric data is] fantastic information
for [our] budget report.

Using altmetrics to identify this influence saved Terrie a lot

of time, and helped her see and interpret how broadly her
work was disseminated, and via what channels - information
that she can use to improve future outreach strategy.

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A tool for discovery

Identifying the most relevant and interesting con- they want to see it. It might be useful to know, for
tent to read in the limited time available in the day example, which influential bloggers are discussing
is an ongoing challenge for academics. The criteria research in their field, and where it would be worth
for determining where to start is likely to differ reaching out to to build a relationship with the aim
depending on the objective. For example, a skim of raising the visibility of future publications. Simi-
of the table of contents of a regularly read journal larly, a researcher might identify media outlets they
would of course be done in a very different context should specifically target with news of their publi-
to gathering background information for a paper cation, or develop a presence in online discussion
or new project. forums that would also be interested to hear about
it. Altmetrics enable scholars to take a look at the
Although altmetrics cannot offer any insight into other work being published and publicized in their
the quality of the article or the author, they can field and identify the most effective routes to the
help you see which articles have received a lot of engagement and attention they want to generate
attention and by digging into the original com- for their own work.
ments youll be able to easily identify why they had
a lot or not much attention (it might be that some-
one has spotted a mistake that has been widely
publicized, or that the research represents a partic-
ular breakthrough).

Being able to see who is taking an active interest

in research in any given field can also be a useful
channel for identifying potential new collabora-
tors, or new communities to engage with. This can
help build a very effective outreach strategy to help
ensure a researcher is being seen by the people

27
There are various tools available directly to researchers for Top tips: Getting your work the
tracking and capturing the online attention and activity attention it deserves
around theirs and others work. These include:
1. Early on in your research, determine
what success will look like for you: who
The freely-available PLOS metrics (available directly from
do you want to see this work? What
PLOS article pages) influence or impact do you want it
ImpactStory profiles which, for a small fee each month to have? Use this to determine your
(and an initial free trial period), enable a researcher to outreach and engagement strategy.
build an online CV that pulls in the associated attention
2. Where possible, publish your work
and citation data for their works Open Access or get a sharing link from
Altmetric which provides details pages collating the your publisher that will allow people
attention for research outputs that can be accessed via you share it with direct access to your
the free-to-install Altmetric Bookmarklet, or is often work.
accessible via the colorful donut visualization found on
3. Tweet about your work at conferences
many publisher and institutional repository sites (you could even set up some tweets
to automatically post during your
presentation), and promote it via your
other social profiles.

4. Take a look at altmetrics for other

articles in your field, and use this to
identify channels and sources that
might be interested in your work.

5. Set yourself up a trial ImpactStory

profile to start monitoring the effect of
your outreach activity.

6. Write a short lay summary of the key

objectives and outcomes of your work
to help make it more accessible to a
wider audience.

7. Work with your university and/or

publisher press team to plan well
ahead for the announcement of any
major findings.

8. Share a link to your latest research in

your email signature.

9. Get yourself an ORCiD ID so people

can easily identify which research
is yours, and ensure you get credit
accordingly.

10. Make your data, posters, images, and

other supporting files available (and
citable) via a platform such as figshare
or Dryad.

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 Looking to the Future of Research
Impact

Academia has come a long way from the age of traditional print journal
publishing. As scholars embrace open access models and alternative publishing
outlets online, the nature of research impact is becoming broader and more
multifaceted than ever. The rise of altmetrics presents an opportunity to get a
more holistic view of research impact and influence, by factoring in new methods
of capturing and reporting on the online communication and activity surrounding
research, in addition to traditional bibliometrics. While scholars have yet to find
an infallible impact indicator, the combination of altmetrics and bibliometrics
presents an exciting opportunity to get a more accurate representation of the
reach and influence of new scholarly outputs.

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Ebook brought to you by:

About Altmetric About Scholastica

Altmetric are a data science company based Journal management streamlined.

in London, UK. Supported by Digital Science,
Altmetric was founded in 2012 with the aim Scholastica is an end-to-end academic journal
of helping publishers, authors, funders and management platform with all the tools needed
institutions more easily track and report on to track submissions, automate administrative
the online activity surrounding their research. tasks, and coordinate communication throughout
Altmetric believe that researchers should get peer review. Along with a complete peer review
credit for their research no matter what format management system, Scholastica offers open
the output, and that metrics can provide a useful access publishing software and webpage hosting
indicator of the potential broader impacts and to its member journals. Among Scholasticas
influence of scholarly work. Altmetric data is journal users are MIT Press and Johns Hopkins
currently being utilized by leading publishers, University Press journals, as well as open access
funders and institutions large and small, journals Sociological Science and Journal of Applied
including Springer, Nature Publishing Group, Bioanalysis. Scholastica is hosted, managed, and
Taylor & Francis, Wiley, Michigan Press, the updated by our team in the cloud, so journals
Genetics Society of America, Duke University, dont have to worry about IT at all.
Cambridge University, the Wellcome Trust, and
the Templeton Foundation.

30
Further reading

Altmetrics Manifesto
Altmetric, Social Media, and Impact
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

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