Alternative metrics
Alternative metrics
Article-level metrics for individual articles. A group of researchers created this term in 2010 amd published a Manifesto that emphasized the inadequacy of traditional evaluation tools for research products in the era of Web 2.0. The impact of research has to tane in account comments on blogs, dissemination on social media, etc.
So Altmetrics is an alternative (or complementary) metric to those based on citation counts in commercial databases. It considers, beside the citation count, references in knowledge bases, downloads, online views, and mentions on social media (Facebook, Twitter), and other channels such as blogs or websites.
Therefore Altmetrics evaluates:
article usage statistics - HTML page views, XML and PDF downloads;;
citations - from Web of Science, PubMed Central, Scopus, Crossref;
social bookmarks - CiteULike and Connotea;
comments and notes - from readers;
blog posts - from various sources;
platforms for managing bibliographic citations (e.g., Mendeley, Zotero, Endnote, ReferenceManager, CiteULike, Bibsonomy, Delicious);
slide-hosting services (such as Slideshare);
academic-professional social networks (e.g., ResearchGate; Academia.edu; SelectedWorks; Impactstory; MyScienceWork);
general social media (Twitter, Facebook, etc.).
The Altmetric Attention Score is picture by a colored donut surrounding a number. The number represents the total Web 2.0 citations obtained by the article, while the different colors represent the different contributions coming from different types of sources. This indicator can be incorporated into any database.
PLoS became, in 2009, the first Open Access publisher to transparently and comprehensively provide information on the usage and dissemination of published articles, allowing for complementary evaluations. These measures, called Article-Level Metrics (ALMs), include the sources listed above and have this advantages:
very rapid evaluation of the research work's impact;
social impact thanks to the involvement of non-academic sources;
long-term assessment of the article's impact.
ALMs aims to provide the academic community with new ways to evaluate individual articles for their actual merit, rather than for the value or reputation of the journal in which they are published.
More information on this page.
Nature (in 2012) e Wiley also have metrics for individual articles in some of their journals.
In Scopus, we find for the measurement of alternative metrics through the PlumX software, which complements traditional bibliometric indicators.