FEATURE


Research Metrics


For example, a researcher who wants to demonstrate the value of their research is likely to want to demonstrate that their work has had a significant impact and has been downloaded many times; it is of little interest whether the work has been downloaded multiple times by the same person, different people, or by the researcher themselves. At the same time those who want to judge the influence of the work may consider the number of unique IP addresses that have downloaded the work a better indicator of a work’s influence. The publisher will want to provide data that accurately reflects the relative impact of different works but they also need to demonstrate the value of their publications in comparison to that of other publishers.


Still a long way to go


There is a long way to go before altmetrics fully answer many of the questions that are being raised by the new research environment. One question is whether altmetrics enable publishers traditional


to demonstrate the value of


publications. Undoubtedly tools are increasingly available that demonstrate the continued value of the traditional research


publication as part of an increasingly-complex research environment that comprises both informal and formal types of publication. There is still a need, however, for metrics to be developed at the network level, for data to be collected from an increasing number of sources.


Another question is whether altmetrics have enabled researchers to demonstrate the impact of their new publishing activities. The answer is not yet, or rather, only to a limited extent. ImpactStory may allow researchers to investigate the impact of a richer research profile, but it barely scratches the surface of the resources a researcher may be making use of online. To a certain extent this is a limitation of the way information is currently published online. Research profiles will only truly reflect research practices when these activities are given semantic mark-up in a consistent manner and data can be collected automatically from across the web. A third question is whether altmetrics have enabled information professionals to filter the increased deluge of information. The use of altmetrics to filter information may be limited


so far, but as they become more established and the data more easily accessible it seems likely that a host of services will be built on top of the metrics, helping to push the most pertinent information to researchers. In many ways, however, the fundamental question of what the different sorts of online impact actually mean, and how they relate to one another (e.g. what is the value of a mention on Twitter in comparison to a traditional citation) is still to be established. What has been recognised, however, is that the modern research landscape is much more than journal articles, and there is a lot of value to be created by measuring the connections between the new types of publication.


David Stuart is a research fellow at the Centre for e-Research, King’s College London, as well as an honorary research fellow in the Statistical Cybermetrics Research Group, University of Wolverhampton


FURTHER INFORMATION


Altmetrics altmetrics.org/manifesto ImpactStory impactstory.org


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