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Finding yourself: Research Metrics

Information and tools to assist with identifying metrics associated with your publications

What are Altmetrics?

Altmetrics or Alternative metrics, are metrics or qualitative data that are complementary to traditional, citation-based metrics. They track the attention of research outputs across peer reviews, news, Wikipedia citations, policy documents, research blogs, bookmarks on reference managers like Mendeley, and mentions on Twitter.
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Used in addition with other metrics, Altmetrics can help provide further evidence of engagement and 'societal impact'. They are not intended as an indicator of quality.

Image of a checklist

 

Preparation tips for gathering metrics include:​

  • Approaching the task systematically, one publication title and one databases/platform at a time.​

  • Developing meaningful folders for data management

Altmetric Explorer for Institutions

CQUniversity subscribes to Altmetric Explorer for Institutions opens in a new window which allows researchers to track attention to their research papers from social media, including Twitter, Mendeley, blogs and news outlets. For more information, visit the Altmetric Knowledge Base opens in a new window.

You can use Altmetric Explorer to explore social media mentions for:

  • All publications for authors affiliated with CQUniversity
  • Specific authors
  • Faculties, departments, or schools
  • Subject areas

Why use Altmerics Explorer?

  • Highlight your full research visability in grant and promotion applications
  • Identify areas of potential collaboration
  • Showcase attention to research outputs beyond academia
  • Create personalized Altmetric reports, including connecting to ORCiD
  • Setup email alerts to keep up to date with changes to Altmetric scores
  • Share reports with colleagues both within and outside CQUniversity


How to use Altmerics Explorer

Click “Edit Search” at the top of the landing page, then search for yourself in the “Verified Author” field or "Verified Department", and click “Run Search”.

This will limit the data to mentions of your or your departments publications. You can then explore highlights, or navigate to specific data like News, Policy, or Patents mentions.

Click on "Save Search" to enable daily, weekly or monthly reports to be emailed to you. You can also share your report with others by the "Saved Searches" icon on the left.

The Library can provide training upon request for centres, institutes and schools or you can use the Ask a librarian service for an individual consultation.

  1. Follow the instructions on the Altmetric website opens in a new window to install the Altmetric bookmarklet

  2. When viewing an article on PubMed, arXiv, the publisher page, Scopus or any page containing a DOI, click the bookmarklet to see altmetric details such as policy and news citations, shares and mentions.

Terms and Definitions

Term Where to use it

Altmetric attention score opens in a new window ( typically presented as a colourful wheel with a number in the middle opens in a new window)

Use this score to provide complementary metrics around mentions of your work online, including social media and website analytics, media mentions or reviews, downloads or view counts.
Mainstream media attention opens in a new window Showing that your research has been referenced across news outlets can indicate that your research is part of public discussion.
PlumAnalytics opens in a new window (embedded in Scopus opens in a new window, Scival opens in a new window, Science Direct databases opens in a new window and Mendeley opens in a new window) Use these analytics to provide complementary metrics around usage, captures and mentions across Social Media platforms as well as traditional citation count metrics.

Publons Score opens in a new window

Publons metrics quantify the amount of peer review and editorial work you are involved in.
Social media mentions The personal metrics from Facebook opens in a new window, Twitter opens in a new window etc. you generate about your research can quantify the public discussion around your work.
Twitter opens in a new window Twitter mentions include posts and retweets that reference a trackable scholarly product.
Wikipedia mentions opens in a new window Use Wikipedia mentions to show how many times your publication has appeared in the reference lists of Wikipedia pages.

Example statement for promotion and funding applications

"This Policy Paper on Mental Health, attracted substantial media interest, e.g. by SBS Radio and the ABC Radio "All in the Mind report. It has been re-tweeted 105 times."​

Note: Refer to scheme-specific rules to determine what information should be included in your grant or promotion application. Funding rules change from year to year.

2018 Guide to NHMRC Peer Review opens in a new window