Getting started
Altmetrics and article-level metrics
Altmetrics are scholarly impact metrics that are an alternative and complementary to traditional citation metrics. They are derived from online sources such as social media, online news media, captures in online reference managers, etc.
Article-level Metrics quantify the impact and reach of published research articles. They capture the different ways that researchers engage with articles (e.g., citing, viewing, downloading, bookmarking, blogging and posting) (Gordon 2015 et al). They incorporate altmetrics as well as usage statistics and traditional citation metrics (Cave 2012).
Categories of altmetrics and article-level metrics include (Cave 2012):
- usage (views, downloads, book holdings)
- captures (bookmarks, shares, etc)
- mentions (blog posts, news, Wikipedia, etc.)
- social media (shares, likes, tweets)
- citations
One of the benefits of altmetrics metrics is their immediacy. While traditional citation metrics provide insight into the long term impact of a scholar's work, altmetrics track the real-time activity of a scholar's work both within and outside the academy.