A comparison of citations, downloads and readership data for an information systems journal

Abstract

In the past, citations were the prime source for measuring scholarly impact. With the advent of altmetrics, it is possible to detect the use and consumption of scholarly publishing on a much broader basis (1). According to Plum Analytics, besides citations, metrics can be provided on the basis of usage, captures, mentions, and social media (2). In this contribution we will elaborate on the similarities and differences between one example from each of the first three metrics types mentioned above: citations from Scopus; downloads from ScienceDirect; and readership counts from Mendeley. As a use case, we chose the Information Systems journal Information and Management, including all issues from 2002 to 2011.