Altmetrics: Diversifying the understanding of influential scholarship

Abstract

The increase in the availability of data about how research is discussed, used, rated, recommend, saved and read online has allowed researchers to reconsider the mechanisms by which scholarship is evaluated. It is now possible to better track the influence of research beyond academia, though the measures by which we can do so are not yet mature enough to stand on their own. In this article, we examine a new class of data (commonly called “altmetrics”) and describe its benefits, limitations and recommendations for its use and interpretation in the context of research assessment. This article is published as part of a collection on the future of research assessment.