Alternative metrics, also known as "altmetrics," is a growing movement that attempts to broaden the scope of metrics for scholarly impact. While traditional metrics focus on citations, altmetrics focus on other types of indicators. This can include journal article indicators (page views, downloads, saves to social bookmarks), social media indicators (tweets, Facebook mentions), non-scholarly indicators (Wikipedia mentions) and more.
Selected altmetrics tools:
- PlumX: full access requires a subscription, however, snapshots of PlumX Metrics are integrated into Scopus and the Belmont Digital Repository.
- ImpactStory: A paid service for collecting and analyzing altmetrics. First 30 days are free.
- Publish or Perish: A free, downloadable program that calculates many metrics, including h-index and variations of the h-index, based on downloaded Google Scholar data.
- Altmetric.com: creates an "altmetric score" based on available altmetrics to indicate overall level of activity, separated into several categories of indicators. A free, altmetric bookmarklet can be used to see altmetric data for any published research output with a DOI.
