Altmetric

Altmetric is a company that tracks the online attention surrounding academic research, providing insights into how research is being discussed and shared on platforms like Twitter, Facebook, and Blogs. Founded by Euan Adie and Jason Priem in 2011, Altmetric has become a leading provider of research metrics, working with institutions like Harvard University, Stanford University, and the University of Oxford. By analyzing data from sources like Google Scholar, PubMed, and arXiv, Altmetric helps researchers, institutions, and publishers understand the impact of their work beyond traditional citation metrics, which are often used by organizations like the National Science Foundation and the European Research Council. This includes tracking mentions in news outlets like The New York Times, The Guardian, and Science Magazine, as well as on platforms like Reddit and Wikipedia.

Introduction to Altmetric

Altmetric is a tool used to measure the online engagement and discussion surrounding academic research, including articles published in journals like Nature, Science, and PLOS ONE. By tracking mentions on social media platforms like Twitter, where researchers like Neil deGrasse Tyson and Brian Cox are active, and online news outlets like BBC News and The Washington Post, Altmetric provides a more comprehensive picture of a research article's impact, which can be useful for institutions like MIT and Caltech. This can include metrics like the number of tweets, Facebook shares, and Blog posts about a particular article, as well as mentions in policy documents from organizations like the World Health Organization and the National Institutes of Health. Researchers like Tim Berners-Lee and Vint Cerf have also used Altmetric to track the online discussion surrounding their work, which has been published in journals like Journal of the American Medical Association and The Lancet.

History of Altmetric

Altmetric was founded in 2011 by Euan Adie and Jason Priem, who were both interested in developing new ways to measure the impact of research, building on the work of pioneers like Eugene Garfield and Derek de Solla Price. Initially, the company focused on developing a platform to track article-level metrics, which could be used by researchers like Stephen Hawking and Jane Goodall to understand the online discussion surrounding their work, which has been published in journals like Physical Review Letters and Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Over time, Altmetric has expanded its services to include tracking of other research outputs, such as datasets and software, which are often shared on platforms like GitHub and Figshare, and used by researchers at institutions like University of California, Berkeley and University of Cambridge. Today, Altmetric works with a range of clients, including universities like University of Michigan and University of Texas at Austin, research institutions like CERN and NASA, and publishers like Elsevier and Springer Nature, which publish journals like Cell and Nature Medicine.

Methodology and Metrics

Altmetric uses a range of metrics to measure the online attention surrounding research, including the number of tweets, Facebook shares, and Blog posts about a particular article, as well as mentions in news outlets like The New York Times and The Guardian. The company also tracks metrics like the Altmetric Attention Score, which provides a weighted count of the online attention surrounding an article, and can be used by researchers like Andrew Wiles and Grigori Perelman to understand the impact of their work, which has been published in journals like Annals of Mathematics and Inventiones Mathematicae. Additionally, Altmetric provides data on the demographics of the people discussing research online, including their location, profession, and interests, which can be useful for institutions like Harvard Business School and Stanford Graduate School of Business. This data is collected from a range of sources, including Twitter, Facebook, and Google Scholar, as well as from online news outlets and Blogs, which often feature researchers like Lawrence Krauss and Lisa Randall.

Applications and Use Cases

Altmetric has a range of applications and use cases, including helping researchers understand the impact of their work, which can be useful for career development and funding applications, as well as for institutions like University of California, Los Angeles and University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. The company's data can also be used by publishers like Nature Publishing Group and American Association for the Advancement of Science to understand the online engagement surrounding their journals, which often feature researchers like Stephen Curry and Athene Donald. Additionally, Altmetric's data can be used by research institutions like Wellcome Trust and Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to understand the online discussion surrounding their research, which can inform funding decisions and policy development, and has been used by organizations like the World Bank and the United Nations. For example, researchers like Sally Davies and Mark Walport have used Altmetric to track the online discussion surrounding their work on Antimicrobial Resistance, which has been published in journals like The Lancet and PLOS Medicine.

Criticisms and Limitations

While Altmetric has been widely adopted by researchers and institutions, it has also faced criticisms and limitations, including concerns about the accuracy and reliability of its metrics, which have been raised by researchers like Paul Ginsparg and Stevan Harnad. Some have argued that Altmetric's metrics can be gamed or manipulated, for example by using Social Media bots to inflate the number of tweets about a particular article, which can be a problem for institutions like University of Oxford and University of Cambridge. Others have raised concerns about the potential for Altmetric's metrics to be used as a proxy for research quality, which can be misleading and unfair, and has been criticized by researchers like John Ioannidis and Richard Horton. Additionally, Altmetric's data may not be representative of all research fields or disciplines, which can be a limitation for researchers like Lisa Feldman Barrett and Daniel Kahneman, who work in fields like Psychology and Economics.

Impact on Research and Publishing

Altmetric has had a significant impact on research and publishing, including changing the way researchers understand and measure the impact of their work, which can be useful for institutions like MIT and Stanford University. The company's metrics have also been used to inform funding decisions and policy development, for example by organizations like the National Science Foundation and the European Research Council. Additionally, Altmetric has helped to promote a culture of openness and transparency in research, by providing insights into how research is being discussed and shared online, which can be useful for researchers like Tim Gowers and Terence Tao. However, the company's metrics have also been criticized for potentially creating a culture of competition and gaming, where researchers feel pressure to inflate their metrics in order to advance their careers, which can be a problem for institutions like Harvard University and University of California, Berkeley. Overall, Altmetric has played an important role in shaping the way we understand and measure research impact, and its metrics continue to be widely used by researchers, institutions, and publishers, including organizations like PLOS and BioMed Central. Category:Research metrics