In earlier articles, we’ve talked about how to publish your article, and get it noticed through different tools like SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and social media networks, like Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn, as well as tools like ORCID (your unique author identification profile). In this article, we’re going to explore how you can measure article level metrics, and if your work is showing up in top social media articles.
Why Measure the Impact of Your Article
You’ve done the research, and written your successfully published article, so why worry about the impact of your work? Well, most of us want to have an impact, and it’s nice to think that if you publish something, it will be read. But, often, getting your work read, shared and cited is much more difficult than the straight-forward work of research and writing a manuscript.
But why is it important to measure the impact of your article? Just like it would be hard to know how to get from “Point A” to “Point B” without a map, with a measure of your article’s impact, any efforts to get your work read and shared would be random. By keeping track of your article’s performance, you can adjust how you’re sharing your research, and make sure that it’s getting into the hands of the right people.
What are the Traditional Ways to Measure Impact?
Perhaps the best known way of measuring your impact as an author is the h-index. This metric is the number (h) of papers that have received (h) or more citations. For example, if you’ve published 7 papers, cited at least 7 times, your h-index is 7. Basically, we’re looking at quantity and quantity, and in a way that is easy to understand and calculate. But, this can be an inaccurate metric for early-career researchers, especially since it only looks at published works, and h-index scores are limited by how sources have been indexed.
Another way to measure impact is with the g-index. Here we are also looking at quantity and quality, but with more emphasis on the quality aspect of the metric. The g-index is calculated by ranking, in decreasing order, the number of citations each of your articles has received. A g-index of 10 means that the top 10 of your articles have been cited at least 100x. Although the g-index isn’t as widely accepted as the h-index, it does have a few advantages, namely that it looks at an author’s overall publishing record, and it means that highly-cited work can bolster less visible work. However, like the h-index, it only looks at published articles, and its calculation is arguably a little complicated.
Finally, another relatively common metric is the i10-index. This measure focuses on the quality of your work, and counts how many publications you have with at least ten citations. So, if you have 4 published articles that have been cited at least ten times, your i10-index is 4. The advantage of this metric is that it’s straightforward and easy to calculate. Utilized by Google Scholar, this tool is also free and easy to use. However, a major limitation is that it’s only used within Google Scholar, and is limited to only articles and research indexed by Google Scholar. Like the h-index and g-index, again, it only looks at published works.
How to Measure Impact Factor of Article
ALMS, or Article-level metrics, put a number on how many people your article is reaching, as well as the overall impact of your published research.
ALMS do this by taking data from sources like social media mentions and shares, along with more traditional measurements, like citations in other research articles. Putting these more traditional measures with newer metrics provides a much richer profile of how your article is being shared, discussed and used.
In the past, most impact measures didn’t look at the overall impact on society. But as the sharing of research information becomes more prevalent via social media networks, this type of metric is becoming more and more important.
When you’re applying for funding, or looking for a new position, knowing your ALM, or general impact, can help you showcase your research, and help you get discovered and stand out from the crowd.
PlumX Metrics
These metrics are built into Elsevier’s world-class research programs and products, like ScienceDirect, Scopus, Digital Commons, SSRN and Pure, as well as our leading society and journal partner sites.
How they work is that we categorize or organize metrics into five different categories. Namely, usage, captures, citations, social media and mentions. Many top journals display the ten most popular articles using PlumX metrics, including social media activity. By looking at these different categories, PlumX metrics provide information on how people are interacting with different aspects of your research work, for example conferences, book chapters, citations and articles. All of which are available online.
You can find PlumX Metrics for free for research output with a DOI by using this URL: https://plu.mx/plum/a/?doi= (paste the DOI after the “=” sign).
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