Altmetrics – revealing the societal impact of research
In recent years, new target groups and other ways of reaching old audiences have become increasingly important to scientists. Altmetrics were developed as a supplement to classic bibliometrics to measure the impact of research beyond the strictly scientific sphere.
On this page you will find a brief introduction of altmetrics and also some tips on how to improve your altmetric impact.
How altmetrics work
Altmetrics – short for alternative metrics – provide a more holistic view of how research is being utilized and discussed across various platforms and by diverse audiences, including social media, news outlets, policy documents, blogs, and more. This broader scope allows researchers to understand the societal impact of their work in real-time, capturing the nuances of public engagement that traditional metrics often overlook.
Unlike citation counts, which primarily reflect a research paper's influence within the scientific community, altmetrics aim to capture the impact of research on various aspects of society, including education, culture, economy, and policy.
Altmetrics collect and analyse online traces and mentions of research articles across various platforms and media. These traces include online interactions like:
- Mentions, shares, and likes on social media platforms such as Bluesky, LinkedIn, and Facebook.
- Usage metrics like clicks, views, downloads, and video streams.
- Citations in indexes, patents, clinical guidelines, and policy documents.
- Mentions in blog posts, news articles, comments on webpages, reviews, and Wikipedia entries.
- Captures such as bookmarks, favourites, and saves in reference management tools like Mendeley and Zotero.
Providers of altmetrics
The main providers of altmetric data are Altmetric (Digital Science Company) and Plum X Metrics (Elsevier). Both offer comprehensive data, but Plum X Metrics includes additional data on clinical citations, particularly useful for medical research, tracking mentions in clinical guidelines from databases like PubMed, DynaMed, and NICE Guidelines.
PLOS (Public Library of Science) also provides altmetric data directly on their journal websites, including saves, views, shares, and downloads. In addition to PLOS’s own figures, metrics on social media impact from Altmetric.com are also included.
At Karolinska Institutet, KI RIMS (Research Information Management System) provides altmetric scores extracted from the Dimensions database on the publications that are visible on researchers’ profiles in the system (not on ki.se).
To track altmetric scores for any other publication that is not included in KI RIMS, it is possible to use a free tool called Altmetric Bookmarklet. You just need to download the tool, bookmark it and when you are on an article page, you can get its almetric mentions through clicking the Altmetric Bookmarklet button in your bookmark list.
Moreover, KI has a subscription to a clinical impact database provided by Minso company. The database aims to offer insights and facilitate the exploration of research impacts on clinical practice by analysing citations in clinical guidelines and related documents for healthcare decision-making. The database has a wide coverage and includes several Swedish sources.
Introductory film on altmetrics
Why altmetric tools are useful
The societal impact of research refers to the broad, real-world effects that scientific discoveries and advancements have on society. This includes the influence on healthcare, public policy, education, environmental practices, and overall public awareness.
Research that reaches beyond academic circles can drive innovation and contribute to cultural and societal progress. Altmetrics offer researchers a useful tool to implement evidence-based knowledge and to push society in the right direction by for example:
- Broadening audience reach. By tracking mentions and discussions on social media, news websites, and other online platforms, altmetrics can help researchers identify and reach new audiences.
- Real-time feedback. Researchers receive immediate feedback on how their work is being received and utilized, allowing them to adjust their communication strategies to maximize impact. A high altmetric score confirms that you are doing something right in terms of the societal impact of your research.
- Highlighting engagement. Altmetrics highlight how research is being discussed and applied in real-world contexts, showcasing its relevance to current societal issues.
- Informing policy and practice. By tracking citations in policy documents and clinical guidelines, altmetrics demonstrate how research influences policy-making and clinical practices.
- Encouraging open science. Altmetrics support the principles of open science by showing the benefits of making research findings accessible to the public, thereby fostering greater transparency and collaboration.
Tips to improve your altmetric score
A prerequisite for achieving high altmetric scores is, of course, active participation in public discourse and a willingness to generously share one’s expertise — both with fellow researchers and in contexts beyond the academic sphere. However, there are certain 'hygiene factors' that facilitate the digital dissemination of information.
Make your work searchable and shareable
Ensure that the different search engines used in altmetrics pick up digital citations of your scientific work. You can do this by linking to a page where the work’s unique ID, such as DOI, PMID or ISBN, is specified. For this to work, the link must be directly in the body of the text, for example in a blog post, tweet or article reference on a web page.
Consider the possibility of allowing open access to your scientific articles. Open access enables rapid dissemination of research findings, which can speed up the pace of scientific discovery and innovation. Also, if people can read the whole articles, the chances are greater that they will comment on and share them with others on the web. The University Library at KI provides access to an Open Access/APC Checker Tool for researchers to search for a specific journal to see if it is included in an open access agreement with prepaid APCs.
Take care of your profile page and group page
KI also great opportunities for researchers to present their research online through profile pages and group pages. Since ki.se is a very large website, it achieves high visibility in search engine rankings, which helps spread the information to a large audience. As a researcher, you can manage your profile page yourself via KI RIMS. Research group leaders and unit managers can, with the support of the web editor at their institution, also present their research on a group page and partially manage the information via KI RIMS.
Contact
For questions about altmetrics, please contact the KI University Library on kib@ki.se
For questions about communication, please contact the Communications Office on either news@ki.se or pressinfo@ki.se