Shameless Self-Promotion Workshop Guide

What should we be assessing?

Often, new academics are asked to report specific metrics related to their research output: their h-index, the Impact Factor of the journals they publish in, the number of citations for their individual works... You can learn about those metrics anywhere! So instead, we're going to discuss the alternative methods available for tracking the reach and impact of your work.

This article from Nature Index shares the following principles as alternatives for measuring quality: 

• Assess responsible research practices,
• Value complete reporting,
• Reward the practice of open science (open research),
• Acknowledge a broad range of research activities, and
• Recognize essential other tasks like peer review and mentoring.

Altmetrics

There are various metrics used to assess the impact and relevancy of academic works. Altmetrics track the impact that an online publication receives online in news stories, blogs, downloads, social media posts, Wikipedia citations, etc. Altmetrics are useful for evaluating both traditional scholarly outputs, such as research papers, and for newer formats such as software, online research notebooks, podcasts, and more. 

For example, it is common to track the number of views, downloads, and citations for datasets or articles shared in an institutional repository.

Impactstory is a tool that you can use to discover who's using your research and what people are saying about it. It also provides insights such as how much of your research is open access, how it's being shared, and more.

View sample Impactstory accounts

• Erin Hodgson (Iowa State Univ.)

• Ethan White (Unv. of Florida)

Register for an Impactstory account (it's free)​

Useful Guides for Tracking Your Impact