Article-Level Metrics measure the dissemination and reach of published research articles.
Traditionally, the impact of research articles has been measured by the publication journal. But a more informative view is one that examines the overall performance and reach of the articles themselves. Article-Level Metrics are a comprehensive set of impact indicators that enable numerous ways to assess and navigate research most relevant to the field itself, including:
- usage
- citations
- social bookmarking and dissemination activity
- media and blog coverage
- discussion activity and ratings
- recommendation reviews
Article-Level Metrics are available, upon publication, for every article published by PLOS. Researchers can stay up-to-date with their published work and share information about the impact of their publications with collaborators, funders, institutions, and the research community at large. These metrics are also a powerful way to navigate and discover others’ work. Metrics can be customized to address the needs of researchers, publishers, institutional decision-makers, or funders.
Article-Level Metrics are useful to:
Researchers
- Track the impact of your research and share with others (funders, promotion boards, etc.)
- Navigate and filter research to find what is most suited to your needs
- Find collaborators based upon the impact of their work and relevance to yours
- Measure research impact with metrics at the article level, instead of at the traditional journal level
- Search, filter, and aggregate scholarly content based on research impact with metrics at the article level
Research Institutions
- Track dissemination of articles published (types of channels, rate of growth, etc.) by members of the institution
- Access up-to-date information on the research progress of faculty members, useful for tenure and promotion decisions
- View data on downstream impact of publications
- Roll up data for custom reporting of department’s research activities
Funders
- Efficiently track progress of the research impact of grant awardees in an automated fashion with the most relevant signals
- Measure research impact with metrics at the article level, instead of at the traditional journal level
- Measure evidence of wider engagement
- Monitor and enhance engagement from a specific audience
- Identify high-impact research outputs much earlier
- Analyze trends of past and future funding programs
- Conduct network analysis to evaluate researcher communities
Publishers
- Attract authors by offering data on the audience’s research interest
- Track dissemination of articles published (types of channels, rate of growth, etc.)
- Provide content distributors data on downstream impact of publications
- Gain comprehensive understanding of how publications are disseminated and accessed
- Report on the usage of the article in ways that suit your business needs
ALM & the Research Process
Article-Level Metrics are an integral part of the entire research process: