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: Benefiting from ALM across all stages of research