What are AltMetrics?

"Altmetrics is the creation and study of new metrics based on the Social Web for analyzing, and informing scholarship." from altmetrics a manifesto.

How are they used?

There is no consensus on how to use AltMetrics in tracking the impact of one's publishing.

What are the weaknesses of this process?

AltMetrics may not be acceptable to all academic departments in all circumstances. Some companies are charging fees for improperly researched AltMetrics that are useless for proving impact--they may only measure Twitter mentions, or self-citations. The field of AltMetrics is still developing, and there are no set rules for how to use them and when they are important. Be wary of services that may use disreputable or illegal ways of collecting personal information. We recommend that you always read the Terms of Service to determine what, if any, intellectual property rights you might be signing away by agreeing to them.

Further Reading:

• Evans, Jill. (Nov. 6, 2013). "Review of ResearchGate: Pros and Cons and Recommendations." Open Research Exeter (blog).
• Fortney, Katie and Justin Gonder. (December 1, 2015). "A Social Networking Site is not an Open Access Repository: ResearchGate and Academia.edu." Office of Scholarly Communication: University of California (blog).
• James M. Donovan and Carol A. Watson. "Will an Institutional Repository Hurt My SSRN Ranking?: Calming the Faculty Fear" AALL SpectrumVol. 16 Iss. 6 (2012) Available at: http://works.bepress.com/james_donovan/70/
• NISO. "Outputs of the NISO Alternative Assessment Metrics Project."

Bailey, C.W. (2013). Altmetrics Bibliography. Retrieved from http://digital-scholarship.org/alt/altmetrics.htm.

Dagenais Brown, J. (2014). Citation searching for tenure and promotion: An overview of issues and tools. Reference Services Review, 42(1), 70-89.

Galligan, F., & Dyas-Correia, S. (2013). Altmetrics: Rethinking the way we measure. Serials Review, 39(1), 56-61.

Kear, R., & Colbert-Lewis, D. (September 2011). Citation searching and bibliometric measures: Resources for ranking and tracking. College & Research Libraries News, 72(8), 470-474.

Priem, J., Groth, P., & Taraborelli, D. (2012). The altmetrics collection.