How to measure the success of your article
After spending months or even years on your research, you now want to make sure your work reaches the right audience and has an impact.
Next to receiving qualitative or anecdotal feedback from your readers or colleagues, there are a few quantitative factors by which you can measure the success and influence of your article.
Measuring success by only one criterion is very limiting and will not give you an accurate picture of your research impact. For a more rounded view, make sure to look at several if not all of these metrics and to also ask for some of that qualitative feedback as well.
1. Altmetric Attention Score
Altmetric uses a range of data sources to provide a comprehensive report on the attention your work is receiving. Going beyond just citations and usage, the Almetric Attention Score tracks multiple online sources and gives you a visual representation of the ‘influence’ of your research, also known as the "Altmetric donut."
In addition to the different sources of attention, Altmetric also tracks citations from Dimensions and readers on Mendeley.
The benefit of using the Altmetric Attention Score is that you gain insight into who is talking about your research and what they are saying in addition to traditional metrics.
Your article’s Altmetric Attention Score can also be valuable for identifying people within your subject field to collaborate with.
You can find the Altmetric Attention Score for your work on the article page or through the Altmetric Bookmarklet.
2. Citations
Citations have long been considered the primary metric to be used to assess the quality of an article. Citations track when and where your peers credit and reference your research in their own work and are an important way of validating your research.
However, there are limitations to relying on citation data alone. Since the formation of DORA, the San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment, there has been a call for the research community to explore other metrics that can be used alongside citation data, giving a broad range of impact measures that include influence on policy and practice.
3. Usage
Usage refers to the number of times your article has been read online. This can be reported as the number of times the PDF version of your article has been downloaded or the number of times the version on the journal webpage has been viewed. These figures can also be combined.
The usage figure of your article is a good way to gauge the reach of your article. More people reading your work could possibly result in more citations. You can increase the reach and readership of your article by sharing and promoting it after it’s published.
How to promote your research
Practical guides for sharing your published research on social media, blogs, and other useful platforms.
