What is Altmetric?

Altmetric is a tool that can identify activity that could help demonstrate research impact. Citations are not the only way that readers engage with research outputs.  They can also be shared, mentioned, and written about in many different contexts. Altmetric is not intended to replace traditional metrics like citations, but in some cases, it can be used to support traditional metrics to highlight interest in research that could not be measured in a citation count.

This is especially important if your research is available to be read by the public, commercial partners, or other interested parties. These readers typically will not be citing your work, but they could be engaging online with it in another way and Altmetric might be able to demonstrate this.

Altmetric is a system that tracks the attention that research outputs such as scholarly articles and data sets receive online. It pulls data from:

• Social media such as Twitter and Facebook
• Traditional media - both mainstream (e.g. The Irish Times, The New York Times, The Guardian) and field specific (New Scientist, MedicalXPress). Many non-English language titles are covered. 
• Blogs - both major organisations (Cancer Research UK) and individual researchers
• Online reference managers like Mendeley and CiteULike

Altmetric tracks too many sources to list them individually but a more detailed breakdown is available here.

 

What does Altmetric tell us?

Altmetric uses small donut shaped visualisations to convey information about each research output.  The number in the centre of the donut is the Altmetric score. The colours surrounding the donut reflect the mix of sources mentioning that score, blue for Twitter, yellow for blogs, red for mainstream media sources and so on.

The donuts already appear in RMS Profiles for every record containing a DOI in the system but the newly added module, Altmetric Explorer for Institutions now enables researchers and administrators at all levels to analyse the data in a variety of ways.  For example, the data can be filtered by date, keyword, funder, or publication.  The system has been configured to display aggregated reports showing the Altmetric profiles of UCD Colleges, Schools, and researchers. 

 

Want to learn more?

 

Step 1: Watch

First, watch this short introductory video to get acquainted with Altmetric for Institutions

 

Step 2: Navigate & Search

Next, learn how to navigate Altmetric Explorer and search the database:

 

Step 3: Save & Share

Learn how to save your searches, receive email alerts, and create shareable reports using the guide below.

 

Step 4: Try it Out!

Login to Altmetric Explorer as an existing user

If you already have an Altmetric account, you can login as follows:

1. Go to altmetric.com/explorer/login
2. Enter your UCD email address and the password that you set when registering for your Altmetric account. You can reset your password if you have forgotten it.

 

Login to Altmetric Explorer as a new user

If you do not already have an Altmetric account, you can create an account as follows: 

1. Go to altmetric.com/explorer/login
2. Enter your UCD email address. If you are registering for the first time, your email will be automatically checked to see if you are from a subscribing organisation.
3. Set a password and login.

 

Additional Resources

• Resources and Training materials

• UCD Library LibGuide on Altmetrics

 

Contact us

Send an email to rmssupport@ucd.ie or contact the person below.