Speaker
Description
This paper outlines alternative metrics for measuring research output as opposed to traditional citation metrics like impact factors and H-index which are what a lot of researchers are privy to. The traditional citation metrics like impact factors and H-index tools are good alright but have a lot of limitations that goes against researchers especially the young ones as they become less visible and fail to hit the needed recognition they expect to get and this affects the impact level of their publications. This paper therefore presents the “alternative metrics” (altmetrics) that can be promoted by librarians that measure the impact of a publication by looking at several factors like the number of times the paper has been downloaded, viewed, shared, liked and mentioned on social media. Alternative metrics as they are called, offer researchers who do not publish in academic journals, or who work in disciplines that are not associated with the accumulation of citations in academic resources, an alternative means of demonstrating the reach and significance of their work. The paper uses mainly literature review as a method for the study. It starts by exploring the scenario assuming a subject librarian who is knowledgeable in the field of sociology and so provides various guidelines, suggestions and assistance to students and staff who are in need of information to solve their various information needs. It assumes that this subject librarian has been approached by a young researcher in the field of sociology who wants to increase the visibility of his research articles in the field of sociology. The paper also highlights first the traditional metrics and their limitations and then explores the alternative metrics that this young researcher should opt to publish his research articles such as PlumAnalytics, CiteIn, Total-Impact and CiteUlike.
| Sub-Theme | SMART Research: Services and tools |
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