Skip to Main Content

Measure Your Research Impact: Article Level Metrics

Learn how to measure the impact of your research.

Created by Health Science Librarians

Library Data Services

Library Data Services caters to researchers interested in working with data, mapping, texts, visualization, and technology. Many of these services are available online. Davis Library Data Services, located on the second floor of Davis Library, offers:

  • A computing lab with specialized software for GIS and data visualization & analysis.
  • Walk-in assistance provided by knowledgeable student consultants during set hours
  • Consultations with specialists for more in-depth inquiries (by appointment).
  • Spaces for collaboration and presentation, complete with white boards and external displays.
  • Technology short courses and programs that promote digital scholarship.

What are Article Level Metrics?

Article Level Metrics (ALMs) "provide a picture of how an individual article is being discussed, shared, and used" .

Altmetrics vs. Article-Level Metrics

"As adoption of Article-Level Metrics has increased, the term “Altmetrics” is sometimes used interchangeably with ALMs. It’s important to distinguish between two similar - but not synonymous - terms. ALMs are an attempt to measure impact at the article level. In doing so, ALMs draw from a variety of different data sources, some traditional (e.g., times cited) and some new (e.g., tweets). The attempt to incorporate new data sources to measure the impact of something, whether that something is an article or a journal or an individual scholar, is what defines altmetrics. Altmetrics are about the data sources, not the level of aggregation. ALMs are about the incorporation of altmetrics and traditional data points to define impact at the article level."

SPARC - Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition - See more at: https://sparcopen.org/our-work/article-level-metrics/

Participating Platforms and Publishers

Public Library of Science ALMs

PLoS ALM's

PLoS ALMS

PLoS Article-Level Metrics Reports

PLoS PLOS Article-Level Metrics (ALM) Reports provides a comprehensive report of article-level metrics for articles published in PLOS journals.  You choose which articles to include and this tool will create a report with metrics data and visualizations that you can download, save and share.  Please note this this tool is only for articles published in PLOS journals.

Here are some of the metrics included in an ALM Report:

  • Number of page views and downloads from PLOS and PubMed Central
  • Times cited from CrossRef, PubMed Central and Scopus
  • Saves to CiteULike and Mendeley
  • Mentions on NatureBlogs, Twitter, Facebook and Wikipedia

Instructions on using ALM Reports.

 

Back to Top