Altmetrics measure the impact of research outputs (journal articles, conference proceedings, book chapters, etc.) beyond the scholarly literature to create a more complete picture of the various ways people interact with research. Like other research metrics, altmetrics are not a measure of the quality of the research output or the researcher.

Two services gather and present altmetrics:

• Altmetric, from Digital Science, uses the research output's DOI to track mentions in the news media, blogs, and social media, readers in Mendeley, and citations in patents, policy documents, and Wikipedia. It automatically calculates a weighted Altmetric Attention Score and represents that score in the form of a donut. Altmetric data is available from Dimensions (free account required) and displayed on some publisher websites.
• PlumX, from Elsevier, tracks citations, usage, captures, mentions, and social media that reference the research output. PlumX metrics are available from Scopus and SciVal and displayed on some publisher websites.

For assistance with altmetrics, please contact Scholarly Impact.