Research Metrics and Impact: Article Level Metrics
What Are Article Level Metrics?
Article Level Metrics are based on the number of times an article or piece of work is cited. So, the more citations a work has, potentially the greater the impact of the research.
Citation data is available from citation databases (such as Scopus or Dimensions AI), discipline specific databases, and through an emerging range of alternative metrics (Altmetrics; see the Altmetrics tab for more information).
Citation counts are not comparable across disciplines, e.g. citation counts in Social Sciences and Humanities are lower because researchers are more often publishing in books and conference papers that are not well covered by citation databases.
Why Use Article Level Metrics?
Use Article Level Metrics to:
- Assess Impact: Determine the influence of an article, book, or other output.
- Monitor Research: Stay updated with the latest and highly cited research in a field.
- Build Narratives: Create impact narratives for PBRF describing the impact of your outputs.
Limitations:
- Quality vs. Quantity: High citation rates don't always indicate quality.
- Data Coverage: Citation metrics depend on the indexed data, which may not cover all works or subject areas equally.
Tip: Keep a record of all citations to track your research impact effectively.
Citation Databases
Article Metrics in Dimensions
Definitions:
- Total Citations: The total number of citations a publication has received.
- Recent Citations: Citations received in the last 2 years, showing current relevance.
- Field Citation Ratio (FCR): The citation impact of a publication compared to other similar outputs in its field. It normalises citation counts by considering the citation behavior within the specific field.
- Relative Citation Ratio (RCR): measure the scientific influence of a publication. It compares the number of citations a publication receives to the expected number of citations for similar publications within its co-citation network.
Find out more about citation metrics used in Dimensions and how to view them
Article Metrics in Google Scholar
Definitions
- Cited by; number of times cited in other works.
- Web of Science; (number of times Cited in the Web of Science Core Collection)
Using Publish or Perish Software to analyse Google Scholar data you can calculate:
- Total number of papers
- Total number of citations
- Average number of citations per paper
- Average number of citations per author
- Average number of papers per author
- Average number of citations per year
Learn more about using Publish or Perish
Article Metrics in Scopus
Definitions
Citation Count: The number of times a piece of work is cited or referenced by another work.
Field-weighted citation impact (FWCI) is a metric that measures how well a publication or author is cited compared to similar publications in the same field, taking into account factors like publication type, year, and subject area.
Citation Benchmarking Percentile: shows how citations received by the document compare with the average for documents in the same publication year, normalised by subject area.
Finding Article Citation Metrics In Scopus:
- Click on the article title you are interested in
- Then click on View all metrics
- The full range of metrics will display
- Clicking on “more metrics” goes to a screen where you can see the Percentile rating and filter by date range, exlude self citations and book
Article Metrics in Web of Science
Definitions
Citations: number of citations to the document in Web of Science Core Collection.
Times Cited in All Databases: Number of citations to the documents in Web of Science All Databases.
Category Normalized Citation Impact (CNCI); assesses the citation performance of research relative to other publications in the same field, it is normalised by publication type, year, and subject area.
Web of Science Core Collection Cited Reference Search.
Got to Web of Science Core Collection
Perform a "Cited References Search" You can search by Author, document title and more.
Click on the article you are interested in and see the Citation Network panel
If you click on the "open comparison metrics panel" you can see whether the articles have above or below average CNCI and JNCI (Note Otago doesn't subscribe to Incites Benchmarking and Analytics so we are unable to see the actual values).
You can also see how many times the article has been used in Web of Science and it will also show information about the context of the citation "citing items by classification" either Background, Basis, Support, Differ, discuss
Find out more about citing items by classification
Citations for Books and Book Chapters
Metrics for books and chapters can be difficult to find; this is because major citation databases (such as Scopus and Web of Science) are more likely to index journal articles compared to books and book chapters. Try some of the sources below:
|
Metrics |
Source |
|
Citation count |
|
|
Altmetrics (e.g. social media/news) |
Altmetrics in Dimensions, or PlumX (Scopus) |
|
Book and/or chapter reviews |
|
|
NZ and worldwide library holdings |
WorldCat, Te Puna (Searches across all main New Zealand Library catalogues) |
|
Credentials of the publisher/ editors |
Google, Publisher's website |
| Awards received/ listings on reading lists | Internet or Google Search |
Discipline Specific Databases
See your Subject Guide for more subject specific database suggestions.
Pubmed and iCite
iCite is a web-based tool from the NIH that analyses bibliometric data for journal articles indexed in PubMed, providing insights into scientific influence and impact through metrics like Relative Citation Ratio (RCR).
Learn more: ICite Guide (from the University of Western Arizona)
See your Subject Guide for more subject specific database suggestions.
Creative Arts
For advice on metrics for creative arts see this guide from Deakin University Library
Replace Trove with National Library of New Zealand Holdings.
Below are the links to the databases mentioned in the guide at Otago:
See your Subject Guide for more subject specific database suggestions.
Social Sciences:
Finding Research Metrics for Law can be difficult because legal articles often lack a bibliography and rely solely on footnotes, complicating the compilation of "cited by" totals and some legal databases reference journal articles without listing the author's name.
Deakin University Library has a good guide with lots of helpful strategies on Metrics for Law Researchers
ESI (Essential Science Indicators) allows you to understand baselines and citation distributions across across 22 subject categories for papers published in the last ten years.
Learn more: ESI Guide (From Clarivate).
See your Subject Guide for more subject specific database suggestions.
Non-Traditional Outputs
Non-traditional research outputs such as performances, podcasts etc can be difficult to find:
- As a starting point, see The University of Queensland Library guide: Impact evidence for NTRO publications
- For more subject-specific guidance contact your Subject Librarian