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Research Metrics and Impact: Using Research Metrics in Promotions and Grant Rounds

This guide provides resources on bibliometrics, altmetrics and research impact; it covers author, journal, and article-level metrics to help you measure and enhance your scholarly influence.

Why Use Metrics in Promotions and Grants?

Research metrics such as the h-index can provide an objective measure of your productivity and impact, helping to demonstrate sustained scholarly influence in promotion and grant applications. Increasingly, grant and promotion rounds require metrics to be included as part of the application.

Note: Carefully check the requirements and guidelines for the inclusion of metrics for the promotion or grant you are applying for before starting.

Otago Academic Staff Promotions Guide Metric Advice

This is the advice in the Promotion Handbook with regard to using metrics:

13. If it is appropriate to your discipline or profession it is strongly recommended that you include research metrics (eg: H indices, impact factors and citations) in your personal statement. Promotion Committees are aware research metrics can vary from discipline to discipline or even within a discipline. It is your responsibility to provide the evidence and explain the significance of research metrics such as citations, H-index, and impact factor for your research area. Be clear about your sources and note any limitations about the validity of any measures. In assessing your case, Heads of Departments are asked to pay particular attention to your statements about journal status and reputation. Remember that the Promotion Committee members may refer to research metrics when considering your application. It therefore is in your interest to comment on the significance of research metrics. Failure to provide information about your contribution to publications may weaken your case for promotion. Remember that research metrics are one part of your case to demonstrate the quality of your work. You still need to demonstrate the impact of your research on the profession, discipline, policy or community.

See the full  Academic Staff Promotion Guide (effective from March 2025)

Note: Your personal statement can be a maximum of 3 A4 sides so choose key metrics and explain them succinctly.

Quick Guide to Finding and Using Metrics for Promotions and Grants

1) Keep your researcher profiles up-to-date

It is important to keep  your researcher profiles up to date, as the accuracy and completeness of these profiles directly impact the calculation of research metrics. 

2) Run a SciVal High-Level Researcher Report

This report gives you a range of useful metrics including H index, FWCI and Collaboration metrics. Find out more about High Level Researcher reports and how to run one.

 It's a useful starting point if most of your work is indexed in Scopus (the data source for SciVal). If not, explore the alternative options below.

3) Gather your author metrics

  • If you've run a SciVal report, you'll already have some author metrics, but you can explore others too.
  • If your work isn’t in Scopus, use Publish or Perish to analyse Google Scholar citations. Learn more here.
  • See the full author metrics page for more options.

4) Gather your article metrics and identify your most cited works

5) Gather journal metrics

6) Choosing your metrics to include

  • Select metrics that highlight your strengths—e.g. FWCI, h-index, citations to top publications, or % of Q1 journal outputs.
  • Need help choosing? Visit the Research Metrics & Impact Guide or contact your subject librarian.

7) Write narrative statements about your metrics

  • Use narrative to explain and contextualise your metrics.
  • Always cite the data source and the date you accessed it.
Examples:
  • I have a Field-Weighted Citation Impact (FWCI) of 1.42, demonstrating that my work is cited 42% more often than the global average for similar outputs.
  • My research has had real-world influence: three publications have been cited in patents across five international patent offices.
  • 20.8% of my publications are among the top 10% most cited globally, reflecting strong academic relevance.

. (Metrics obtained from SciVal report, 2014–2023, data as of 23 April 2025, report generated 01/05/25).

8) Bringing it together

  • Using your metrics and narrative statements write 2 to 3 paragraphs that highlight your most important metrics.

Example Metric statement

(For Amanda Phipps-Green the Otago Researcher we used to generate the SciVal High Level Researcher Report)

The following metrics reflect the quality, reach, and impact of my research contributions: I have authored 48 publications, over 70% of which are Open Access, increasing visibility and accessibility. My work has received 1,283 citations, averaging 26.7 per publication, with an FWCI of 1.42, indicating my outputs are cited 42% more than the global average and an h-index of 26. Over 80% of my publications are in Q1 journals, nearly half in the top 10% by CiteScore, and 20.8% in the top 10% most cited globally. (SciVal report 2014–2023, data as of 23 April 2025, report generated 01/05/25).

Collaboration is a key strength: 72.9% of my publications involve international partners. My impact extends beyond academia; three publications are cited in patents across five international offices, and six are cited in policy documents from nine policy bodies. (SciVal report, 2014–2023, data as of 23 April 2025, report generated 01/05/25).

My 2024 publication in Nature Genetics on gout genomics (A genome-wide association analysis reveals new pathogenic pathways in gout) received an Altmetric Attention Score of 327, placing it in the top 5% of over 28 million tracked outputs. It ranked  number 3 of 99 outputs from Nature Genetics of similar age and was featured in 43 news stories across 40 international outlets, including RNZ, MSN, Yahoo, and Science Daily demonstrating strong public and media engagement. (Dimensions AI, 5 May 2025).

Note: Research metrics are just one part of the impact story. You can also include broader evidence such as, public outreach, or societal change. 

Need help? Contact your Subject Librarian for personalised advice.

SciVal High Level Researcher Reports

A SciVal High-Level Researcher Report highlights key metrics such as Field-Weighted Citation Impact (FWCI), which compares your citation performance to the global average; Scholarly Output, indicating the total number of publications; Citation Count, measuring overall citation volume; Citations per Publication, reflecting average impact; and Collaboration Metrics, such as international and academic–corporate partnerships. Extra analyses can be added to a High Level Researcher Report including the following; Publications by journal quartile Summary metrics output cited by policy, Summary metrics output cited patent, Academic Corporate collaboration.