Tracking citations and altmetrics for research data: Challenges and opportunities

Methods for determining research quality have long been debated but with little lasting agreement on standards, leading to the emergence of alternative metrics. Altmetrics are a useful supplement to traditional citation metrics, reflecting a variety of measurement points that give different perspectives on how a dataset is used and by whom. A positive development is the integration of a number of research datasets into the ISI Data Citation Index, making datasets searchable and linking them to published articles. Yet access to data resources and tracking the resulting altmetrics depend on specific qualities of the datasets and the systems where they are archived. Though research on altmetrics use is growing, the lack of standardization across datasets and system architecture undermines its generalizability. Without some standards, stakeholders' adoption of altmetrics will be limited

Scholars' Commons: a Researcher-Oriented Library Space for 21st Century Scholarship

In August 2012, IU Libraries-Bloomington announced plans to radically change the face of the Herman B Wells Library with the addition of the Scholars’ Commons. Described as a "vibrant and active shared space in a central campus location," the Commons will occupy most of the first floor of the East Tower and be home to a suite of technologies and services that support new and traditional modes of scholarship. I recently sat down with Julie Bobay, Associate Dean for Collection Development and Scholarly Communication and Chair of the Scholars’ Commons Task Force, to discuss how the Commons will change library services at Indiana University

New Opportunities for Repositories in the Age of Altmetrics

For institutional repositories, alternative metrics reflecting online activity present valuable indicators of interest in their holdings that can supplement traditional usage statistics. A variable mix of built-in metrics is available through popular repository platforms: Digital Commons, DSpace and EPrints. These may include download counts at the collection and/or item level, search terms, total and unique visitors, page views and social media and bookmarking metrics; additional data may be available with special plug-ins. Data provide different types of information valuable for repository managers, university administrators and authors. They can reflect both scholarly and popular impact, show readership, reflect an institution's output, justify tenure and promotion and indicate direction for collection management. Practical considerations for implementing altmetrics include service costs, technical support, platform integration and user interest. Altmetrics should not be used for author ranking or comparison, and altmetrics sources should be regularly reevaluated for relevance

Meeting the NSF Data Management Plan Requirement

Learn the fundamentals for preparing a data management plan that conforms to the January 2011 NSF mandate. Find information on free, fully supported campus resources for data storage, access, and preservation; resources for DMP development; and key staff that can help you develop your proposal. Q&A will follow the presentation. Anyone interested in or planning to apply for NSF funding should attend.Co-sponsored by IU Libraries, OVPR, and ORA

Enriching vs. corrosive values in academia: which do our current metrics reinforce?

As part of the TriangleSCI HuMetrics working group, I spent the better part of this afternoon brainstorming and debating academic values, products, processes, and metrics in an attempt to lay a foundation for this week’s attempt at articulating “humane metrics” for the humanities. As our discussion winded down, it occurred to the team that we were working with an important assumption re: values: we had spent the day identifying only those “enriching” values that we wanted to encourage (collaboration, generosity, inclusivity, quality, etc), rather than examining the current set of values we wished to discourage, those that in many ways are “corroding” academia (competition, bureaucracy, exclusivity, etc)..

Altmetrics: An App Review

In a university culture increasingly influenced by metrics, academic libraries can use altmetrics to highlight scholarship's hidden value. This session will cover the apps and services that can help faculty, administration, and librarians learn the full, true impact of research

Beyond Citations: New Metrics for Measuring the Impact of Research Data

Today’s scholars are at a critical juncture with respect to how they will measure the impact of their research in coming years. At the same time that scholars in various disciplines are increasingly being encouraged to share their research data, new technologies are enabling the measurement of the variety of ways in which such data is shared and reused. This talk will explain not only recent initiatives to develop standards and technologies to support data citation, but other frameworks for measurement that aim to quantify the impact that curators and digital libraries’ designs have on the reuse of research data. It will also cover ways in which researchers can leverage campus and national resources to promote the tracking of impact metrics for their own data

Robust ‘Altmetrics’ as a Framework for Measuring Item Usage and Researcher Impact in Institutional Repositories

Select academic journal publishers and subject repositories have implemented tools that allow authors to see their “impact” at an article level. These usage indicators, called “altmetrics,” measure article citations, download counts, pageviews, bookmarks on academic social reference manager sites, and mentions on Facebook and Twitter. Some altmetrics have been shown to predict the likelihood of papers receiving more traditional measures of impact such as citations (Eysenbach, 2011), and a growing number of scholars are calling for altmetrics’ recognition as a supplementary measure of an article’s influence (Neylon & Wu, 2009; Priem et al, 2010; Taraborielli, 2008). Should institutional repositories offer altmetrics for the research they hold? If so, which metrics? Which tools are best suited to aid in implementation? What barriers to participation exist for repository managers? Using examples from the research literature, academic publishers, and subject and institutional repositories, we explore these questions.

Policy impact and online attention: tracking the path from research to public policy on the social web

The process by which research gets put into action is far from clear cut, argues Stacy Konkiel. Extracting references to research from policy documents is a step towards illuminating the murky path. But we should be careful not to disregard other forms of evidence like online and media mentions as they are closely interrelated and may even lead to quicker impacts upon public policy

Managing Your Research Data at IUB

Presented Friday, 9/21/2012 - 12:00pm - 1:00pm in Wells Library E174 as part of the Research @ IUB Libraries Seminar series (Fall 2012). Workshop Description: Learn about the research data storage, preservation and access resources that IUB has to offer researchers. We will also examine funder mandates for data management planning and how to meet them