Altmetrics: A Practical Guide for Librarians, Researchers and Academics

Altmetrics is a relatively new method of assessing scholarly impact. It has generally been used for impact made through publication, hence the term, which comes from “article level metrics”. Recently, methods have been added to include impact through people, journals, books, data sets, presentations, videos, source code repositories and web pages. Originally, it did not include citation counts because it was, to some extent, a reaction against traditional metrics, but it can now do that as well as engage with other aspects of a work’s impact, such as how many data and knowledge bases refer to it, and the number of article views, downloads or mentions in social media and news media it receives. This extension of the method is explained well by Gunn in Chapter 6. This is an edited work and there are contributions from key figures in the field: Euan Adie, William Gunn and Ben Showers. Seven chapters were written by Tattersall and two by his colleagues Booth and Beecroft. The book’s opening chapters include a general introduction and a history of traditional metrics and a description of the development of Web 2.0 technologies that are generally used to measure altmetrics. Chapters 4, 5 and 6 are written by Showers, Adie and Gunn, respectively, and provide some interesting insights into the evolution of the methods now used and how altmetric data are collected and used. Chapter 7 considers the use of new technologies. Chapter 8, “Resources and Tools,” by Tattersall, lists 41 resources: the major altmetrics tools and many social media platforms, some of which have an academic focus, while others tend towards the mainstream. This gives some concrete examples of techniques used by scholars to demonstrate the value of research outputs, but overall there is not a great deal of analysis of the tools themselves, which tends to reduce the practical value of this chapter. Beecroft’s chapter on the use of mobile devices for measuring impact “on the go” shows how altmetrics might develop, and the concluding chapter by Tattersall on open peer review is another look into the future. This is such an important subject for academics that librarians who can give sound advice will be much appreciated, so the book is a worthwhile addition to all academic library collections.