LibGuides: Impact Metrics: Home

Impact Metrics or How to Evaluate Your Scientific Production

Impact metrics refers to the quantitative analysis of scientific publications in order to evaluate academic production.

It could be helpful:

For a researcher

When you start your research:
- To identify the most cited articles on your subject
- To find collaborations with researchers in your field by discovering who cites and mentions your work (citation counts and altmetrics)
- To identify trends in your research field by looking at the most cited articles (citation counts and altmetrics) and the impact factor evolution of the top journals on a subject

To situate yourself by tracking the impact of your research and identify who cites your articles (consult your h-index or number of citations or altmetrics)

To increase the visibility of your research by publishing in a high impact journal, sharing your work on different social media platforms or creating a researcher identifier)

For an academic institution or financing agency

To evaluate the research impact of a professor/researcher (impact factor, h-index or altmetrics)
To define the strategy of a research unit or to find specific niche topics to investigate (impact factor, altmetrics)
To attribute funds to researchers (i mpact factor, h-index)

Keep in mind:

Impact metrics are quantitative methods to evaluate scientific performance. A qualitative evaluation is necessary to complete the analysis of research activity. Read the most common criticism of impact metrics in academia