Measure for Measure: Altmetrics (June 2017)

This essay first appeared in the June issue of Choice (volume 54 | issue 10).

Posted on June 1, 2017 in Bibliographic Essays

Authors:

Beth Juhl

Introduction:

“Altmetrics”—the Twitter hashtag turned manifesto—is an elastic term that can be applied to a wide range of measures and measurables, tracing the shift from journal- to article-level analysis to the latest social media buzz. Relying on linkages across web services using unique author, work, and other identifiers, tools for altmetrics attempt to provide a more inclusive and immediate picture of scholarly impact, reaching beyond the confines of academe and its more traditional bibliometric approaches. The curmudgeons among us may be tempted to dismiss altmetrics as a trendy, time-wasting form of navel-gazing, but even the crankiest Luddites may be gratifie…

View the Full Essay

About the author:

Beth Juhl is Web Services Librarian at the University of Arkansas Libraries.

Related Posts