Altmetrix: Social media as a tool for evaluation of research impact

Document Type : Extension

Author

Faculty Member of Agricultural Scientific Information and Documentation Center. Agricultural Research, Education and Extension Organization (AREEO), Tehran, Iran

Abstract

Research evaluation is an important part of the research management process and is in the area of interest and needs of research institutions. These assessments are mainly based on the citation counts that have their own strengths and weaknesses. With the development of social media on the Internet, which provides an interactive environment for users and content producers, new opportunities have now emerged to evaluate research products. On the one hand, producers of research works can share their works in these media, and on the other hand, users can react to such works through activities such as liking, commenting, sharing, downloading, and marking. Attention to these activities has become the basis for the formation of a new method for evaluating research works, which is called altmetrics. In this article, while referring to the emergence of social media, the concept of altmetrics is introduced and its relationship with social media is expressed. Altmetrics tools for collecting the required data as well as the strengths and weaknesses of altmetrics are other points that have been mentioned in this article.

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