Using Altmetrics to Demonstrate the Research Impact of ETDs Rush G. Miller Hillman University Librarian and Director, ULS University Library System University of Pittsburgh

Scholarly communications at Pitt  Strategic goal: Innovation in scholarly communication  Strong advocate of Open Access to research  The library as publisher  Experience with open repositories, open journals, and open ETDs  Now developing other research services –Altmetrics and bibliometrics –Researcher profiling systems –Stay tuned...

Defining altmetrics  Altmetrics = Alternative ways of measuring the use and impact of scholarship  Altmetrics combine traditional impact measures (citation counts) with non-traditional measures  Altmetrics = ALL METRICS “Altmetrics are measures of scholarly impact mined from activity in online tools and environments” – Jason Priem, Co-Founder, ImpactStory

Traditional vs. New  Traditional measures also counted  Complementary to conventional methods of measuring research impact –e.g., H-Index, Eigenfactor  Not intended to replace them “…impact factor and citation counts are important, but that's not the only way that information disseminates, and to ignore less formal or currently unrecognized ways of disseminating information demonstrates lack of foresight.” – Jim Fitzpatrick, graduate student, Linguistics “Ultimately, our tools should use the rich semantic data from altmetrics to ask ‘how and why?’ as well as ‘how many?’ – Jason Priem, Dario Taraborelli, Paul Groth, and Cameron Neylon

New Measures  More comprehensive –Citations, usage, social media  Covers impact of online behavior –Because scholars increasingly work online  Measures impact immediately –Because citation counts take years to appear in literature “This type of organic, social, self-configuring web of connections looks useful for networking and for identifying people who are interested in your research.” – Bill Price, early career researcher, Linguistics

The social role of scholars Altmetrics has the potential to show the impact of research outside the scholarly community—how it may be discovered and used by general/non-specialist audiences “I want to reach a wider audience, not just academics, especially since a lot of published articles are not widely available.” – Sharon Quinsaat, graduate student, Sociology “I think this is an important aspect of the researcher¹s role and altmetrics may give us (for the first time) some sort of social impact of research.” – Berenika Webster, Coordinator of Assessment, University of Pittsburgh

The sociability of early career researchers  Graduate students and Early Career Researchers (ECRs) report –Writing blog posts about their research and teaching –Publicizing their work on social media –Finding collaborators via social networks and blogs –Sharing papers on Academia.edu, Mendeley, etc.  How do we help them manage all of these information streams? The problem becomes “Scholars need to invest a lot of time in social media and dissemination - time that could be used for research!”

Challenges to altmetrics  Prestige and tenure are still locked into Journal Impact Factor  Apples, oranges, etc. –A “like” is not the same as a citation  Older vs. newer works –Newer works may receive more attention from social media “Researchers must ask if altmetrics really reflect impact, or just empty buzz.” – Jason Priem, Dario Taraborelli, Paul Groth, Cameron Neylon

Benefits  More kinds of usage statistics available, not just citations  Metrics indicate wider, more robust use  Show impact for early career faculty & graduate students  Good numbers = potential for further publishing, research, and funding  Ideological importance “I think that social media is a really important counter-narrative to dominant media institutions.” – Robert Lawson, ECR, Linguistics “I have had people come up to me at conferences and say that they read some of my papers and then looked me up on social media and found other stuff of mine. I also think that social media has increased the amount my work is cited.” – Graduate student, Social Work

Leading Altmetrics Tools and Services

Pitt and PlumX  Allowing researchers, labs, departments, institutions to track real-time impact  Promoting research, comparing with peers, connecting with new research  Traditional citations & newer metrics –Scopus –Twitter, Facebook –Wikipedia –Mendeley

PlumX widgets  Infoboxes containing concise, easy-to-read altmetrics for scholars and their works  Researcher-level widgets  Embeddable –On researcher web pages –In external scholarly profiles –In university departmental directories

Article-level widgets  Display item-level metrics  Embedded in –Article abstract page for journals –D-Scholarship abstract page –Abstract page for ETDs

Plum Analytics Widget in D-Scholarship  Plum displays altmetrics for each record  Indicates long-term usage  Indicates usage, sharing, and “socializing” of scholarship  May encourage IR use & additional deposits

PlumX: What’s Possible  PlumX harvests publicly available data from an ever-growing list of data sources  Different categories of impact—usage, captures, mentions, social media, citations  Varied “artifacts”—articles, blog posts, book chapters, cases, clinical trials, conference papers, datasets, figures, grants, patents, presentations, videos, and ETDs

Data in blue are hyperlinked so we can find out more about the downloads and tweets Data in gray are not hyperlinked so no further information is available—at least at this time

ETDs at Pitt  ETD program sponsored by the Office of the Provost and administered by the library  Decentralized review and approval by 13 graduate schools plus University Honors College  Optional deposit beginning in 2000  Mandatory deposit since 2004  Fall 2011: Migrated all ETDs from ETD-DB (Virginia Tech platform) to (Eprints platform-based institutional repository)

ETDs at Pitt  As of 1 July 2014, we had ~ 6,000 ETDs in D- Scholarship  We add ~ 550 master’s theses, doctoral dissertations, and undergraduate BPhil theses per year  Students can choose to –Withhold completely for 1 year (must have patent pending) –Embargo only to the Pitt community for 1 to 5 years –Make available immediately via Open Access

Altmetrics add value  Plum Analytics gives the IR added value by addressing Schöpfel (2013)’s recommendations:  Social media tools  Federated search & sophisticated discovery tools  Usage statistics & metrics –Multimedia supplements to theses –Print on demand in book format –Copyright options including Creative Commons –Preservation Schöpfel, Joachim. “Adding Value to Electronic Theses and Dissertations in Institutional Repositories.” D-Lib Magazine 19, no. 3/4 (March 2013). doi: /march2013-schopfel doi: /march2013-schopfel

Why altmetrics matter for ETDs  Demonstrate increased use of research, irrespective of discipline  Show increased socialization of research, irrespective of discipline  Offer a more holistic view of research dissemination and use  Illustrate the impact of Open Access on research  Open conversations about scholarly communication practices and the library’s role

Why altmetrics matter to scholars  Citation of works in scholarly literature takes time  Altmetrics = research impact now, not years later  This impact can help researchers by generating interest from –Publishers and journal editors –Grant-funding agencies –Research institutions –Employers (current and future)  Can also help with –Reputation promotion and management

Sources  Ho, Adrian, and Daniel R. Lee “Recognizing Opportunities: Conversational Openings to Promote Positive Scholarly Communication Change.” College & Research Libraries News 71: Accessed June 5,  Priem, Jason, Dario Taraborelli, Paul Groth, and Cameron Neylon “altmetrics: a manifesto.” Last modified Sept. 28,  Schöpfel, Joachim “Adding Value to Electronic Theses and Dissertations in Institutional Repositories.” D-Lib Magazine 19. doi: /march2013-schopfel.doi: /march2013-schopfel