Research Guides: Prepare for Promotion and Tenure: Beyond Citation Counts

Other Metrics

Altmetrics are recent attempts to quantify the impact of research, especially journal articles, in ways that incorporate online use, mentions in social media, and news coverage. Even though the numbers provided by altmetrics tools are not yet standardized or well-understood, the tools nevertheless can be useful for tracking what is being said about research and finding impacts that might not be visible elsewhere.

altmetrics tools
Links to several tools for pulling together readership and social media impact information.
altmetric
A bookmarklet that can be downloaded that shows "scores" for mentions of articles in social media.

Broader Impacts

Book reviews and citations to academic publications are some ways to show the impact of research, but there are many other impacts that research can have. Depending on the goals of a research endeavor, other documentation of the impact may be more meaningful.

Metrics Toolkit
The metrics toolkit gives guidance to navigate the different kinds of publication metrics that are emerging and provides links to resources to locate these metrics.
Use in Curriculum
Using a regular search engine to look for your surname and the title of your work can uncover syllabuses that include it in the course readings. Tip: in Google, add site:.edu to your search to restrict the search to academic sites.
Purchase by Libraries (WorldCat.org)
WorldCat is a shared catalog of thousands of libraries. It can be used to get an idea of how many and what types of libraries have purchased a book.
Media Coverage
Search the news (e.g. Access World News or Dow Jones Factiva) for media coverage.
Application
For data sets, software or educational techniques, it can be hard to find examples of use because users don't always cite them. If you create this kind of resource, adding a "cite as" note with complete citation information and an email address for users to contact you with questions or comments can help you track down where your work is being used.
Commercialization
If you create an invention that makes it to be a commercial product, that's an impact, even if you aren't the one to bring it to market. VCU TechTransfer and Ventures Office can assist with the patent and licensing process.
Downloads
Some journals and other online works provide download counts. Ideally, these counts would come from a standardized method across platforms, but often different platforms count downloads differently. Short of standardized counts, counts could be informative if comparison information from other articles or materials on the same platform is provided.

Book Reviews

Subject-Based Databases
To find book reviews published in journals in your discipline, use the same databases you ordinarily would use to find scholarly articles in that discipline. Usually book reviews listed under the title of the book.

Academic Search Complete
Contains resources in all academic areas, including sciences, arts, social sciences and humanities.
Book Review Digest Plus
Citations for reviews of fiction and non-fiction books, including selected review excerpts and full-text reviews.

Impact of Creative and Artistic Works

Promotion and tenure considerations for artistic works include both the importance of the place where the work is exhibited and the quality and importance of the work itself. It is easier to document an exhibit or performance at the time it happens or soon after than to go back later to document it.

Competitiveness of the venue: What is the venue's reputation? What other artists have exhibited or performed there? If there was a competition, how many others participated? What sort of review happened before the presentation or exhibition?
Size and scope of the work, including consultations or commissions: How big is it, e.g. number of square feet, number of pieces shown, seating space in an auditorium? Does a comission draw on professional judgement, and not just technical skill?
Selectivity for artists in residence: How competitive was the application process? What are the expectations during the residency?
National or international significance of works: Is your work discussed in national or international publications? Has it won major awards? Is it in major public or private collections?
Reviews of artistic works: What are others' professional opinions of it?

Subject-Based Databases
To find reviews published in journals in your discipline, use the same databases you ordinarily would use to find scholarly articles in that discipline.
Media Coverage
Search the news (e.g. NewsBank Access World News or Dow Jones Factiva) for media coverage and reviews in newspapers.