Research outputs can take many and diverse forms, However the most commonly recognised are publications in Academic Journals, Books and Conferences. The impact of a publication can be measured qualitatively through peer-review and quantitatively through various metrics. The quantitative measurement of publications is generally referred to as bibliometrics.
Research impact refers to the influence of an academics's research outputs. Tools to track and measure impact are designed to help researchers understand how their work is being used and how it fits into the scholarship of their field overall. A scholar might ask, for example:
Understanding the impact of one's research can help scholars build funding and promotion cases, select publication outlets for future work, and identify potential collaborators.
The research metrics and tools described on this guide help researchers to quantify some measures of the influence of their work.
Bibliometrics refers to the quantitative measures used to assess research output, in other words, publication and citation data analysis. Citation analysis is based on the premise that if an academic shows good citation metrics, it is very likely that he or she has made a significant impact on the field. However, it is important to note that the reverse is not necessarily true.
There are three main categories of bibliometrics:
This guide provides information about the most common tools that individual researchers or research administrators can use to measure their own, or their institution's, citation impact.
It is important that research metrics are used responsibly, in a fair, transparent and robust way.
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