Article-level metrics explained

Article-level metrics are citation metrics which measure the usage and impact of individual scholarly articles. The most common article-level citation metric is the number of citations.^[1] Field-weighted Citation Impact (FWCI) by Scopus divides the total citations by the average number of citations for an article in the scientific field.^[2]

Alternative article-level metrics include the CD index, a measure of the disruptiveness of an article.^{[3] [4]}

Adoption

Traditionally, bibliometrics have been used to evaluate the usage and impact of research, but have usually been focused on journal-level metrics such as the impact factor or researcher-level metrics such as the h-index.^[5] Article-level metrics, on the other hand, may demonstrate the impact of an individual article. This is related to, but distinct from, altmetrics.^[6]

Starting in March 2009, the Public Library of Science introduced article-level metrics for all articles.^[7] The open access publisher PLOS provides article level metrics for all of its journals^[8] including downloads, citations, and altmetrics.^[9] In March 2014 it was announced that COUNTER statistics, which measure usage of online scholarly resources, are now available at the article level.^[10]

See also

• Bibliometrics
• Scientometrics

Further reading

• Web site: SPARC - Article level metrics . 2013-12-19 . 2013-12-05 . https://web.archive.org/web/20131205154841/http://sparc.arl.org/initiatives/article-level-metrics . dead .
• Web site: SPARC Primer . 2013-12-19 . 2014-03-13 . https://web.archive.org/web/20140313155739/http://www.sparc.arl.org/sites/default/files/sparc-alm-primer.pdf . dead .
• Article-Level Metrics and the Evolution of Scientific Impact . 10.1371/journal.pbio.1000242 . 19918558 . 7 . Nov 2009 . PLOS Biol . e1000242 . 2768794. Neylon . Cameron . Wu . Shirley . 11 . none . free .

Notes and References

1. Tahamtan . Iman . Safipour Afshar . Askar . Ahamdzadeh . Khadijeh . Factors affecting number of citations: a comprehensive review of the literature . Scientometrics . 107 . 3 . 2016 . 0138-9130 . 10.1007/s11192-016-1889-2 . 1195–1225.
2. Web site: Cooke . Bec . Guides: Research Metrics: Field-Weighted Citation Impact . libguides.usc.edu.au . en.
3. Funk . Russell J. . Owen-Smith . Jason . A Dynamic Network Measure of Technological Change . Management Science . 63 . 3 . 2017 . 0025-1909 . 10.1287/mnsc.2015.2366 . 791–817.
4. Park . Michael . Leahey . Erin . Funk . Russell J. . Papers and patents are becoming less disruptive over time . Nature . 613 . 7942 . 5 January 2023 . 0028-0836 . 10.1038/s41586-022-05543-x . free . 138–144.
5. Web site: Article-Level Metrics. SPARC. 13 March 2014. 25 March 2014. https://web.archive.org/web/20140325033941/http://www.sparc.arl.org/initiatives/article-level-metrics. dead.
6. Web site: Article-Level Metrics: A Sparc Primer. SPARC. 13 March 2014. April 2013. 13 March 2014. https://web.archive.org/web/20140313155739/http://www.sparc.arl.org/sites/default/files/sparc-alm-primer.pdf. dead.
7. Article-Level Metrics Information . Lagotto . PLoS ONE . 2005-07-01 . 2012-05-29. Fenner . Martin .
8. Web site: Overview. PLOS: Article-Level Metrics. 13 March 2014. https://web.archive.org/web/20140214044604/http://article-level-metrics.plos.org/alm-info/. 14 February 2014. dead.
9. Pattinson. Damian. The future is open: opportunities for publishers and institutions. Insights. March 2014. 27. 1. 10.1629/2048-7754.139. 38–44. free.
10. Web site: Introduction to Release 1 of the COUNTER Code of Practice for Articles. COUNTER. 21 March 2014. 22 March 2014. https://web.archive.org/web/20140322043103/http://www.projectcounter.org/counterarticles.html. dead.