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Altmetric Explorer

According to the National National Information Standards Organization, Altmetrics is a broad term that encapsulates the collection of multiple digital indicators related to scholarly work. These indicators are derived from activity and engagement among diverse stakeholders and scholarly outputs in the research ecosystem, including the public sphere (NISO, 2016). Altmetrics are complementary to traditional citation-based metrics and can help clarify how research outputs are being shared and engaged with both inside and outside the academy. The Altmetric Explorer for Institutions platform provides advanced and customizable options for researchers, faculty, staff and students at York University that are looking to track the altmetric attention associated with specific research outputs of interest. The Explorer pulls in several sources, including (but not limited to) policy and patent citations as well as news and social media mentions.

York University community members, including students, staff and faculty can register for an account by using their York University email address to access Altmetric Explorer from this link. For an introductory overview of the platform, consult this Getting Started with Altmetric Explorer for Institutions Guide.

  • Altmetric Explorer aggregates mentions of research outputs in news and social media, and it pulls in publication citations in policy documents and patent applications. Through such aggregation, the platform can help describe the reach of academic work in ways that traditional bibliometrics cannot capture.
  • Altmetrics Explorer can help researchers understand how academic work is used not only within the academic community but also amongst practitioners, policymakers, and the general public through the tracking of sources such as Wikipedia citations, blog posts, and Twitter.
  • Altmetric Explorer can help support grant application and evaluation efforts by tracking the influence of research outputs in real time and allowing users to create customized charts on research outcomes and trends.

Altmetric tracks a unique range of online sources to capture the conversations relating to research outputs. Some of them include public policy documents, mainstream media, blogs, citations from the Dimensions database, Wikipedia, the Open Syllabus Project, Twitter and Facebook (curated) among others. You can read more about the sources of attention covered by Altmetric by visiting this website.

Want to learn more about how to use Altmetric Explorer and track mentions of specific research outputs? Consult our Altmetric Explorer at York University User Guide or contact us at metrics@yorku.ca to ask a question or book a consultation.