The rise of altmetrics in measuring scholarly influence

The growing need to demonstrate the value of research is leading academics to use “altmetrics” or non-traditional measures to show the impact of their work, writes theChronicle of Higher Education. Rather than relying on conventional signs of scholarly influence such as citations, professors are finding it necessary to record how often an article is tweeted, blogged about, mentioned in mainstream media, bookmarked, or viewed on a journal’s website. Jason Priem, who coined the term “altmetrics” in a 2010 Tweet, discusses the growing popularity of altmetrics and whether these measures will eventually become the norm for measuring scholarly impact. Chronicle of Higher Education (Subscription Required)