Research Impact Challenge: Day 5

What is today’s challenge? Learn about the connection between social media and research visibility, while also discovering which types of social media mentions and other mentions are tracked in the alternative metrics database, Altmetric Explorer.

Social Media & Research Visibility

• Certain social media platforms can be used to help promote and build your scholarly profile online.
• Some disciplines may engage with certain types of social media (e.g., LinkedIn, X, etc.).
• It can be valuable to review existing platforms and determine which ones help support your professional and scholarly profile, and which ones don’t.
• Important! Engaging in social media is a personal decision. Online harassment is a serious consideration. Check out these resources to learn more about protecting your online identity.
  • York resource for supporting researchers with online harassment (York Faculty Affairs)
  • Consumer Reports' Security Planner (Provides a free online security plan)
  • Social Media Safety Guides (Right to Be organization)
  • Online SOS Action Center (Scroll down to 'Plan of action' section for specific checklists)

Altmetrics & Social Media

• What are alternative metrics? Alternative metrics or altmetrics are meant to complement more traditional metrics (such as citation counts). They measure the reach of online interactions with research outputs. Some examples of altmetric measures include:
  • Social media mentions
  • Blog mentions
  • Newspaper mentions
  • Wikipedia mentions
• The connection with social media: Social media mentions (such as mentions on X) are just one type of alternative metric. However, social media mentions of your research, as well as mentions in popular presses, policy documents, or patents, can show how your research has a broad impact on society, the economy, government, and much more!

Altmetric Explorer (the database)

• What is it? Altmetric Explorer for Institutions is a proprietary database that the Libraries subscribes to. While it is not the only source for altmetric data, it does have some useful features that can help you track how broader society is engaging with your research.
• How does it work? Altmetric Explorer searches the internet for ‘mentions’ of scholarly works like articles or book chapters to demonstrate how others are engaging with scholarly work online. It tracks ‘mentions’ in areas such as:
  • Social media (X, Facebook, YouTube, and Reddit)
  • Traditional media (including non-English publications)
  • Scholarly blogs
  • Online reference managers (Mendeley)
  • Patents & policy documents
  • Wikipedia
  • Access a complete list of their sources.
• How do I access it? Access this database through the Libraries’ website. Use your Passport York to login. You will be asked to enter your YorkU email address and create a password when logging in for the first time.
• How can I learn more about Altmetric Explorer?
  • Review the Libraries’ Altemetric Explorer Guide for search tips.
  • Watch Altmetric Explorer’s training videos.

Complete the Challenge Activity

• Step 1: Use the following document to learn how to create your Altmetric Explorer account and explore the Altmetric Details page for a research output (e.g., article or book).
• Step 2: Fill out the challenge form (click below button) to show that you completed today’s challenge.

Need help with Altmetric Explorer and alternative metrics? Email metrics@yorku.ca for help.