Traditional bibliometric methods of evaluating academic research, such as journal impact factors and article citations, have been supplemented in the past 5-10 years by the development of altmetrics (alternative metrics or article level metrics). Altmetrics measures impact of research, data and publications, such as references in data and knowledge bases, article views, downloads and mentions in social media and news media. This presentation gives a brief background to altmetrics and demonstrates how Rhodes University librarians are using social media to raise the visibility of the research output of their institution. (Rhodes University is in Grahamstown, South Africa)

1. 1
Joining the ‘buzz’ : the role of social media in raising research visibility
1
Eileen Shepherd
Principal Librarian
Faculty Liaison Services
(Science & Pharmacy)
Rhodes University Library
http://www.ru.ac.za/library/
Grahamstown, Eastern Cape, South Africa
25/09/2014

2. 2
This presentation endeavours
o
to provide a brief introduction to
o
to demonstrate how Rhodes librarians are using

3. 3
Background
Traditional bibliometric methods
of evaluating academic research
have been
supplemented in the past 5-6 years
by the development of
altmetrics
(alternative metrics/article level metrics)
“The creation and study of new metrics based on the Social Web for analyzing, and informing scholarship”
http://altmetrics.org/about/

4. Citations, h-indices* and Journal Impact Factors**
*a scholar with an h-index of 18 has published 18 papers each of which
has been cited in other papers at least 18 times
**In any given year, the impact factor of a journal is the average
number of citations received per paper published in that journal during the two preceding years
Traditional bibliometric tools
4

5. Increasing variety of online references to
research and of tools for sharing research…
need for new tools to measure and understand research impact and the ways in which research is communicated & shared via the Web
Enter : altmetrics
5

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Do researchers use social media for research purposes?
“Giant academic social networks have taken off to a degree that no one expected even a few years ago”. Asked how researchers used social networks and/or profile-hosting or search services Received: 3,500 responses from 95 countries Van Noorden, R., 2014. Online collaboration: Scientists and the social network. Nature, 512(7513), pp.126–129. Available at: http://www.nature.com/news/online-collaboration-scientists-and-the-social-network- 1.15711?WT.mc_id=TWT_NatureNews

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Sites/networks in order of popularity with researchers (visit regularly)
61%
1%
12%
48%
8%
8%
12%
40%
38%
22%
4%
5%

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How do scholars use Twitter professionally?
Reasons for using Twitter
330 regular users from 3500 person survey
49% Follow discussion
46% Post work
42% Discover papers
40% Discover peers
40% Comment on research
36% Share links to content
From ‘Nature’ survey

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Origin of the term: altmetrics

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Why use altmetrics?
“….tracking mentions of scholarly articles across [the] expanding online landscape could inform new, broader, faster measures of impact, complementing traditional citation metrics”
Holbrook, J.B., Altmetrics in the Wild: Using Social Media to Explore Scholarly Impact – altmetrics.org. Available at: http://altmetrics.org/altmetrics12/priem/ [Accessed September 2, 2014]

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Who is collecting and sharing altmetrics?
Open-source, web-based tool that helps researchers explore and share the diverse impacts of all their research products
Has created and maintains a cluster of servers that watch social media sites, newspapers, government policy documents and other sources for mentions of scholarly articles. Brings all the attention together to compile article level metrics
Tracks more than 20 different types of artifacts, including journal articles, books, videos, presentations, conference proceedings, datasets, source code, cases, and more

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Example of altmetrics

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Use of Altmetric bookmarklet
13
Bookmarklet
in toolbar
Altmetric
stats
More
details
Get this bookmarklet for your toolbar http://www.altmetric.com/bookmarklet.php

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More details – from previous slide

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Another example of Altmetric statistics for an article

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Demographics for ‘tweeeting’ of this article

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Altmetrics bookmarklet stats – another example

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Altmetric Explorer – free accounts for Librarians
http://www.altmetric.com/aboutexplorer.php

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Social media mentions for articles in past month
Enables librarians to monitor activity
Using DOIs, in this example
Altmetric is also available by subscription to Institutions
Select perameters

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Another example: using keyword = coelacanth

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Altmetrics and publishers : e.g. Public Library of Science

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PLOS also takes account of altmetrics
@RhodesResearch (and other) tweets are archived on PLOS

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More about

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Impressive support base

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Beyond the traditional

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Example of an ImpactStory profile
Please encourage researchers to create a profile https://impactstory.org/

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Rhodes University Library (RULibrary)
http://www.ru.ac.za/library/
What are we doing to raise research visibility?
And why?

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Social media on the RU Library website

29. 1.
@RhodesResearch Twitter account – articles & conference papers are ‘tweeted’ regularly
2.
Subject-related Twitter accounts re-tweet information
3.
Embedded subject-related Twitter accounts in Subject LibGuides – increase visibility
4.
Subject blogs – monthly posting of research output with links to articles/papers
5. Rhodes Library Facebook & Twitter - advertise the above
Rhodes Library: using social media to raise research visibility – how?
29

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1.@RhodesResearch :RULibrary Twitter account

31. Mainly from alerts to
RU-affiliated research on:
Some other sources:
How is the research information sourced?
31
Web of Science
Scopus
SAePublications
EBSCOhost
ResearchGate
•
Academic Dept websites
•
Rhodes University website
•
GoogleScholar author alerts
•
Word of mouth

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Web of Science RU affiliated article alert
Example of an email alert

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Article on publisher’s site
Use the DOI in the Twitter link to the article

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Article is ‘tweeted’ on @RhodesResearch

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Publisher’s website – with “Share”options
Sharing is facilitated by the fact that more and more publishers are including ‘share’ options at article-level – makes it so much easier

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‘tweet’ - using suitable hashtags
#RUZoo - example of standardised hashtag for academic departments
Albany Museum
#AlbanyMuseum
Biochemistry
#RUBiochem
Biotech Innovation Centre (RUBIC)
#RUBiotech
Botany
#RUBotany
Chem
#RUChem
ComSci
#RUComSci
EBRU
#RUEBRU
Env Sci
#RUEnvSci
Geography
#RUGeography
Geology
#RUGeology
HKE
#RUHKE
IWR
#RUIWR
Maths
#RUMaths
Pharmacy
#RUPharm
Physics
#RUPhysics
Stats
#RUStats
Zoo
#RUZoo
#tags for RU Science Depts

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Why use hashtags?
Showcasing Zoology Dept research:
#RUZoo is used to retrieve all articles with this hashtag

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‘tweet’ – with the judicious use of hashtags #

39. •
RUAccountingNews
•
@RUBiochemNews
•
@RULMobileDevice
•
@RUEducationnews
•
@RUEnglishNews
•
@EnvSciNews
•
@RUFineArtNews
•
@RULgeog
•
@RULGeology
•
@RuRulis
•
@RULawLibrary1
•
@RULPharmNews
•
@RULPhysicsNews
•
@RULpolitics
•
@sociologynews2
2. Subject-related RULibrary Twitter accounts
39

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Subject-related Twitter accounts – e.g. Pharmacy
@RULPharmNews ‘Follows’ @RhodesResearch and then re-tweets relevant articles, thus providing extra exposure to RU research
https://twitter.com/RULPharmNews

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3. Embedded ‘tweets’ in the Pharmacy LibGuide
These embedded tweets appear on the Pharmacy Twitter account where they have been ‘re-tweeted’ from @RhodesResearch

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4. Faculty blogs

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Faculty blogs: monthly list of publications
http://rulscipharm.blogspot.com/
http://rulscipharm.blogspot.com/
Hyperlinks to articles

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5. Facebook post : link to list of RU publications on the Science & Pharmacy blog
https://www.facebook.com/RhodesUniversityLibrary

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5. Twitter : again highlighting RU publications
https://twitter.com/RhodesLibrary

46. Typically
Sometimes
Reaction from Rhodes community
46
•
Polite interest
•
Mild interest
•
Total disinterest
•
Scepticism
•
Mild enthusiasm
•
Thanks for doing this
•
Retweeting
•
Contributing research links
•
Interest in using
(Environmental Science Dept)

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What to do!

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Experiment
101 Fantastic Quotes About Marketing. Business Insider. Available at: http://www.businessinsider.com/fantastic-marketing-quotes-2011-9 [Accessed September 22, 2014].
Resulted in some interesting responses from academics

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Alerting researchers to the use of Twitter to raise their research profiles
From: Eileen Shepherd [mailto:e.shepherd@ru.ac.za] Sent: 11 September 2014 11:16 AM
To: ……………………………………… Subject: Crisis! What Crisis? The Multiple Dimensions of the Zimbabwean Crisis
Hi ………………..
Thought you might like to see your article is featured on @RhodesResearch https://twitter.com/RhodesResearch
regards
Eileen

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Response from historian
From: ……………………………………. Sent: 11 September 2014 11:20 AM To: 'Eileen Shepherd' Subject: RE: Crisis! What Crisis? The Multiple Dimensions of the Zimbabwean Crisis
Wow, thank you. Very innovative of you guys. Keep it up.
From: Eileen Shepherd [mailto:e.shepherd@ru.ac.za] Sent: 11 September 2014 11:16 AM To:……………………….. Subject: Crisis! What Crisis? The Multiple Dimensions of the Zimbabwean Crisis
Hi …………………….
Thought you might like to see your article is featured on @RhodesResearch https://twitter.com/RhodesResearch
Regards
Eileen

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Another example, with response: Chemist
From: ………………….
Sent: 28 August 2014 04:59 PM
To: Eileen Shepherd
Subject: Re: MRSA pyruvate kinase inhibitory activity of synthetically derived thiazole containing deoxytopsentin analogues
Thanks so much Eileen, this is quite exciting!
Kind Regards,
………………
On Thu, 2014-08-28 at 11:57 +0200, Eileen Shepherd wrote:
> Hi ……………………. >
> Thought you might like to know your article is featured on
> @RhodesResearch https://twitter.com/RhodesResearch
>

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Some researchers are sending their papers for inclusion
From: ……………. Sent: 18 September 2014 05:09 PM To: Eileen Shepherd Subject: another Rhodes paper
No doubt this will show up in your regular searches: http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471- 2164/15/752 --
[researcher in] …………………………..
Dept of Computer Science, Rhodes University, Grahamstown 6140, South Africa

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The personal touch

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So what!

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“followers” and “re-tweeters”?
“The retweet is one of the most commonly used tools on Twitter, and is a great way to pass on interesting tweets that you have read with your followers.”

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Interest in @RhodesResearch
•
270 followers
•
Fair number are Rhodes students
•
A few Rhodes University academics
•
77 re-tweets
•
Many professional/research organisations

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Examples of @RhodesResearch ‘followers’ and/or‘retweeters’
57
@CSIR
@ResearchAfrica
@SAYAS_SA South African Young Academy of Science
50/50 (TV programme)
AcademyofScienceSA
ACEP (African Coelacanth Ecosystem Programme)
Ageing and Society (USA) Exploring issues of aging…
Bio-Resource Center scientific resources and networking

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Examples of @RhodesResearch ‘followers’ and/or‘retweeters’
58
Brock Bersaglio PhD Geography, Univ of Toronto
CanadianScience Pub
CG Publishing (USA) academic publishing house
Dalton Transactions (RSC Chemistry journal)
Dennis A V Dittrich (German economics Prof.)
EduCentralResearchSA
ELIDZ STP R&D facilities

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Examples of @RhodesResearch ‘followers’ and/or‘retweeters’
59
Ezemvelo Science KZN Wildlife
Flashmob Science (popular science site UK/SA)
HSP70 Resource Guide
@ISSF
Kareproducts (ergonomics company)
MDPI – (publisher)
Mine Closure 2014: 9th International Conference…
MY Angra Pequena (research yacht – W Indian Ocean)

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Examples of @RhodesResearch ‘retweeters’
60
Rhodes Journalism and Media Studies
Sarah Wild Mail &Guardian Science editor
SciBraai – (Science in SA)
@SAStats
The Learner (USA) To foster inquiry, invite dialogue…
WomenInScienceSA
Yvonne Perrie (Prof:Drug Delivery, Aston Univ.)

61. •
Is it worth continuing?
•
Yes
•
Enhanced engagement with research & researchers
•
Time-consuming
•
An added dimension to job responsibilities
•
But interesting
•
And stimulating
Finally, some reflections regarding @RhodesResearch
61

62. “Altmetrics are a natural extension of what libraries and librarians already do”
“Knowledge of altmetrics is central to the role of an academic librarian”
Altmetrics – should librarians be involved?
62
•
Connecting people with information
•
Usage stats
•
Tracking user behaviour
•
Spotting trends
•
Help researchers understand & manipulate impact
•
Researcher support – funding, promotion, etc.

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Useful references
Anon, Open Science & Altmetrics Monthly Roundup (June 2014). Impactstory blog. http://blog.impactstory.org/june-2014-roundup/
Arildsen, Thomas.. Altmetrics – fancy feature or peer review’s successor? Open Science. http://openscience.com/altmetrics-fancy- feature-or-peer-reviews-successor/
Bik, H.M. & Goldstein, M.C., 2013. An Introduction to Social Media for Scientists. PLoS Biol, 11(4), p.e1001535. http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.1001535 http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/0194262X.2013.829762
Holbrook, J.B., Altmetrics in the Wild: Using Social Media to Explore Scholarly Impact – altmetrics.org. http://altmetrics.org/altmetrics12/priem/
Lapinski, S., Piwowar, H. & Priem, J., 2013. Riding the crest of the altmetrics wave How librarians can help prepare faculty for the next generation of research impact metrics. College & Research Libraries News, 74(6), pp.292–300. http://crln.acrl.org/content/74/6/292
Moriano, P. et al., 2014. Dissemination of scholarly literature in social media. http://figshare.com/articles/Dissemination_of_scholarly_literature_in_social_media/1035127
Piwowar, H., 2013. Altmetrics: Value all research products. Nature, 493(7431), pp.159–159. http://0- www.nature.com.wam.seals.ac.za/nature/journal/v493/n7431/full/493159a.html
Priem, J., Groth, P., Taraborelli, D. (2012), The Altmetrics Collection, PLOS One7(11):.http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0048753
Strasser, C. Universities can improve academic services through wider recognition of altmetrics and alt-products. Impact of Social Sciences. http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/impactofsocialsciences/2013/10/15/universities-can-improve-academic-services-through-altmetrics/
Van Noorden, R., 2014. Online collaboration: Scientists and the social network. Nature, 512(7513), pp.126–129. http://www.nature.com/news/online-collaboration-scientists-and-the-social-network-1.15711?WT.mc_id=TWT_NatureNews

64. Thank you for listening
Contact details:
e.shepherd@ru.ac.za