VIDEO The difference between Altmetric and alternative metrics

Dr. Donald Samulack, US Operations, Editage, Cactus Communications, in conversation with Euan Adie, Founder and CEO of Altmetric

In this segment, Euan explains the difference between Altmetric and alternative metrics. While Altmetric is the name of a company that collates data about research impact, alternative metrics refer to ways of measuring research impact in ways other than referring to the impact factor. Over the years, there has been a seismic shift in attitudes towards gauging research impact. Today, the focus is increasingly on extracting data from alternative metrics and using this to understand the economic, social, or even cultural impact of published research. And tools like Altmetric are instrumental in driving this understanding.

Other vignettes in the series:

• Part 1: “Altmetric came out of my experience as an author”
• Part 2: How Altmetric measures research impact
• Part 3: Finding and interpreting Altmetric data for published papers
• Part 4: What changes does the current research landscape need?
• Part 5: Researchers should use altmetrics data to advance their careers
• Part 7: How Altmetric evolved as a platform that increases the discoverability of research