Altmetrics = alternative metrics
Altmetrics are measures of the impact of a scholarly research product based on online activity, using information beyond scholarly citations alone. They are designed to capture research impact more quickly and to recognize more types of impact.
While metrics like citation counts, download counts, h-index, and the impact factor show the impact of a research study in the academic interest, Altmetrics show the immediate impact of a research study in a social interest.
Altmetrics are meant to complement, not replace, traditional metrics. While citation-based metrics often takes a few years to accumulate, altmetrics show the immediate impact of the research study online.
Altmetrics can help you understand where and when a piece of research is being discussed and shared. It’s also possible to monitor mentions of work online as soon as it’s published.
Altmetric is one of the tools that tracks the attention that research outputs receive online. It tracks and reports conversations and attention to your work from various online sources, including: Social media, news stories, and blogs.
The Altmetric is one of many measures used at IFPRI to track Altmetrics. Altmetric provides an indicator of immediate social impact of your work, usually before journal citations take place. As researchers are keen to make their work open access for greater visibility and share their work online more than ever before, Altmetric helps you capture the online engagement with your research overtime.