On this page, you'll find some tips on how you can use research metrics to Assert Your Value, Benchmark Your Progress and Strategise Your Research.
Three points to keep in mind:
- Metrics don't replace qualitative research assessment (e.g. peer review, research funding, etc); but they can provide simple quantitative data to make impact assessments more accurate or meaningful.
- Metrics must always be used in context; you must compare apples with apples. Differences in discipline, length of career, publishing strategies will all greatly affect citations and attention.
- Metrics are not universal; they are limited to the dataset from which they are drawn. The same metric seen in Google Scholar and Scopus will differ, because the underlying data is different. Always include the source of any metrics you are reporting.
1. Assert Your Value
Metrics can be used to enhance your CV, grant proposals, or tenure/promotion applications. There is an increased interest in research metrics as a quantitative measure of a researcher's impact, however it's important to always use metrics in context and supplement with qualitative data if possible. Thankfully, many administrations and granting agencies are moving away from focusing purely on quantitative metrics for research assessment.
The most common metrics included in an academic CV are:
- Article citation counts
- Author's h-index
- Journal metrics of where you've published
Tips for including research metrics in CVs:
- Always provide the source of the metric (e.g. Google Scholar, Scopus, Web of Science)
- Pick out highlights. Rather than just saying how many citations you have, also point any notable citations (e.g. a prominent researcher in your field)
- Update regularly - citations accrue over time, and metrics will change over time to reflect this.
2. Benchmark Your Progress
Metrics can be helpful for setting professional goals and tracking your career progress. Pick a leading author in your discipline and review what they have done over the course of their career. This can help you set clear and measurable benchmarks.
Tips for using research metrics for benchmarking:
- Choose someone within your research field. Citation patterns are very different for different disciplines, so this is key to using metrics responsibly.
- Look at a variety of metrics (including non-citation based metrics, such as alternative metrics). The h-index isn't the only measure of academic success.
- Keep in mind not everyone is research intensive, some faculty focus more on teaching. That is OK!
- Use SciVal (a Scopus metrics analytics tool) to benchmark yourself against other researchers.
3. Strategise Your Research
Understanding research metrics can allow you to be more strategic about how you communicate your research. This could help your researcher have greater impact.
Tips for strategising your research:
- Publishing in journals with higher journal metrics can increase your citations. The higher the journal ranks, the more likely it is to be used by researchers in your field. This is also true for Open Access journals, which have the greatest level of access and visibility to research communities.
- Use social media (e.g. Twitter, Academia.edu, ResearchGate) to promote your research. Use these platforms to network with like-minds, and find potential collaborations.
