Altmetrics are metrics and qualitative data that are complementary to traditional, citation-based metrics.  They include, policy mentions, patent mentions, mass media mentions and social media mentions.  These mentions evidence engagement with your research, which may be used to demonstrate impact.

Altmetric Explorer
Altmetric Explorer is a platform which tracks online references, or ‘mentions’, of your research, in social media, news outlets and policy papers. Research outputs are pulled through to Altmetric Explorer directly from Elements.  We have a university-wide licence for Altmetric Explorer, which can be accessed using your SHU email address.

Use Altmetric Explorer to track the attention that research outputs such as scholarly articles receive online. It provides data from social media and traditional media (such as newspapers and magazines), and presents it visually so you can see where the attention to a research output has come from.

Webinars
Watch this introductory webinar (40:57mins) presented by Michelle Herbert, from Altmetric.com.

If you are already familiar with Altmetric Explorer, you may find this webinar useful: How to write impact statements with Altmetric data.

It explains how to use Altmetrics to enhance a CV, grant application, presentation, or report. This 30 minute webinar will walk you through some ideas and examples of how you can communicate the attention your work is receiving online, including:

– How to write about your research impact in a narrative format
– How to summarise attention using bullet points
– How to tell a compelling story using simple visuals.

A case study in using Altmetrics
Professor Hora Soltani’s research on midwife-led continuity of care for childbearing women attracted a high attention score on Altmetric Explorer.  An Altmetrics Exploer report identified national and international policy documents citing Professor Soltani’s research, which helped evidence its reach and significance.

In this video (1:36mins) Professor Soltani talks about how the midwife-led continuity of care model has been used to help migrant mothers.

Need help?
Log into Altmetric Explorer using your SHU email to allow full functionality.

For more information on how to access and use Altmetric Explorer, contact the Library Research Support team.