980008 TS Introduction to Altmetrics: Keep track of the attention your research gets in real-time (2018W)

The quantifiable estimation of research performance was based on citations for decades. However, this approach does not really paint the complete picture and is only sound for disciplines that accrue a significant number of citations. Research suggests that articles published in the Social Sciences and the Humanities get a much smaller fraction of the citations that articles in the Sciences do. The good news is that citations are not the only quantifiable events anymore. Impact is nowadays defined much broader and can be determined by new means and measures.
Altmetrics are complementary to traditional, citation-based metrics. They can for instance include Wikipedia citations, discussions on research blogs, mainstream media coverage, bookmarks on social reference managers, mentions on social networks. Altmetrics can showcase real-time attention and influence of research and provide a measure for dissemination.
Altmetrics are quicker to accumulate and can capture more diverse impacts than citation-based metrics. Moreover they are applicable to more than just journals and books.