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Research metrics are measures used to quantify the influence or impact of scholarly work. Some examples of this are bibliometrics (methods to analyze and track scholarly literature), citation analysis, and altmetrics (a more recent set of alternative methods that attempt to track and analyze scholarship through various digital media.)
Research metrics are used because of a desire for a quantifiable, objective means of comparing scholarship for purposes of promotion and tenure and to attract or grant funding. However, they all have weaknesses. For example, the criticism revolves around the limits of coverage of the databases used to create the metrics, failure to account for differences in scholarly output and citation rates among disciplines, and the over-reliance by administrators and funders on a single metric or on quantitative rather than qualitative metrics in judging scholarship. Another area of criticism is the inherent bias in the research metrics.
This Guide contains information about what metrics are available and where they can be found. The information is organized by the level of measurement , i.e. individual articles or books, journals, authors, or institutions/research groups.
Snowball Metrics is an initiative of a number of research intensive universities worldwide to "agree on methodologies that are robustly and clearly defined, so that the metrics they describe enable the confident comparison of apples with apples. These metrics are data source- and system-agnostics, meaning that they are not tied to any particular provider of data or tools." The metrics are described in detail in the Snowball Metrics Recipe Book and some sources will label a particular metric with their symbol.
The Leiden Manifesto, published in Nature in 2015, lays out ten principles to guide the use of metrics in research evaluation.
DORA or the San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment (2012) provides recommendations to improve the ways that research is evaluated.
The Metric Tide (2015) is a review of the role of metrics in research assessment and management.