Research metrics and citation analysis tools: Journal, article and researcher metrics, online

Course Aim 

The course aims to provide an introduction to finding, using and interpreting a range of research metrics based on citation counting and altmetrics data. No prior knowledge of using citation metrics is required for the course. The online course will use demonstrations and practical, computer based exercises to allow participants to become familiar with the software tools available for retrieving citation based and altmetric data.  

Course Objectives

By the end of the course you will be able to –

• Understand how a range of metrics such as the Journal Impact Factor and Researcher H-index are calculated.
• Use tools such as Journal Citation Reports, Scopus Sources and Google Scholar to access different metrics.
• Interpret metrics to provide useful insights into research impact.
• Use metrics responsibly by considering their limitations and pitfalls.

Course Content 

Through presentations, demonstrations and exercises the course will cover metrics applied at different levels of research publication.

Journal metrics

You will learn about the major journal level metrics such as the Journal Impact Factor (JIF) and how these can be used to rank scientific journals. In addition, we will examine the tools you can use to locate journal level metrics, such as Journal Citation Reports and Scopus Sources.  

Article metrics 

We will discuss how citation counting can help identify influential papers in particular fields and how altmetrics can provide a different perspective on research impact. You will learn how to access and use sources of article level citation data using tools such as Web of Science.

Researcher metrics 

Using Web of Science, Google Scholar and Scopus you will learn how to calculate a researcher h-index. You will learn how to create your own ORCID number to help track your different research outputs.