Sharp Melissa K, Logullo Patricia, Murphy Pádraig, Baral Prativa, Burke Sara, Grimes David Robert, Ryan Máirín, Clyne Barbara
Department of Public Health and Epidemiology, RCSI University of Medicine and Health Sciences, Dublin 2, Ireland.
Centre for Statistics in Medicine, EQUATOR Network UK Centre, University of Oxford, Oxford, England, UK.
HRB Open Res. 2024 Oct 22;7:36. doi: 10.12688/hrbopenres.13895.2. eCollection 2024.
Scientific publications have been growing exponentially, contributing to an oversaturated information environment. Quantifying a research output's impact and reach cannot be solely measured by traditional metrics like citation counts as these have a lag time and are largely focused on an academic audience. There is increasing recognition to consider 'alternative metrics' or altmetrics to measure more immediate and broader impacts of research. Better understanding of altmetrics can help researchers better navigate evolving information environments and changing appetites for different types of research.
Our study aims to: 1) analyse the amount and medium of Altmetric coverage of health research produced by Irish organisations (2017 - 2023), identifying changes over time and 2) investigate differences in the amount of coverage between clinical areas (e.g., nutrition vs. neurology).
Using Altmetric institutional access, we will gather data on research outputs published 1 January 2017 through 31 December 2023 from active Irish organisations with Research Organisation Registry (ROR) IDs. Outputs will be deduplicated and stratified by their Australian and New Zealand Standard Research Classification relating to ≥1 field of health research: Biological Sciences, Biomedical and Clinical Sciences, Chemical Sciences, Health Sciences, and Psychology. We will clean data using R and perform descriptive analyses, establishing counts and frequencies of coverage by clinical area and medium (e.g., traditional news, X, etc.); data will be plotted on a yearly and quarterly basis where appropriate.
Improved understanding of one's information environment can help researchers better navigate their local landscapes and identify pathways for more effective communication to the public. All R code will be made available open-source, allowing researchers to adapt it to evaluate their local landscapes.
科学出版物数量呈指数级增长，导致信息环境过度饱和。衡量一项研究成果的影响力和传播范围不能仅靠传统指标，如被引频次，因为这些指标存在滞后性，且主要针对学术受众。人们越来越认识到需要考虑“替代指标”或“替代计量指标”（altmetrics）来衡量研究更直接、更广泛的影响。更好地理解替代计量指标有助于研究人员更好地应对不断变化的信息环境以及公众对不同类型研究兴趣的变化。
我们的研究旨在：1）分析爱尔兰机构产出的健康研究（2017 - 2023年）的替代计量指标覆盖数量和媒介，确定随时间的变化情况；2）调查不同临床领域（如营养学与神经学）的覆盖数量差异。
利用替代计量指标机构访问权限，我们将收集2017年1月1日至2023年12月31日期间在研究组织注册处（ROR）拥有ID的活跃爱尔兰机构发表的研究成果数据。研究成果将进行去重处理，并根据与≥1个健康研究领域相关的澳大利亚和新西兰标准研究分类进行分层：生物科学、生物医学与临床科学、化学科学、健康科学和心理学。我们将使用R语言清理数据并进行描述性分析，确定按临床领域和媒介（如传统新闻、X等）的覆盖计数和频率；数据将在适当情况下按年度和季度绘制图表。
更好地了解自身信息环境有助于研究人员更好地应对当地情况，并确定与公众进行更有效沟通的途径。所有R代码将开源提供，使研究人员能够对其进行调整以评估当地情况。
