Altmetrics are designed to track and measure the impact of a research output through online activities. The online activities refer to social media interactions, references in the news, blog posts, policy documents, Wikipedia, and bookmarks in reference managers. Unlike traditional research metrics, altmetrics accumulate quicker than citation counts and reach audiences beyond research communities.
In addition to a quantitative score, altmetrics provides qualitative information on the impact of research output. The qualitative information illustrates the context of which others have mentioned about the research output, who the audiences are, and why they are interested in the research work.
Please refer to the Library Guides on the major altmetrics providers.