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When you choose to publish with PLOS, your research makes an impact. Make your work accessible to all, without restrictions, and accelerate scientific discovery with options like preprints and published peer review that make your work more Open.

Assessment of Impact with Altmetrics

Article-level metrics, often referred to as “altmetrics”, are quantifiable measures at the article level that document the many ways in which both scientists and the general public engage with published research. Traditional metrics, which consider only citation count and journal name to assess impact, capture a narrow view of a work’s value and do so only after the accumulation of citations in academic literature. We partner with Altmetric to provide our metrics. 

Track your altmetrics


ALTMETRICS HELP TO...

Assess impact before academic citations accrue

Incorporate both academic and social metrics

Reflect changing influence of a work over time

HOW TO MAKE ALTMETRICS WORK FOR YOU

Altmetrics track the reach, use, and reuse of research outcomes – from articles and figures to datasets and code – to help guide understanding of a work’s influence

Communicate Your Impact

Feature your article’s metrics on your public profile pages (lab website, personal blog, ResearchGate, Academia.edu, LinkedIn) to tell your article’s story to those who are interested in your work.

Let Your Funders Know

The ability to demonstrate that your research generates significant interest could help secure the advantage you need in a tight, competitive funding environment.

Raise Your Career Profile

Showcase the influence of your work when you apply for tenure and promotion or when you apply for positions outside academia—in policy, industry or elsewhere.

Discover Research That Matters

Altmetrics can guide you to the most important and influential work, whether for analyzing trends in a field of interest, staying abreast of recent discoveries or searching ideas for a new project.

Connect with Collaborators

Identify potential collaborators early, based upon the impact of their work and its relevance to yours. Altmetrics allow you to find them while they’re actively engaged in the research of interest.

HOW ARE ALTMETRICS CALCULATED?

Because altmetrics are available shortly after publication and are continually updated, they provide a snapshot of an article’s reach at any given moment. 

PLOS articles will display counts from the following sources*:

*Altmetric discuss the sources they track here.

Viewed
PLOS Journals (HTML, PDF, XML)

Cited
Dimensions

Recommended
F1000 Prime

Discussed
Facebook, Reddit, X (formerly known as Twitter), Wikipedia

Saved
CiteULike, Mendeley

WHERE TO FIND AN ARTICLE'S METRICS

Evaluate influence directly on each page of any PLOS article by the number of saves, citations, views and shares, or click on the “Metrics” tab to dive deeper and learn more about how an article and its data or figures are viewed, saved, discussed and cited.

Article Metrics showing saved, viewed, shared and cited articles
Total article views displayed on Altmetrics for PLOS journal articles

The “Media Coverage” tab collates media coverage into one place.

Information displayed on the Altmetrics Media Coverage tab of PLOS journal articles
For privately funded researchers, article-level metrics “show supporters of our research program the impact that is made by their contributions” and are an “intuitive way for non-scientists to understand the relevance and interest of seemingly esoteric research.
Andrew Farke, PhD
Augustyn Family Curator of Paleontology, Raymond M. Alf Musuem of Paleontology, Claremont, California

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