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Making sense of altmetrics: The perceived threats and opportunities for academic identity

Author

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  • Ã ine Regan
  • Maeve Henchion

Abstract

How research impact is defined and evaluated is much-debated at research policy level. Offering one avenue for capturing societal research impact, altmetrics are proposed as quantitative indicators providing a measure of the reach and attention that a research output, such as a peer-reviewed paper, is receiving online. Eighty publicly-funded food researchers participated in an online mixed-methods engagement study. The analytical framework of sensemaking was used to explore participants’ views of altmetrics as a threat or opportunity for their perceived professional identities. The identities important to our participants included ensuring rigour and quality in knowledge production; communicating and engaging with non-academic audiences; and bringing about tangible and meaningful changes in society. While an appetite for changes to research evaluation was apparent in our study, altmetrics was perceived to introduce a number of different threats as well as opportunities to the academic identity, which will influence its potential uptake and use.

Suggested Citation

  • Ã ine Regan & Maeve Henchion, 2019. "Making sense of altmetrics: The perceived threats and opportunities for academic identity," Science and Public Policy, Oxford University Press, vol. 46(4), pages 479-489.
    • Handle: RePEc:oup:scippl:v:46:y:2019:i:4:p:479-489.
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    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1093/scipol/scz001
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Noam Obermeister, 2020. "Tapping into science advisers’ learning," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 6(1), pages 1-9, December.
    2. Zhang, Xinyuan & Xie, Qing & Song, Min, 2021. "Measuring the impact of novelty, bibliometric, and academic-network factors on citation count using a neural network," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 15(2).
    3. Zhihong Huang & Qianjin Zong & Xuerui Ji, 2022. "The associations between scientific collaborations of LIS research and its policy impact," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 127(11), pages 6453-6470, November.

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