Uses for Citation metrics
Citation metrics are used to assess the quality and impact of individual articles or overall research output. They also enable comparisons between researchers, research groups, and institutions.
In turn, these measures and comparisons aid in:
- grant applications
- funding decisions
- promotions
- hiring processes.
They also facilitate:
- the benchmarking of research productivity
- identification of leaders in specific fields
- the exploration of collaboration opportunities.
Citation data sources
There are 3 main sources of citation data that are used to produce metrics:
- Scopus / Scival
- Web of Science / Incites
- Google Scholar
Each source covers slightly different content and some metrics are only available from one database. Often you will need to look at all three to get an overview of how you research is performing.
Types of metrics
Below is a summary of common metrics and what they relate to. Full descriptions of these metrics and where they can be accessed can be found in the citation metrics overview.
Article-level metrics
Article-level metrics measure the usage and impact of individual scholarly articles. They include:
- citation count
- field-normalised metrics (FWCI and CNCI)
- citation benchmarking percentile.
Author-level metrics
Author-level metrics are quantitative measures that evaluate the impact and performance of individual researchers based on their publications. These metrics encompass:
- scholarly output
- h-index
- field-normalised metrics (FWCI and CNCI)
- author ranking by FoR codes.
Journal-level metrics
Journal-level metrics are quantitative measures to evaluate the influence, visibility, and prestige of academic journals. These metrics provide insights into the overall performance and impact of journals within the scholarly community.
Journal-level metrics include:
For more information on metrics, visit Citation metric overview.