A New Frontier?: Faculty Use (or non-use) of Altmetrics

@ UT Arlington

College of Engineering by

Sylvia George-Williams

Presentation to the

Texas STEM Librarians ConferenceCollege Station, TX

July 19, 2014

Outline

O Overview of UT ArlingtonO BackgroundO Reasons for surveyO The surveyO ResultsO AnalysisO Next steps

Overview of UT Arlington Comprehensive research uni 2nd largest in the UT System 6th largest in Texas 180+ degree programs 10 schools and colleges 33, 000+ students

120+ countries

Background

TechnoScholar (series of workshops) Related to technology and research Open to faculty and graduate students

“Not a Fear Factor…” Impact Factor/publishing

mainly engineering/science participantsFocus on traditional metrics, but mention of

alternative metrics

Reasons for Survey

Most important Better prepare for workshop

Other: Rising interest in altmetrics Conversations with new faculty Understand what goes on in the

college

The Survey

October 2013Quick survey (survey monkey)8 questionsDepartment Chairs

7 departments (BioE, CE, CSE, EE, IMSE, MAE, MSE)

Two weeks

The Results

Responses

O5 returned:BioE, CSE, IMSE, MAE, MSE

ONo response from:CE, EE

Results (cont.)

Q. 1. All consider impact when hiring, & for promotion/tenure

Q. 2. All use traditional methods (journal/author impact)

None use altmetrics

Q. 3. Zero responses to specific sources of altmetrics used (blogs, twitter,

etc.)

Results (cont.)Q. 4. How they felt about the use of altmetrics to measure impact in scientific community:

60% - lower standard0% - raise standard of scholarship20% - provide more opportunities for

scholars to get cited40% - provide additional avenues for finding

more articles20% - didn’t know

Q. 5. Thoughts about the altmetrics “movement”

20% - a fad 0% - here to stay 80% - not sure

Q. 6. Use of altmetrics as another tool to measure

own impact

0% - will use 80% - no 20% - not sure

Results (cont.)

Q. 7. Would like to know more about altmetrics

20% - yes 60% - no 20% - not sure

Q. 8. Other thoughts about the use of altmetrics

perhaps more appropriate for fields other than engineering

Social media insufficient for understanding true importance of someone’s research

Ideas without true substance can be hyped Long-term impact and importance is of little

interest to social media audience, but purpose of research is to address long-term and ongoing problems

Results (cont.)

Analysis

Mind made up about what altmetrics are?

If Department Chairs not interested, what does that mean for younger faculty?

Can Department Chairs be made to change their minds?

Interest in altmetrics varies by discipline?

Next Steps…What should we do?

More survey??Find out how other faculty feel?

O Faculty-wide survey on scholarly communication

The End

Questions??

AppendixList of questions asked:

1. My department considers a scholar's impact in the scientific community in:  a. The hiring process

b. The promotion and tenure processc. Bothd. Neither

 2. If your department does consider a scholar's impact, what methods do you use to

measure this impact?a. Traditional methods (journal impact factor)b. The newer altmetrics (mention in social media - blogs, twitter, etc.)c. Both d. Neithere. Other (please specify)

  

3. If you chose "The newer altmetrics" above, what specific sources do you use to measure this impact?

  a. Mention in social media (facebook, twitter, blogs, etc.)b. Mention/appearance in traditional media (mention in

newspapers/magazines, appearance as an expert on tv/radio shows) c. Mention in online reference managers (Mendeley, CiteULike, etc.)d. None of the abovee. All of the abovef. Other (please specify)

 4. As a senior scientist/scholar/researcher, I feel that the use of altmetrics to measure

impact in the scientific community will:  a. Lower the standard of scholarship

b. Raise the standard of scholarshipc. Provide more opportunities for scholars to get citedd. Just provide authors and users additional ways to find article metricse. Don't know

5. As a senior scientist/scholar/researcher, I think this movement towards the use of altmetrics to measure scholarly impact is:

  a. A fad (will pass away soon)b. Here to stayc. Not sure

6. As a senior scientist/scholar/researcher, I will definitely use altmetrics as another tool to measure my impact.

  a. Yesb. Noc. Not sure

7. I would like to know more about altmetrics.a. Yesb. Noc. Not sure

8. Please share any other thoughts about the use of altmetrics in measuring impact in the scientific community that you think is important.