Types of metrics

Bibliometrics are generated using statistical analyses, based on the number of outputs published by a particular author, group, institution, or journal, and the number of citations these outputs have received.

Various types of metrics can be generated, pitched at various levels. When choosing which metric to use, please remember to consider the limitations of bibliometrics.

• Publication metrics - to find out how often a publication, or a group of publications, has been cited by others.
• Author metrics - to explore the impact of an author, or a group of authors, based on the citation rates of their publications.
• Journal metrics - to assess the impact of a journal and to compare journals.
• Altmetrics - measures based on social web data rather than traditional citation counts