Scientometrics 2.0 and Research Impact

Abstract

The quantitative evaluation process of the scientific impact of research (Scientometrics) was and continues to be a multi-layered and complex research field for information science. In recent years, the multilevel and complex character of Scientometrics has been added, the rapid production of big data which assist research purposes, the huge increase of research production globally, as well as the flourishing of open access movement. At the same time, the researchers themselves have the ability to expand the visibility, recognition and impact of their research on the World Wide Web, due to the existence of a number of online tools that are included to Altmetrics. Altmetrics, or Scientometrics 2.0, is a new research field for quantitative evaluation of produced research. More specifically, Altmetrics can add to the impact of scientific journals and digital repositories of scientific knowledge, metrics related to the views-readings of articles (viewsreads), their downloads, their notifications (shares) etc. From the perspective of researchers, Altmetrics enables them to participate in platforms of relevant research networks (ResearchGate, Google Scholar, Mendeley, Academia, etc.), to self-archive their articles, to follow and to be followed by other researchers, and in a more general context to share their research output. However, for the researchers themselves, there is still no clear and quantified knowledge about Altmetrics' contribution to the increase of visibility, recognizability and impact of their articles in their respective scientific subject area. Therefore, research questions arise about Altmetrics 'contribution to increasing citations in researchers' work, the level to which other researchers with common scientific knowledge can be found, and their contribution to increasing recognition of the scientific effort of researchers, in general.