Library Help: Office For Open Research

What is research impact?

Research impact refers to the tangible contribution that research makes to society and the wider world—beyond academia. This includes benefits to individuals, communities, organisations, the environment, public policy, culture, health, and the economy.

As a research-intensive institution and the UK’s first civic university, The University of Manchester is committed to delivering research that addresses real-world challenges and generates meaningful outcomes.

Examples of how Manchester research contributes to global impact include:

• Our commitment to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), where we are ranked:

  • 1st in the UK and Europe, and 2nd globally in the Times Higher Education Impact Rankings 2024

  • 1st in the UK and Europe, and 3rd globally in the QS World University Sustainability Rankings

  Learn more via the Office for Social Responsibility

• The University’s five Research Beacons, which showcase innovation in:

  • Advanced Materials, Biotechnology, Cancer, Energy, and Global Inequalities
    Learn more about Research Beacons

• Our 2035 Strategy, where “Accelerating Our Research Impact” is one of five core themes
  Read more about Manchester 2035

Beyond citations: how to evidence broader impact 

While citation metrics measure academic influence, other indicators can provide valuable insight into research reach, public engagement, and societal impact.

Online Engagement and Social Media Metrics 

Online platforms provide opportunities for researchers to engage with wider audiences. Altmetric Explorer helps you track attention beyond traditional academic citations by showing:

• Mentions on Twitter/X, Bluesky, and other platforms

• Engagement on academic networks like Mendeley or ResearchGate

• News media coverage and blog posts

• Citations in Wikipedia and policy documents

Example: A 2024 University of Manchester study on Antarctic meteorites received high online attention, ranking in the top 5% of all Altmetric-scored outputs. Altmetric Explorer shows detailed data on user interactions and geographic spread.

News and media coverage 

Media engagement is an important marker of public reach. Two platforms support this:

SciVal media mention tracking 

SciVal provides data on media coverage of research outputs, offering insights into: 

• Number of media mentions 

• Types of media outlets (newspapers, online news, etc.) 

• Geographic spread of coverage 

Altmetric Explorer for media tracking 

In addition to social media, Altmetric also tracks mentions in media outlets, providing a comprehensive view of media engagement. 

The image below provides an illustrative example (again from Altmetric) which highlights how the platform can provide quick and easy metrics relating to media outlets which have referenced a piece of research. 

Policy impact: citations in policy documents 

Research that influences policy decisions can have far-reaching societal impact. We provide access to data from Overton (via both the Overton platform and SciVal) to track citations of research in policy documents. 

Overton.io database 

Overton.io is a specialised tool that focuses on tracking research mentions in policy documents, offering: 

• Coverage of policy documents from governments, think tanks, and NGOs worldwide 

• The ability to track both direct citations and indirect mentions of research 

• Insights into which policymakers and organisations are engaging with University of Manchester research 

Key Benefits: 

• Demonstrate real-world impact of research on policy decisions 

• Identify potential stakeholders and collaborators in the policy sphere 

• Provide evidence for impact case studies and funding applications 

Overton provides links to policy documents which contain references to publications which contain University of Manchester authors. The example below shows a report from the World Health Organisation which cites research co-authored by a University of Manchester academic. 

Integrating multiple metrics for a fuller picture

To fully capture research engagement and impact, consider combining:

• Citation metrics – for academic influence

• Altmetric data – for social and online engagement

• Media tracking – for public and press reach

• Policy citations – for real-world influence

Our Research Indicators team can help you gather and interpret these metrics and create tailored reports that showcase the reach of your research.

• Contact us for support with evidencing research impact