Library Help: Office For Open Research

Getting started

Publication metrics—such as the number of citations a paper has received—have traditionally been used to assess individual researcher performance. However, the research sector is moving toward more narrative-based approaches, such as the use of narrative CVs, to better reflect the full scope and value of academic contributions.

The Office for Open Research provides access to a range of tools that can help you:

• Identify your most influential publications

• Access standardised citation performance data

• Support impact narratives, promotion cases, or funding applications

We also support the use of alternative metrics, policy citations, and collaboration indicators to help you craft a fuller picture of your research reach and engagement.

Choosing the right metrics for your needs

Start by considering whether you need author-level or article-level metrics:

Author-level metrics

These show the cumulative impact of your research across multiple publications. Useful for:

• Career progression and promotion

• Benchmarking against peers

• Institutional reporting

Article-level metrics

These focus on the impact of individual papers. They include citation counts, altmetrics, and mentions in policy or patents. Platforms like SciVal and InCites also allow you to group papers for custom analysis.

Different types of research metrics & indicators 

We recommend using multiple complementary indicators when showcasing research impact. A reliance on one specific indicator (such as your h-index) is no longer considered responsible practice. Indicators are available from multiple platforms (e.g. Scopus, Web of Science, Scite). These draw from different datasets, so results may vary—checking across platforms can help you decide which is most appropriate for your purpose.
 

Citation based metrics 

Traditional metrics which are based around the number of citations received by a publication, or author. Standardised metrics (such as FWCI) can offer compelling evidence of research impact when understood and applied correctly. 

• Author profile: Databases such as Scopus and Web of Science provide personal author profile pages which you can usefully cultivate in collaboration with the database provider. These profiles pages offer you a quick one-stop overview of personal metrics such as your total number of citations, your h-index, or the Field Weighted Citation Impact of your publications. 

• Citation count: The total number of citations a paper or body of work has received (platform-specific).

• h-index: A metric combining publication productivity and citation count. Best used with caution and alongside other indicators.

• Highly Cited status: Papers in the top 1% by citation count for their field and year (designated by Clarivate).

• Hot papers: Recent papers (within 2 years) receiving citations at a significantly accelerated rate (designated by Clarivate).

• Field Weighted Citation Impact (FWCI): An Elsevier provided metric that measures how well your publications are cited compared to similar publications. i.e. FWCI > 1: More citations than expected for field/type/year

• Category Normalised Citation Impact (CNCI): Similar to FWCI, but based on Web of Science data.

• Citation Percentiles: Shows how often a paper is cited compared to others in its field (e.g. top 10%, top 1%).

• Smart citations: AI-enhanced metrics showing how your work is cited—whether it’s supporting, contrasting, or neutral.
   

Alternative metrics (Altmetrics)  

Altmetrics track online attention and engagement, including:

• Mentions on social media (e.g. Twitter/X, BlueSky)

• References in blogs, news, and Wikipedia

• Bookmarks or saves in platforms like Mendeley

Altmetrics can highlight broader engagement beyond academia and complement traditional citations.

Collaboration indicators. 

Platforms like SciVal and InCites can show:

• Visual maps of co-authorship networks

• Percentage of your outputs involving international or interdisciplinary collaboration

  e.g. “75% of my papers involved co-authors from Lower-Middle Income countries”

These indicators demonstrate your commitment to inclusive, cross-border research and help articulate your collaborative profile.
 

Policy citation metrics:

Platforms like Overton or Altmetric Explorer track when your work is cited in:

• Government reports

• White papers

• Guidelines (e.g. WHO, UN, NHS)

This is powerful evidence of real-world influence and supports case studies or funding applications focused on societal impact.
 

Patent citation metrics:

Patent metrics show how often your research is cited in patent applications, highlighting:

• Commercial relevance

• Influence on new technologies or products

• Potential for innovation-based impact
   

Further Support

If you're unsure which metrics or platforms are most appropriate for your situation, or if you need support with data collection or interpretation, our team can help.
📞 Contact the Office for Open Research

We can work with you to:

• Identify the most relevant indicators for your field

• Extract and interpret metrics from tools like Scopus, Web of Science, SciVal, InCites, Scite, and Overton

• Create outputs to support promotion, funding applications, and impact narratives