Altmetric Attention Score

The Altmetric Attention Score is a proprietary, automatically calculated metric produced by Altmetric, a Digital Science company, that represents a weighted count of the online attention a specific research output (an article, dataset, preprint, or other tracked item) has received. It is most visible as the colorful circular “donut” badge widely embedded on publisher article pages, where each color segment corresponds to a different category of attention source. Clicking the donut opens a detail page showing the numeric score and a breakdown of exactly which mentions contributed to it.

How the score is calculated

Per Altmetric’s own documentation, the score is derived from an algorithm built on three factors: the volume of mentions, the source of each mention, and the author of each mention. Sources are not weighted equally — the model reflects the relative reach of each source type, so a mainstream news story typically contributes more to the score than a blog post, which in turn typically contributes more than an individual social media post. Within news coverage, outlets are further tiered by reach, so a mention in a major national outlet contributes more than one in a smaller, niche publication. Some source types have a fixed contribution regardless of volume: a mention in Wikipedia adds a static amount to the score and does not increase further with additional Wikipedia mentions, and policy-document mentions likewise carry a set default contribution. For social media specifically, Altmetric also weighs who is posting — an account’s follower network and posting history factor into how much a given post contributes, so a post from a subject-matter professional followed by relevant peers can contribute more than an automated repost from an institutional account.

What counts as a source

Altmetric tracks mentions across a defined set of source types, including mainstream news outlets, blogs, policy documents from government and NGO bodies, Wikipedia, post-publication peer-review platforms, X (formerly Twitter) and other social media, and additional channels such as syllabi and patents in some configurations. A research output’s score is the sum of its weighted contributions across every tracked mention it has received, not a count of raw mentions.

Interpreting the score: attention, not quality

Altmetric itself is explicit that the score measures the volume and reach of attention a research output has received, not its quality, rigor, or scholarly impact — and that the underlying mentions can be positive, critical, or corrective. A widely criticized or retracted paper can carry a very high score for the same reason a well-regarded one can: both attracted substantial online discussion. For this reason, the score is generally recommended to be read in context rather than in isolation — for example, compared against the typical score for other outputs from the same journal published in a similar time window, since baseline attention levels vary enormously by field, journal readership, and topic newsworthiness. An article in a large, general-interest journal will typically accumulate a higher score than a comparable article in a smaller specialist journal, independent of either paper’s underlying merit.

Relationship to citation-based metrics

The Altmetric Attention Score is explicitly positioned as a complement to, not a replacement for, traditional citation-based impact metrics. Citations are a lagging indicator that accrues over years as later scholarship is published and formally references a work; attention-based signals such as the Altmetric Attention Score can appear within days of publication and capture engagement from audiences — journalists, policymakers, clinicians, the public — who would never appear in a citation index. The two measure genuinely different things: reach and immediacy of attention versus formal scholarly uptake. Research-assessment frameworks such as DORA and the Leiden Manifesto caution against substituting either type of metric for qualitative judgment of research merit, and against using either in isolation for high-stakes decisions such as hiring, promotion, or funding.

Altmetric Attention Score vs. the broader field of altmetrics

Altmetrics is the general term for the broader family of non-traditional, attention-based research metrics; the Altmetric Attention Score is one specific, proprietary implementation of that concept, produced by one commercial provider. Other tools and databases track overlapping but not identical sets of attention signals, and Altmetric’s own data now feeds into Dimensions, another Digital Science product, giving Dimensions users access to attention-score data alongside citation and funding data in one interface. The standards landscape around altmetrics more broadly — including source transparency and data-quality expectations for providers — has also been the subject of formal work through the NISO Alternative Assessment Metrics (Altmetrics) Initiative.

References

• Altmetric, “How is the Altmetric Attention Score calculated?” help.altmetric.com.
• Altmetric, “The donut and Altmetric Attention Score,” altmetric.com/about-us/our-data/donut-and-altmetric-attention-score/.
• Altmetric, “Putting the Altmetric Attention Score in context,” help.altmetric.com.