Examples
Worked examples
- Is an instance
A researcher includes article-level views, downloads and policy citations in a tenure dossier.
- Is an instance
A funder asks applicants to characterise their most important paper using ALMs rather than journal venue.
Counter-examples
Looks similar, but isn't
- Not an instance
Using ALMs as raw, decontextualised ranking signals.
- Not an instance
Reporting ALMs without disclosing the data source or window.
Editorial commentary
Article-level metrics (ALMs) were popularised by PLOS from 2009 as a deliberate counter to journal-level reasoning about research impact. ALMs disaggregate journal-level proxies into article-specific evidence, recognising that within any journal there is wide variation in citation and attention outcomes. A typical ALM dashboard includes citation counts from multiple databases, full-text views, PDF downloads, social-media mentions, reference-manager saves, policy citations and discussion (blogs, comments). DORA's first recommendation is to move evaluation toward article-level evidence.
References
- PLOS Article-Level Metrics documentation. Lin J, Fenner M. 'Altmetrics in evolution', Information Standards Quarterly, 2013.
Also known as
ALMs · Article-level indicators
Machine-readable encodings
Use in your systems
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