Demystifying Scholarly Metrics gives librarians and faculty the confidence to navigate the maze of scholarly metrics, identify quality journals in which to publish, and measure the impact of scholarly works.
Both librarians and professors can be overwhelmed by the bewildering number of scholarly metrics. This user-friendly book demystifies them, helping librarians become familiar with scholarly metrics and giving them the confidence to assist faculty at their institutions. It also equips faculty authors with the knowledge to evaluate journals and use metrics to track their scholarly impact.
Several controversies exist in the scholarly metrics landscape, including a disagreement between the proponents of altmetrics and traditional bibliometrics. Even more contentious debates are breaking out over predatory journals and open access publishing. Authors Mark Vinyard and Jaimie Beth Colvin, who successfully launched a faculty publishing initiative, explain which aspects of metrics are truly essential to grasp, and they place these numbers in context. They help readers identify the metrics that are the best fit for their scholarship and give librarians and professors the tools to make smart decisions in this changing scholarly metrics landscape.
Features
- Teaches librarians how to demonstrate their value by helping professors succeed as scholars
- Teaches faculty how to use scholarly metrics to tell their professional stories
- Helps readers develop methods for tracking scholarly metrics and adapt them to the needs of specific researchers
- Presents best practices for journal selection
- Helps librarians and faculty understand and navigate controversies in the academic publishing world, such as open source publishing, altmetrics, and predatory publishers
Marc W. Vinyard is a research and instruction librarian at Pepperdine University. He is author of more than 20 professional articles. His research interests include scholarly metrics, information-seeking behavior, and international campus libraries.
Jaimie Beth Colvin is a research and instruction librarian at Pepperdine University. She is author of eight professional articles and academic resources. She is a graduate of the Association of College and Research Libraries' immersion program and is passionate about researching information-seeking behavior, information literacy instruction, usability, and informatics.
Reviews
"Recommended. Graduate students, researchers, faculty, professionals."—Choice, January 1, 2023
"Through offering helpful context, explanations, ideas, and advice for scholarly writers, administrators, and librarians seeking to understand the ins and outs of scholarly metrics, Vinyard and Colvin thus deliver a strong, valuable work."—Journal of Scholarly Publishing, March 9, 2023
"Written by librarians for librarians, but equally useful for academics wanting to know more about the wonderous world of scholarly metrics, the book does exactly what it says on the tin: demystifying scholarly metrics. It manages to do so through clear and engaging prose without talking down to its readers. Quite a feat!"—Anne-Wil Harzing, Professor and Staff Development Lead, Middlesex University
"A great book that addresses two different audiences appropriately and with a little humor. The visuals are awesome and a good reference for those people who work with scholarly metrics. The advice and examples are appropriate for novices and experts in the scholarly metrics world—a great read!"—Dianne Johnson, Sr. Professional Librarian/Wake Forest School of Medicine
"Demystifying Scholarly Metrics: A Practical Guide is a wonderful didactic guide to scholarly metrics. The book offers a delightful journey to the core concepts, tools, methods, and indicators you can use to measure scholarly impact. The authors do an excellent job capturing the important terminology for understanding scholarly metrics and contributing to the discussion of bibliometrics. This book is for librarians and researchers interested in building or enhancing skills with research impact metrics."—Mirian Ramirez Rojas, Research Metrics Librarian, Ruth Lilly Medical Library, Indiana University School of Medicine
