Computing and Using Metrics in the ADS

TL;DR

This paper discusses the development and use of various research impact metrics within the ADS, highlighting challenges like author ambiguity and citation gaps, to support evaluation needs across academia and funding agencies.

Contribution

It introduces a comprehensive impact metrics service in the ADS and discusses lesser-known indicators and key issues in compiling publication-based metrics.

Findings

ADS provides a broad overview of impact measures

Author name ambiguity affects metric accuracy

Citation incompleteness impacts impact assessment

Abstract

Finding measures for research impact, be it for individuals, institutions, instruments or projects, has gained a lot of popularity. More papers than ever are being written on new impact measures, and problems with existing measures are being pointed out on a regular basis. Funding agencies require impact statistics in their reports, job candidates incorporate them in their resumes, and publication metrics have even been used in at least one recent court case. To support this need for research impact indicators, the SAO/NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS) has developed a service which provides a broad overview of various impact measures. In this presentation we discuss how the ADS can be used to quench the thirst for impact measures. We will also discuss a couple of the lesser known indicators in the metrics overview and the main issues to be aware of when compiling publication-based metrics in the ADS, namely author name ambiguity and citation incompleteness.