Metrics Matter: Getting Top Value from Research Performance Data

Like it or not, the world of scholarly research is fiercely competitive. To be successful, a range of research stakeholders—from librarians to journal publishers to scientists—must continuously demonstrate the quality and impact of their research outputs. As a result, research performance metrics have become essential tools.

Perhaps most significantly, research performance metrics are used to show return on research value—in order to attract and secure more research funding.

But getting funding isn't the only thing research metrics are used for. Here are just a few examples of how librarians and information managers at scientific corporations and academic institutions use performance metrics to support their institutional goals:

• Understand what's been done in a particular area of study
• Identify the best opportunities for progressing research and making the greatest impact
• Drive decisions on whether to allocate or withdraw personnel, space, and other resources
• Build data that can be used to showcase and promote the institution externally

Research performance metrics are used to support career-level goals, too. Individual researchers and scientists, for example, use impact metrics to showcase their own scholarly influence, as well as to identify and attract collaborators. And some academic librarians even include research performance data in their dossiers when seeking a promotion (or if applicable, tenure).

Using Research Performance Metrics Effectively

Like any type of metric, research performance metrics are only worthwhile when they provide meaningful, accurate information. And extracting useful information from research performance metrics isn’t easy.

Certain metrics provide easy to understand data that's helpful when making certain types of quick decisions (e.g. using the at-a-glance Altmetric Donut to decide whether to purchase a specific peer-reviewed article). But for those who depend on research performance metrics to secure funding and inform more strategic decisions, extracting relevant, high-value information is a complex task. With so many types of metrics available, just choosing the right tools to use can be a challenge.

Here’s a high-level look at some of the most popular research performance metrics available today.

Types of performance metrics: