Metrics and indicators for Creative Arts researchers
In addition to traditional research outputs, like journal articles and books, researchers from creative disciplines may produce non-traditional research outputs (NTROs), such as creative works.
To be eligible as research outputs, creative works must meet the Australian Research Council’s definition of research and have been published or made publicly available. Creative works can be presented in the forms of:
- Creative textual works, e.g., novels or art reviews, etc.
- Visual art works/design works, e.g., fine arts, crafts works, sculptures or installations, exhibitions, etc.
- Live performances, e.g., music, play, dance, etc.
Due to the different nature of traditional and non-traditional research outputs, you will need to consider different measures to demonstrate their research impact.
Alert
To work with most of the metrics described in this guide, you will need to update and maintain your author profiles regularly. Author profiles are the foundation for bibliometric analysis.
Check out the Author profiles guide for further information and instructions on how to maintain and update your author profiles.
Key metrics and indicators for traditional research outputs
Citation-based metrics are widely used to measure and demonstrate the impact of traditional research outputs such as journal articles, books, book chapters and conference proceedings. Reviews and esteem indicators of conference organisers or book publishers/editors may help establish the prestige and quality of conferences or books. Author metrics (e.g., h-index), on the other hand, are often used to evidence the overall impact of a research.
Click on the plus (+) icons below to discover metrics you could in your application.
Journal articles
Metrics on an article are usually available from the article's record page in databases.
Additional information on article and journal metrics may require the use of other resources, such as SCImago.
Keep in mind the metrics on a journal article may vary due to the analytics in a particular database.
Our guide can provide you with information and instructions on metrics related to journal articles in the following areas:
Books and chapters
Metrics and indicators for books and chapters can be challenging to find, due to the limitation in indexing of books in the major citation databases, such as Scopus and Web of Science. Google Scholar is another useful tool for gathering citation metrics and reviews of books and chapters.
Our guide can provide you with information and instructions on metrics related to books and chapters in the following areas:
- Citation count
- Field Weighted Citation Impact (FWCI)
- Altmetrics (e.g. social media and news mentions)
- World wide and Australia library holdings of books
- Book or chapter reviews
Search Google or the publisher's website for information on a book or books chapters:
- Awards received
- Credentials of the publisher or editors
- Listing on university, school or professional body reading list
- Listing on a best seller list
Conference papers
Metrics for conference papers can be difficult to find. The prestige and credential of the conference and its organiser can often indicate the quality and status of a conference in its related research fields.
Our guide can provide you with information and instructions on metrics related to books and chapters in the following areas:
Search Google or conference website for information on:
- Credentials of the conference organiser
- Prestige of the conference in a field
It's critical to be strategic when choosing which conferences to attend and present your papers. For more information check out the Conference: The how-to-choose section of the Your publishing plan guide.
Author metrics
Author level metrics are available from the research metrics dashboard and your profile in Elements. Also any author profiles you have set up in Scopus, Web of Science, or Google Scholar.
Keep in mind the author may vary due to the analytics in a particular database.
Our guide can provide you with information and instructions on metrics related to journal articles in the following areas:
Benchmarking
You can use benchmarking tools - SciVal and InCites – Deakin subscribes to, in order to demonstrate the engagement and outstanding impact of your work within your discipline and the wider community. The benchmarking is available against your peers and overall institution, country or global performance.
SciVal and InCites benchmarking tools can provide metrics in the following areas:
- h-index
- Total citation count
- Citation per document
- Percentage of cited Publications
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact or Normalized citation impact
- Output in Top Citation Percentiles
- Publications in Top Journal Percentiles by a specific journal ranking
- Collaboration
- Patent-citations count
- Number of citing countries
Altmetrics
Altmetrics or alternative metrics, refers to data that indicates the impact or attention a particular work receives on social media (e.g. X (formerly Twitter), blogs, Facebook, Mendeley etc.) such as views, downloads, mentions in the media, and shares on platforms.
Altmetric providers also track citations in publications such as policy documents, patents, and medical guidelines.
Our guide can provide you with information and instructions on Altmetrics related to:
- Social media (e.g tweets, Facebook likes, blog posts etc.)
- Article stats (e.g. views, downloads, saves etc.)
- News mentions
- Policy mentions
- Patent citations
Key impact indicators for non-traditional research outputs
It can be challenging to demonstrate the impact and excellence of creative works, as traditional citation metrics may not be applicable and/or appropriate. You may need to consider a range of impact metrics/indicators.
Click on the flipcards below to discover key impact indicators to consider for your NTROs.
Note
For further information on non-traditional research outputs (NTROs) and examples of demonstrating impact check out the NTROs Impact section of this guide.
Finding impact indicators for my non-traditional outputs
It can be very challenging to find impact indicators for non-traditional outputs. In many cases, Google can be a useful tool. But the best practice is to keep a record of all the awards, prizes, commissions, grants, reviews, invitation to perform/exhibit, media and news mentions, book or box office sales, audience or visitor numbers.
Grants, awards and prizes
You can search Research Professional to identify grant recipients.
For creative writing, the following databases offer information on reviews, awards and prizes your publications have received:
Media and news mentions
You can find social media mentions and other activities through Altmetric, PlumX.
Google can be useful to find media and news mentions.
Reviews
You may be able to find reviews by searching Google or websites of the publisher or event organiser/curator.
For creative writing, the following databases offer information on reviews, awards and prizes your publications have received:
Book sales and download figures
For creative writing, the publisher will keep book sales records. You can often find download figures from the publisher's website.
Trove and WorldCat provides Australia and worldwide library holdings of books
Impact of policies, patents and news
It can be useful to know if your research has been cited in any policy documents, patents, or the news. Altmetric.com captures this data for publications with a DOI, and the quickest way to access it is via Elements:
- Log in to Deakin Elements
- View your publication list by selecting Menu > Publications
- Select metrics from the focus on drop-down list
- Scroll down the list to see the Altmetric “donuts” and look out for purple stripes (policy) and light red stripes (news) or orange stripes (patents).