Are Alternative Metrics Still Alternative? by Mike Buschman and Andrea Michalek

Bulletin April/May 2013 (ASIS&T)

 Citation counts have long been the tried and true measure of academic research usage and impact. Specifically, published articles in prominent journals citing other published articles in other prominent journals equate to prestige and tenure. This scheme for determining impact was developed in the 1960s, and while so much else about collecting and disseminating information has changed since that time, the citation count mechanism continues to dominate the way research is evaluated. Yet, there are many well-known problems with this system.