SPEC Kit 346: Scholarly Output Assessment Activities  · 73
UNIVERSITY OF IOWA
How to Determine Your Scholarly Impact
http://www.lib.uiowa.edu/hardin
319-335-9151
aeb 12-9-14
• Impact Factor: A quantitative measure of the frequency with which the "average article" published in a
given scholarly journal has been cited in a particular year or period; this is used in citation analysis
(definition retrieved from http://www.library.tudelft.nl/tulib/glossary/index.htm#I)
•
Citations in 2013 to articles published in X in 2011 and 2012
Impact Factor for Journal X =
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Articles published in X in 2011 and 2012
• Eigenfactor: The Eigenfactor is another way to rank journals based on their influence in the field. It
tries to get around some of the issues that make impact factors controversial. To find out more, see
“Why Eigenfactor?” at http://www.eigenfactor.org/whyeigenfactor.htm
• H-Index: This number is based on a formula that calculates the average number of citing articles for all
items in a [pre]defined set. It can be used to measure the productivity and impact of the published works
of a particular researcher or even a group of researchers. The h-index was developed by Jorge E. Hirsch
and published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 102
(46): 16569-16572 November 15 2005. It is sometimes referred to as the Hirsch Index.
• Altmetrics: This is the measurement of the impact an article has on social media such as Twitter,
Facebook, etc. For more information, see http://blog.lib.uiowa.edu/needtoknow/2013/08/08/interesting-
articles-on-altmetrics/
Managing References
Citation  Management  Tools-­‐  EndNote  and  RefWorks 
  EndNote  desktop  RefWorks  EndNote  Basic 
Best  use  Those  with  complex,  ongoing 
research  projects  and  planning 
on  career  of  publication  who 
are  primarily  using  the  same 
workstation  for  research  and 
writing.   
RefWorks  will  no  longer  be  available 
after  December  2014.  Less  complex 
projects.  Ideal  for  those  who  are 
going  to  be  using  multiple  computers 
for  research.   
Less  complex  projects.  Ideal  for 
those  who  are  going  to  be  using 
multiple  computers  for  research.   
Location  of  files  Locally  on  your  computer  On  RefWorks  site  (server)  On  EndNote  site  (server) 
Getting 
citations  in… 
Automatic  export  from  many 
databases.  2  step  process  if 
not  available.   
Automatic  export  from  many 
databases.  2  step  process  if  not 
available.   
Automatic  export  from  many 
databases.  2  step  process  if  not 
available. 
#  of  styles  Over  4500  Over  2700  Over  2000 
Sharing  Because  library  lives  on  your 
computer,  sharing  is  through 
sharing  of  computer  or 
compressing  files.  Colleagues 
will  need  EndNote  installed  to 
view 
RefShare  feature  allows  you  to  share 
folders  or  your  entire  library  with 
anyone  with  an  internet  connection 
(though  pdfs  cannot  be  shared  in  this 
way).   
Allows  you  to  share  folders  or 
your  entire  library  with  anyone 
with  an  internet  connection,  and 
allows  you  to  grant  people 
editing  rights  to  your  citations.   
Overall 
strengths 
Great  for  very  large  amounts 
of  citations.  Also  has  a  feature 
that  can  pull  some  PDF’s  and 
automatically  attach  them  to 
citations.   
Very  easy  to  learn,  use  anywhere  with 
an  internet  connection.  Easy  to  share 
citations  with  others.   
Very  easy  to  learn,  use  anywhere 
with  an  internet  connection.  Easy 
to  share  citations  with  others  and 
to  allow  others  full  access  to 
citations.   
 
More  information  on  citing  sources:  http://guides.lib.uiowa.edu/citingsources