| Name |
Blog Mentions |
| Can Apply To |
Primarily articles, books, and other scholarly items with persistent identifiers, such as a DOI, Pubmed ID, or Handle |
| Metric Definition |
The number of times a scholarly output has been linked to from a blog. |
| Metric Calculation |
Blog mentions are comprised of raw counts of links to outputs, from blogs. Some services track links only for items with a persistent identifier. |
| Data Sources |
Links from both scholarly and general interest blogs are tracked, though coverage varies between altmetrics services. |
| Appropriate Use Cases |
Discussions on blogs have been found to have a slight correlation to later citations. They are not a sure-fire indicator for later citations. Use blog mentions only to learn what other researchers or members of the public are saying about a piece of research. The number of blog mentions is less important than what is being said. |
| Limitations |
Given their unvetted nature, it is risky to assume that a link to a piece of research from any blog–even a scholarly one–constitutes quality criticism. |
| Inappropriate Use Cases |
Blog mentions should not be interpreted as a direct measure of quality or impact, even amongst researcher blog networks. |
| Available Metric Sources |
Altmetric, PlumX, Impactstory Profiles, CrossRef Event Data (for items with DOIs, on Wordpress.com-hosted blogs) |
| Transparency |
In all altmetrics services in which blog mentions are available, one can access the full-text of the blog mentions, making this a relatively transparent metric. However, no altmetrics service makes their full list of blogs tracked available. |
| Website |
n/a |
| Timeframe |
Altmetric began tracking blog mentions in October 2011 (meaning Impactstory Profiles coverage spans this time frame, as well). PlumX does not share information on its coverage dates for blog mentions. |