| Name |
Policy Mentions |
| Can Apply To |
Primarily journal articles and books |
| Metric Definition |
The number of times a research output has been cited in policy documents from government bodies or NGOs. |
| Metric Calculation |
The total count of citations to a research output in the policy sources being tracked by the metric provider. Each provider tracks differing manually-curated lists of policy bodies. |
| Data Sources |
Governmental and non-governmental policy documents |
| Appropriate Use Cases |
Policy mentions can be used to demonstrate how research has influenced policy or the course of action in a particular field. |
| Limitations |
Research and researchers may influence policy and decision making in indirect ways that are not always trackable via policy citations (Konkiel, 2016). One study found that “less than 0.5% of the papers published in different subject categories are mentioned at least once in policy-related documents” (Haunschild, 2016). In Altmetric, only those books, book chapters, and journal articles with DOIs can be tracked in policy. It is unknown if PlumX Metrics has similar restrictions. |
| Inappropriate Use Cases |
Policy mentions should not be used as a direct measure of a research output’s effect on practice. |
| Available Metric Sources |
Altmetric, PlumX Metrics |
| Transparency |
In relevant providers, one can access the full-text of the policy mentions. However, all providers keep their full list of tracked policy sources private. |
| Website |
n/a |
| Timeframe |
Altmetric has been tracking policy mentions since 2013. Plum Analytics (PlumX Metrics) reportedly began tracking policy mentions in 2016, though no publicly available documentation can confirm this. |