In academic medicine and the health sciences, research impact metrics are commonly used to evaluate scholarly influence, productivity and visibility. Researchers may use these metrics for promotion and tenure dossiers, annual reviews, grant applications, CVs or institutional reporting.
While many researchers are familiar with terms like journal impact factor, h-index or altmetrics, it is not always clear where these numbers come from or which databases should be used to find them.
Fortunately, several major research databases provide tools for tracking journal metrics, author metrics and article-level impact. Understanding the strengths and limitations of these platforms can help researchers locate the most appropriate metrics for their needs.
What types of research impact metrics are commonly used?
Research metrics are generally grouped into three main categories:
- Journal metrics: Measure the influence or visibility of scholarly journals
- Author metrics: Assess a researcher’s scholarly productivity and citation impact
- Article metrics: Track the influence or attention of individual publications
Each type of metric provides a different perspective on scholarly impact. No single metric captures the full picture, so researchers often use multiple indicators together.
Where can researchers find journal metrics?
The primary source for journal-level metrics is Journal Citation Reports (JCR), a database produced by Clarivate using citation data from the Web of Science Core Collection.
JCR is commonly used to find:
- Journal Impact Factors
- Journal rankings within subject categories
- Quartile rankings (Q1-Q4)
- Year-to-year impact factor trends
Researchers can search for journals by title, browse by discipline or compare journals within a field. JCR is especially useful when selecting journals for publication or documenting journal prestige in promotion materials.
It is important to note that not all journals have an Impact Factor. Journals must be indexed in the Web of Science Core Collection and meet specific criteria before being included in JCR. Newer or highly specialized journals may not yet appear.
Researchers may also encounter other journal-level metrics such as CiteScore, SCImago Journal Rank (SJR) or SNIP, particularly within publisher websites or the Scopus database. Because these metrics use different methodologies and citation sources, the values may vary across platforms.
Where can researchers find author metrics?
Two of the most widely used databases for author-level metrics are Web of Science and Scopus. Both databases allow researchers to search for author profiles and generate citation reports.
In Web of Science, researchers can locate:
- Total citation counts
- Publication counts
- h-index values
- Citation reports and visualizations
Scopus provides many of the same features, including:
- Citation counts
- h-index values
- Citation trends over time
- Co-author information
- Options to exclude self-citations from reports
These tools are especially helpful when preparing promotion dossiers, grant applications or annual activity reports because they allow users to generate exportable summaries and visualizations of research impact.
It is important to remember that citation counts and h-index values often differ between databases. This is due to differences in journal coverage, publication types and indexing practices.
Web of Science tends to be more selective in what it indexes, while Scopus includes a broader range of content. As a result, Scopus citation counts are often higher.
Google Scholar is another widely used tool for citation tracking. It typically reports the highest citation counts because it includes a broader range of materials, such as conference papers, institutional repositories and other scholarly outputs. However, because its indexing is less transparent and not curated in the same way, it should be used carefully when comparing across systems.
When reporting metrics, consistency matters. Researchers should clearly indicate which database was used and avoid mixing sources without explanation.
Where can researchers find article-level metrics?
Researchers may also want to evaluate the impact of individual publications. Traditional article-level metrics include citation counts, while alternative metrics (altmetrics) capture online attention and engagement beyond scholarly citations.
Citation counts for individual articles can be found in Web of Science, Scopus and Google Scholar. These counts reflect how many times a publication has been cited by other scholarly works.
Altmetric data is often available through publisher platforms and tools such as the Altmetric Attention Score, as well as within Scopus via PlumX Metrics.
These tools track attention from sources such as:
- News outlets
- Social media platforms
- Blogs
- Policy documents
- Reference managers such as Mendeley
Altmetrics can be especially valuable in the health sciences, where research findings may influence clinical practice, public health discussions or policy decisions long before citations accumulate.
Why do metrics differ across databases?
A common question among researchers is why citation counts and other metrics vary between platforms. The primary reason is database coverage.
Each database indexes different journals, publication types and time spans. In addition, citation practices vary widely across disciplines. Fields with larger research communities or faster publication cycles often generate higher citation counts than smaller or more specialized areas.
Because of this variation, research metrics should always be interpreted in context and within disciplinary norms.
It is also important to remember that metrics represent only one aspect of scholarly impact. While they provide useful quantitative information, they do not fully capture research quality, innovation or societal influence.
Interested in learning more?
The Health Sciences Library offers workshops, consultations and online resources to help researchers locate and interpret research impact metrics. The library's Measuring Scholarly Impact guide provides information on journal metrics, author metrics, citation analysis and altmetrics, along with links to key databases and tools.
Visit the Health Sciences Library website to explore upcoming workshops and more research tutorials!
