Journal Article: “Research Impact Metrics: A Faculty Perspective”

The following article was recently published by Partnership: the Canadian Journal of Library and Information Practice and Research.
Title
Research Impact Metrics: A Faculty Perspective
Authors
Mindy Thuna
University of Toronto
Pam King
University of Toronto Mississauga
Source
Partnership: the Canadian Journal of Library and Information Practice and Research
Vol. 12 No. 1 (2017)
Abstract

With an increasing focus on scholarly communications in academic libraries, librarians are struggling with how best to support faculty with the location, interpretation, and appropriate use of metrics. Very little has been written about the faculty researcher perspective on metrics and, as a result, librarians may have a deep knowledge of the tools but have a more limited understanding of the users’ viewpoint. Seventy-nine senior research faculty who were five or more years post-tenure were interviewed. Faculty from the Humanities, Social Sciences and Sciences were all invited to participate. Each interview consisted of nine questions relating to how the faculty understand and use impact metrics in their academic life. Responses were varied to all of the questions and were tied closely to the disciplinary fields of the research faculty interviewed. A large majority of the interviewed faculty viewed the library as a key resource for getting more information relating to metrics. This research reveals a need to fill a gap between librarians and faculty researchers with examples of disciplinary best practices of metrics use, as well as product information as pertains to impact metrics.

Direct to Full Text Article
25 pages; PDF.

Filed under: Academic Libraries, Interviews, Libraries, News, Profiles, Scholarly Communications