Invited Seminar Talk

Insights in the Relationship of Science and Society Based on Altmetrics Data: Three Exemplary Studies

Lutz Bornmann
Laboratory of Digital and Computational Demography, March 08, 2022

Lutz Bornmann from the Headquarters of the Max Planck Society showed that Altmetrics might measure the impact of research in a broader way than traditional metrics including insights in the relationship of science and society.

Abstract

Altmetrics have been proposed as alternative metrics to traditional bibliometrics (publication and citation counts) in research evaluation. The new metrics might measure impact of research in a broader way than traditional metrics including insights in the relationship of science and society. Altmetrics are frequently based on social media data from Twitter or Mendeley. In the presentation, it will be argued that simply counting tweets or likes does not result in meaningful and helpful results (for research evaluation purposes). Only advanced analyses of altmetrics data lead to fruitful results. Three exemplary studies will be presented which are based on advanced analyses of Mendeley and Twitter data as well as policy documents (Overton) and reveal interesting insights in the relationship of science and society.

About

Lutz Bornmann is habilitated sociologist of science and works in the Administrative Headquarters of the Max Planck Society (Science Policy and Strategy Department). Besides his service activities for the Max Planck Society, he carries out research on the topic ‘research evaluation’. Here, his research interests include peer review, bibliometrics, and altmetrics. He is recipient of the Derek de Solla Price Memorial Medal in 2019. The medal is periodically awarded by the journal Scientometrics to scientists with outstanding contributions to the fields of quantitative studies of science.