Research Impact

Our mission is to help you communicate the impact of your work in a variety of ways to tell your research story to peers, funders, policy makers, and the public. 

The University of Alberta Library's Research Impact Team has expertise in bibliometrics, data visualization, and alternative metrics. We provide extensive advisory services for researchers, groups, and department.

To learn more about Research Impact Services please visit our website. 

“Impact” is a broad term that encompasses the reach and influence of a researcher’s work. There are several ways to communicate the value of your research. Measuring and conveying your research impact are crucial for improving research grant applications, supporting tenure application and promotions, and connecting with other researchers and project collaborators.

Some examples include:

• Who is citing your work?
• Has your work influenced other kinds of tangible outcomes? (e.g. development of new instruments, methods, or practice based on your research)
• Have news sources picked up your research and shared it with the masses?

To learn more, try our new Introduction to Research Impact tutorial!

Many metrics and tools are available to help you analyze and share your research impact. 

Visualization Tools

Many types of significant research impact are not included in most bibliometric analyses. Some of these are:

• Government, health system, industry, and community consultations
• Public presentations
• Health, social, economic, or political impacts
• Outputs created for the public or experts that exist outside of journal publications

Research publications reflect existing power structures within academia and our culture. This means the following:

• Certain types of research are cited more than other types of research. For example, reviews and quantitative research receive more citations than editorials and qualitative research. 
• Certain topics will receive more citations than others. For example, in health research, articles on conditions that impact large segments of the population tend to receive more citations than articles on rare conditions.
• There is a language bias around citations. English-language publications tend to receive more citations and are easier to find outlets for publication.
• Unfortunately there are many structural societal constraints around equity, diversity, and inclusion and research publishing. This means the following: 
  • Women academics are cited less than men.
  • Women have less structural support around research.
  • Racism exists in academic institutions. This directly impacts BIPOC academics, their research outputs, and their ability to progress through professional ranks in these institutions.
• We strongly recommend that these data limitations are carefully considered in understanding any bibliometric analysis.
• We strongly recommend that structural constraints that limit the ability of members to conduct research are considered and mitigated or removed as much as possible.