Use metrics for grants and academic promotions to contribute to your story about the benefits of your research and engagement with your research end-users.
Analysing your publications in Scopus and Web of Science will tell you the following:
As evaluated by Web of Science as at 1 December 2023, my work is multidisciplinary because 34% of my articles are in the field of Biochemistry, 29% in Biophysics and 16% in Oncology"
In SciVal, change the Subject classification to Fields of Research (FOR).
This will depend on which indexing platform best reports your metrics.
Following is a comparison of Scopus (Elsevier) and Web of Science (Clarivate) data as at 2019:
Features | Scopus (Elsevier) | Web of Science (Clarivate) |
---|---|---|
Materials Indexed |
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|
Content focus (Institutional profile categories) |
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|
Time period covered | 1970-present | 1900-present |
Author indexing | Author-generated by Scopus-edits only done by Scopus staff | Author-created as part of Researcher I Dedited by authors |
Considerations |
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|
Example
"As evaluated by Web of Science as at 1 December 2023, my work is multidisciplinary because 34% of my articles are in the field of Biochemistry, 29% in Biophysics and 16% in Oncology"
Find your level of collaboration by analysing your metrics in Scopus and Web of Science.
See also: Collaborations.
"In Web of Science as at 1 December 2023, 70% of my journal articles have international co-authors, with 15% of my papers have international co-authors, being three papers collaborated with Harvard University authors".
This Metrics for grant applications guide includes instructions on finding and using metrics to provide evidence of your track record and top papers.
Metrics may indicate research quality and provide supporting evidence of claims that researchers make about their track record, contribution to a discipline, international profile or capacity to collaborate.
Tips to enhance your research reporting:
Research metrics vary over time and between disciplines:
Exemplar statements for your metrics
An example statement aims to explain metric performance and demonstrate the effect of that metric. Example statements can help you understand your research metrics in Clarivate, Elsevier, Altmetric Explorer and Google Scholar.
There are two parts to an example statement:
Example statement (for metrics which cannot be benchmarked):
“Between 1996 and 2023, as evaluated by SciVal within the field of Microbiology (FoR 3107), I have an average of 76.62 cites per paper, indicating the scholarly influence and quality of my research work.”
Example statement (for metrics that can be benchmarked):
“Between 1996 and 2023, as evaluated in SciVal within the field of Microbiology (FoR 3107), I have an average of 76.62 cites per paper, exceeding Western Sydney University (43.14), Australian (64.42) and world (27.79) averages, indicating the scholarly influence and quality of my research work.”
Consider the metrics on this page for grant and academic promotions. The Library provides guidelines that explain individual metrics and how to demonstrate their effect, including author metrics, collaboration metrics, engagement metrics, etc.
Contact your School Librarian for information about specific metrics, and refer to these Library guidelines to describe the effect of these metrics.
Check the grant 'Instructions for Applicants' and the Australian Research Council (ARC) ROPE Statement for their grant schemes.
Note: The use of journal-based metrics is not encouraged for National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) grants, as the NHMRC supports The DORA (Declaration on Research Assessment) recommendations on research assessment.
In your research activity statement, look for non-traditional research outputs (NTROs) (e.g., creative works).
Filter by fields of research in SciVal or InCites. Indicate the percentage of work for each authorship type:
IMPORTANT: Include a statement in your grant application indicating the prestige of your discipline in both first and last authorship order.
Indicators for each top scholarly research output:
These are the top research outputs nominated by you in the Australian Research Council (ARC) Research Management System (RMS)
Add the following indicators under each of your top research outputs:
Consider using the following metrics for each top/career-best work:
Full reference (author name in bold text) | ||
Citation impact indicators (as at DD MMM YYYY) | ||
SciVal metrics | InCites metrics | Altmetric Explorer |
Citations in Scopus (#) | Times Cited in All Databases (#) | |
|
||
PlumX metrics (#) |
Attention Score (#) |
|
Policy mentions (#) | ||
Co-authored across countries by fields of research (#) | ||
Citation Topics (#) | ||
Journal impact indicators | ||
Scopus Sources (as at DD MMM YYYY) |
JCR (as at DD MMM YYYY) |
|
Source Title (e.g., journal) | Source Title (e.g., journal) | |
CiteScore (#) | Journal Impact Factor (JIF) (with self-cites) (#) | |
%Cited (%) | ||
Source Normalized Impact per Paper (SNIP) (#) | ||
h5-index (#) | h5-index (#) | |
SCImago Journal Quartile (#) | Journal Impact Factor (JIF) Quartile (#) | |
CiteScore Percentile, Rank and Subject Area (#) | Journal Impact Factor (JIF) Rank (#) | |
Journal Impact Factor (JIF) subject area (of the journal rank) |
For example*:
Khan A, Evangelista AU, Varua ME. Evaluating the impact of marketing interventions on sugar-free and sugar-sweetened soft drink sales and sugar purchases in a fast-food restaurant setting. BMC Public Health. 2023;23(1):1-14. doi:10.1186/s12889-023-16395-z
Citation impact indicators:
As at 1 July 2024, in Scopus, a citation count of 47 indicates that the work has been referenced 47 times in other scholarly publications, reflecting its relevance and impact within the academic community.
As at 1 July 2024 in Scopus, this work has an article FWCI (Field-Weighted Citation Impact) of 3.50, indicating that it is cited 3.5 times more frequently than the global average for similar publications, reflecting a very high impact and influence within its field.
As at 1 July 2024 in Scopus, a PlumX metric with 22 readers in Mendeley indicates that the work has garnered attention from 22 users, reflecting a growing interest and engagement within the academic community.
As of 1 July 2024 in Scopus, this article has been co-authored across three fields of research in SciVal, indicating a multidisciplinary collaboration, enhancing the research's reach, visibility, and potential impact across diverse academic domains.
As at 1 July 2024 in Scopus, the SciVal topic in Public Health, Environmental, and Occupational Health, with a prominence percentile of 98.512, indicates that the research area is highly influential and of significant interest, placing it among the top 1.5% of topics in terms of academic impact and visibility.
Journal impact indicators
Title: BMC Public Health (open access)
As at 1 July 2024, a CiteScore of 6.5 for 2023 in Scopus Sources reflects a solid impact and relevance for this journal within its academic field.
As at 1 July 2024, a %Cited metric of 75% in Scopus Sources demonstrates a high level of engagement and impact with this journal within the academic community.
As at 1 July 2024, in Scopus Sources, the journal SNIP (Source Normalized Impact per Paper) of 1.386 reflects its strong influence and relevance within its academic domain.
As at 1 July 2024, this journal's SciVal h5-index stands at 50, demonstrating a high level of impact and influence within its field.
As at 1 July 2024, In Scopus Sources, this journal is ranked first quartile of journals in Public Health, Environmental, and Occupational Health (91/577), indicating its high impact, rigorous peer review, and strong visibility within the academic and clinical research communities.
As at 1 July 2024 in Scopus Sources, the journal's CiteScore Percentile of 82% and Rank of 91/577 in Public Health, Environmental, and Occupational Health reflects its high citation impact and a strong position among its peers, enhancing its visibility and prestige in the academic community.
*Disclaimer:
The citation metrics, impact factor, or any other numerical indicators referenced in this article should not be interpreted as definitive measures of its academic value or quality. Such metrics may be influenced by various factors, including but not limited to publication trends, indexing practices, and disciplinary citation behaviours, and may not fully capture the scope or significance of the research presented herein. Readers are encouraged to engage with the content directly to assess its relevance and contribution to the field.
Article-, citation, and author-level metrics are quantifiable indicators of research performance that can support the evidence you provide in your grant application. Select the metrics where you "shine".
Grant guidelines direct you not to repeat metrics in your application. The following categories (groupings) of indicators are only recommendations. Be guided by your grant's "Instruction for applicants" and your Research Development Officer (RDO) on where to use your metrics.
SciVal metrics | InCites metrics | Altmetric Explorer |
---|---|---|
Citations per Publication (#) | Citation Impact (#) | |
Number of citing countries (#) | ||
Attention by Region (#) | ||
Benchmark: Cited Publications (%) | Benchmark: % Documents Cited (%) | |
Benchmark: Outputs in Top 1% Citation Percentiles (%) | Benchmark: % Documents in Top 1% (%) | |
Benchmark: Outputs in Top 10% Citation Percentiles (%) | Benchmark: % Documents in Top 10% (%) | |
Benchmark: % Highly Cited Papers (%) | ||
Benchmark: % Hot Papers (%) |
SciVal metrics | InCites metrics | Google Scholar |
---|---|---|
Citation Count (without self-cites) (#) | Times Cited (without self-cites) (#) | Citations (All) (#) |
Scholarly Output (#) | Web of Science Documents (#) | |
Benchmark: % All Open Access Documents (%) | ||
Prominence Percentile (%) | ||
h-index (with self-cites) (#) | h-index (with self-cites) (#) | h-index (with self-cites) (#) |
h-index (without self-cites) (#) | h-index (without self-cites) (#) | |
m-index (#) | ||
g-index (#) | ||
i10-index (#) |
[see: ARC Research Impact Pathway Table]
Impact Indicators | SciVal metrics | InCites metrics | Altmetric Explorer |
---|---|---|---|
Societal | Policy mentions (#) Particularly relevant to NHMRC Level 3 leadership grants | ||
Social media mentions (#) (e.g., X, Facebook, etc.) | |||
Article statistics (#) (e.g., Total mentions, Research Outputs) | |||
News and blog mentions (#) (e.g., All news outlets) | |||
Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) (#) | Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) (#) | ||
Economic | Citations from Patents (#) | ||
Patent-Citations per Scholarly Output (#) | |||
Patents Count (#) | |||
Scholarly Output cited by Patents (#) | Patent mentions (#) | ||
Health | Policy mentions (#) Particularly relevant to NHMRC Level 3 Leadership grants. | ||
Knowledge [academic] | [Author] Category Normalized Citation Impact (CNCI) (#) | ||
Contributed to topic clusters (#) |
Collaboration indicators
Collaboration (sector) indicators:
SciVal metrics | InCites metrics |
---|---|
Benchmark: Academic-Corporate Collaboration (%) | Benchmark: % Industry Collaborations (%) |
Benchmark: Academic-Government Collaboration (%) | |
Benchmark: Academic-Medical Collaboration (%) | |
Benchmark: Academic Only Collaboration (%) | |
Benchmark: Academic-Other Collaboration (%) |
Collaboration (geographical) indicators:
SciVal metrics | InCites metrics | Altmetric Explorer |
---|---|---|
Only International Collaboration (%) | Benchmark: % International Collaboration (%) | |
Only National Collaboration (%) | Benchmark: % Domestic Collaboration (%) | |
Only Institutional Collaboration (%) | ||
Number of citing countries (#) | Attention by Region (#) (e.g., X posts, Facebook posts, news stories, policy documents) |
Contact your School Librarian for information about research metrics and how to set up, maintain, and bookmark your researcher profiles. Contact your Research Development Officer (RDO) in Grant Services for general inquiries about grant applications.
© Western Sydney University, unless otherwise attributed. "Grant Applications" created by Lucy Walton at Western Sydney University Library is licensed under CC BY-NC 4.0
Review the guidelines to determine the period you will report on, e.g., over the past five years, since your last promotion, etc.
The emphasis is on your metrics, not how they are benchmarked against other entities.
Look for metrics that ‘shine’ across your body of work.
Refer to the exemplar statements under types of metrics for SciVal, InCites and Altmetric Explorer in the draft Research Metrics Toolkit to demonstrate the effect of your metric in your academic promotion application.
In the Academic Promotion Guidelines (Dec 2023), if you are applying for Levels D or E, you are asked to nominate three significant scholarly works to add to the Academic Promotions Application Form.
Request access to your SciVal report template and instructions on generating metrics reports.
Contact the Academic Promotions Coordinator for help with your application.
In terms of indicators to include in your application, be guided by your workload percentages across the three fields, being:
Refer to your Research Activity Statement (RAS) > Publications tab. The RAS is available from the Research Portal. The RAS includes the following SciVal metrics (you will find explanations for these metrics on the first or second page of your Research Activity Statement).
Demonstrate the effect of the metrics where you “shine” in your Research Activity Statement (see: exemplar statements which demonstrate the effect of those metrics):
Indicate the percentage of work for each authorship type:
Include a statement in your grant indicating the prestige of your discipline in both first and last authorship order.
In addition, download and review this guide on Making Evidence Count: Perspectives and Principles on Measuring Teaching and this Checklist for Academic Achievement which provides example of how to capture evidence for academic achievement
Section 5b of the Academic Promotions Guidelines (Dec 2023) indicates that applicants should outline the research output, such as publications (including Non-Traditional Research Outputs), particularly demonstrating the quality and peer recognition of research achievements relative to your discipline standards.
For example, consider including the Creative Works (Non-Traditional Research Outputs) quantified in your Research Activity Statement:
Collaboration (sector) indicators
Research Impact indicators
[see: ARC Research Impact Pathway Table]
Impact/Benefits | SciVal metrics | InCites metrics | Altmetric Explorer |
---|---|---|---|
Societal | Policy mentions (#) Particularly relevant to NHMRC Level 3 leadership grants | ||
Social media mentions (#) (e.g., X, Facebook, etc.) | |||
Article statistics (#) (e.g., Total mentions, Research Outputs) | |||
News and blog mentions (#) (e.g., All news outlets) | |||
Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) (#) | Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) (#) | ||
Economic | Citations from Patents (#) | ||
Patent-Citations per Scholarly Output (#) | |||
Patents Count (#) | |||
Scholarly Output cited by Patents (#) | Patent mentions (#) | ||
Health | Policy mentions (#) Particularly relevant to NHMRC Level 3 Leadership grants. | ||
Knowledge [academic] | [Author] Category Normalized Citation Impact (CNCI) (#) | ||
Contributed to topic clusters (#) |
Collaboration (geographical) indicators
SciVal metrics | InCites metrics | Altmetric Explorer |
---|---|---|
Only International Collaboration (%) | % International Collaboration (%) | |
Only National Collaboration (%) | % Domestic Collaboration (%) | |
Only Institutional Collaboration (%) | ||
Number of citing countries (#) | Attention by Region (#) (e.g., X posts, Facebook posts, news stories, policy documents) |
You must include three significant scholarly sole-authored or collaborative works with their application, with at least two of the three works being within the last five years (except where the applicant has an approved timeframe extension of time to the five-year Application cap). These significant works must be submitted with your application as either a single electronic copy of each significant work (preferred) or three hard copies of each of your significant works. See Section 5 of the Academic Promotions Guidelines for more information.
Consider using the following metrics per significant work:
Full reference (author name in bold text) | ||
---|---|---|
CITATION IMPACT INDICATORS (as at DD MMM YYYY) | ||
SciVal metrics | InCites metrics | Altmetric Explorer |
Citation Count (without self-cites) (#) | Times Cited (without self-cites) (#) | |
|
||
PlumX metrics (#) |
Attention Score (#) |
|
Policy mentions (#) | ||
Co-authored across countries by fields of research (#) | ||
Citation Topics (#) | ||
JOURNAL IMPACT INDICATORS: | ||
Scopus Sources (as at DD MMM YYYY) |
JCR (as at DD MMM YYYY) |
|
Source Title (e.g., journal) | Source Title (e.g., journal) | |
CiteScore (#) | Journal Impact Factor (JIF) (with self-cites) (#) | |
%Cited (%) | ||
Source Normalized Impact per Paper (SNIP) (#) | ||
h5-index (#) OR Google Scholar h5-index (#) | ||
Journal Quartile (#) | Journal Impact Factor (JIF) Quartile (#) | |
CiteScore Percentile, Rank and Subject Area (#) | Journal Impact Factor (JIF) Rank (#) | |
Journal Impact Factor (JIF) subject area (of the journal rank) |
For example*
Khan A, Evangelista AU, Varua ME. Evaluating the impact of marketing interventions on sugar-free and sugar-sweetened soft drink sales and sugar purchases in a fast-food restaurant setting. BMC Public Health. 2023;23(1):1-14. doi:10.1186/s12889-023-16395-z
Citation impact indicators:
As at 1 July 2024, In Scopus, a citation count of 47 indicates that the work has been referenced 47 times in other scholarly publications, reflecting its relevance and impact within the academic community.
As at 1 July 2024 in Scopus, this work has an article FWCI (Field-Weighted Citation Impact) of 3.50, indicating that it is cited 3.5 times more frequently than the global average for similar publications, reflecting a very high impact and influence within its field.
As at 1 July 2024 in Scopus, a PlumX metric with 22 readers in Mendeley indicates that the work has garnered attention from 22 users, reflecting a growing interest and engagement within the academic community.
As of 1 July 2024 in Scopus, this article has been co-authored across three fields of research in SciVal, indicating a multidisciplinary collaboration, enhancing the research's reach, visibility, and potential impact across diverse academic domains.
As at 1 July 2024 in Scopus, the SciVal topic in Public Health, Environmental, and Occupational Health, with a prominence percentile of 98.512, indicates that the research area is highly influential and of significant interest, placing it among the top 1.5% of topics in terms of academic impact and visibility.
Journal impact indicators:
Title: BMC Public Health (open access)
As at 1 July 2024 in Scopus Sources, a CiteScore of 6.5 for 2023 reflects a solid impact and relevance for this journal within its academic field.
As at 1 July 2024, a %Cited metric of 75% in Scopus Sources demonstrates a high level of engagement and impact with this journal within the academic community.
As at 1 July 2024, in Scopus Sources, the journal SNIP (Source Normalized Impact per Paper) of 1.386 reflects its strong influence and relevance within its academic domain.
As at 1 July 2024, In Scopus Sources, this journal is ranked first quartile of journals in Public Health, Environmental, and Occupational Health (91/577), indicating its high impact, rigorous peer review, and strong visibility within the academic and clinical research communities.
As at 1 July 2024 in Scopus Sources, the journal's CiteScore Percentile of 82% and Rank of 91/577 in Public Health, Environmental, and Occupational Health reflects its high citation impact and a strong position among its peers, enhancing its visibility and prestige in the academic community.
*Disclaimer:
The citation metrics, impact factor, or any other numerical indicators referenced in this article should not be interpreted as definitive measures of its academic value or quality. Such metrics may be influenced by various factors, including but not limited to publication trends, indexing practices, and disciplinary citation behaviours, and may not fully capture the scope or significance of the research presented herein. Readers are encouraged to engage with the content directly to assess its relevance and contribution to the field.
Consider adding reviews about your open textbooks as achievements (see page 13 of the Academic Promotions Guidelines under Teaching and Learning Information).
For your Academic Promotion Application CV, consider including your best performing metrics (bibliometrics and altmetrics where you "shine") that are not included in your Research Activity Statement, e.g.:
Contact your School Librarian for support, and refer to these Library guidelines to describe the effect of these metrics.
For more information about your Research Activity Statement, email the Research Data Team: ResearchData@westernsydney.edu.au
© Western Sydney University, unless otherwise attributed. "Academic Promotions Applications" created by Lucy Walton at Western Sydney University Library is licensed under CC BY-NC 4.0
© Western Sydney University, unless otherwise attributed.
Library guide created by Western Sydney University Library staff is licenced under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY)