The document discusses the role of social media, particularly Twitter, in enhancing the visibility and impact of research at Rhodes University, South Africa. It highlights the emergence of altmetrics as a valuable tool for measuring research impact beyond traditional bibliometric methods. Additionally, it details the university's initiatives to leverage social media for promoting research outputs and engaging with relevant academic and public communities.

1. Joining the ‘buzz’ : the role of social media in raising research visibility at Rhodes University Grahamstown, South Africa
Eileen Shepherd
Principal Librarian : Faculty Liaison Services
Science & Pharmacy
Rhodes University Library
Grahamstown, South Africa
LIASA – HELIG webinar
6th November 2014

2. This presentation endeavours to:
to provide a brief introduction to altmetrics – a non-traditional form of measuring scholarly impact
to demonstrate the use of social media in raising awareness and visibility of Rhodes University research

3. Traditional bibliometric methods of evaluating academic research

Citations

h-indices
A scholar with an h-index of 18 has published 18 papers each of which has been cited in other papers at least 18 times
Journal Impact Factors
In any given year, the impact factor of a journal is the average number of citations received per paper published in that journal during the two preceding years

4. 
supplemented in the past 5-6 years
by the development of altmetrics
i.e.(alternative metrics or article level metrics)
“The creation and study of new metrics based on the Social Web for analyzing and informing scholarship”
http://altmetrics.org/about/
Traditional bibliometrics have been

5. Do / should / will social media feature in academia?

6. Social media and scholarly communication?
“…….. Web 2.0 applications will have an increasing role in the scholarly communication process. While research shows that take up in academia is at a relatively low level (although at least two UK-based Vice Chancellors now have a Twitter following), many publishers are providing wiki-based forums for specific journals or disciplines facilitating discussion on, and sharing of, research findings…”
Woodward, H. (2010) Dissemination Models in Scholarly
Communication, New Review of Academic Librarianship, 16:S1, 1-3, DOI:0.1080/13614533.2010.514763

7. Do academics use social media in the course of their research? : Survey Results
“Giant academic social networks have taken off
to a degree that no one expected
even a few years ago*
Survey asked how researchers used social networks and/or
profile-hosting or search services
Received: 3,500 responses from 95 countries
*Van Noorden, R., 2014. Online collaboration: Scientists and the social network. Nature, 512(7513), pp.126–129. Available at: http://tinyurl.com/lo3fgn4

8. 8
Sites in order of popularity with researchers (330 regular visitors)
61%
1%
12%
48%
8%
8%
12%
40%
38%
22%
4%
5%
Van Noorden, R., 2014. Online collaboration: Scientists and the social network. Nature, 512(7513), pp.126–129. Available at: http://tinyurl.com/lo3fgn4

9. 9
Scholarly use of Twitter
Reasons for using Twitter
330 regular users from 3500 respondents
49% Follow discussion
46% To post work
42% Discover papers
40% Discover peers
40% Comment on research
36% Share links to content
From ‘Nature’ survey

10. Due to the increasing variety of online references to research, and also of tools for sharing research…
A confusing array of social media choices:
C
How do we measure impact and how is research
communicated & shared via the Web?
New tools needed to measure 10

11. Enter : altmetrics

new approach to determining quality/popularity of research

value can be assessed by tallying shares, saves, reviews, adaptations & social media usage
no longer a FAD
shows impact of research outside of the academy
limitations? need to develop a way to differentiate between scholarly & sexy research ; vulnerable to gaming
databases & publishers: incorporation of altmetrics in search results
Konkiel, S., 2013. Altmetrics : A 21st-Century Solution to Determining Research Quality. (Cover story). Online Searcher, 37(4), pp.11–15. Available at: http://tinyurl.com/lrvlu6g

12. Origin of the term: altmetrics

13. Who is collecting & sharing altmetrics?
A cluster of servers that watch social media sites, newspapers, government policy documents and other sources for mentions of scholarly articles. Brings all the attention together to compile article level metrics
http://www.altmetric.com/
Tracks more than 20 different types of artifacts, including journal articles, books, videos, presentations, conference proceedings, datasets, source code, cases, and more
http://www.plumanalytics.com/
Open-source, web-based tool that helps researchers explore and share the diverse impacts of all their research products
https://impactstory.org/

14. 14
Example of altmetrics

15. Use of Altmetric bookmarklet 15
Altmetric
stats
Click for
more
details
Get this bookmarklet for your toolbar
http://www.altmetric.com/bookmarklet.php
Bookmarklet
in toolbar

16. More details – from previous slide

17. Another example of altmetrics in action
Note the “Article metrics” option on the Nature webpage

18. Article metrics – from previous slide

19. Altmetrics data for article – accessed by using altmetrics bookmarklet

20. Example using an article indexed on Scopus
Scopus now includes
Altmetrics at article level

21. Article indexed on Scopus – embedded Altmetric details

22. Embedded Altmetrics on Scopus : the details
Register for email
updates
when this
article is
shared
NB
demographics

23. Altmetrics demographics for article

24. and Mendeley readers : details

25. Same article on Mendeley

26. More about

27. Impressive support base
US$500,000 grant
from Sloan Foundation

28. 28
Example of an ImpactStory profile
NB Register for your own ImpactStory profile
https://impactstory.org/

29. https://impactstory.org/

30. Beyond the traditional

31. Social media ‘stats’: what do/could they offer?

Provide evidence that relevant communities are aware of a specific paper

Provide evidence that a relatively under cited paper is having a research impact

Provide evidence of public interest in…

Indicate a pathway for research to reach a wide range of audiences

Compare readership of articles across countries

Compare communities discussing articles - science communicators, researchers, policy makers, practitioner communities…
Neylon, C., (2014) Altmetrics can signal flows of information for paths in scholarly communication not yet mapped. Impact of Social Sciences. Available at: http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/impactofsocialsciences/2014/10/07/altmetrics-what-are-they-good-for/

32. Future of altmetrics?
…[these] numbers …are signals of the flow of information down paths that we haven’t mapped.
•
most exciting possibility…only just starting to explore.
•
who is using that information?
•
correlation analysis can’t tell us this, but more sophisticated approaches might
•
with that information …could design scholarly communication systems to maximise their reach, value and efficiency
Neylon, C., (2014) Altmetrics can signal flows of information for paths in scholarly communication not yet mapped. Impact of Social Sciences. Available at: http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/impactofsocialsciences/2014/10/07/altmetrics-what-are-they-good-for/

33. Open Access + Social Media = Competitive Advantage
How can open access outperform its tenacious, institutionalized competition, the traditional top-tier journals?
Perhaps through its intimate relationship with social media.
Blogging, tweeting, publicly discussing research > benefits for scientists, journals, and even society, > increased debate and transparency
Tabor, A., (2012) Open Access + Social Media = Competitive Advantage. http://tinyurl.com/pqrv4ds

34. James Balm, Social Media Assistant BioMed Central

combining research & social media to deliver a message that is accessible to everyone and make science exciting

draw significant attention to [specific] research papers
Facebook and Twitter, help bring approximately 25,000 visitors to BioMed Central research papers per month
engage / discuss important issues that affect the science community and to discuss new research, its quality and validity
*Open access and social media: helping science move forwards. Evidently Cochrane. Available at: http://tinyurl.com/pftvx5h

35. Recent Altmetrics conference in London sponsored by Wellcome Trust
Presentations and review of conference:
http://tinyurl.com/ovfjods
http://tinyurl.com/palxkqk
Worth a visit

36. ScienceDirect – “social media” featured in top 25 downloads in 2nd quarter of 2014
Users of the world, unite! The challenges and opportunities of Social Media Business Horizons, Volume 53, Issue 1, January 2010, Pages 59-68 Kaplan, Andreas M.; Haenlein, Michael
Most downloads
Social media: The new hybrid element of the promotion mix • Business Horizons, Volume 52, Issue 4, July 2009, Pages 357-365 Mangold, W. Glynn; Faulds, David J.
3rd highest downloads
Social media? Get serious! Understanding the functional building blocks of social media Business Horizons, Volume 54, Issue 3, May 2011, Pages 241-251 Kietzmann, Jan H.; Hermkens, Kristopher; McCarthy, Ian P.; Silvestre, Bruno S.
7th highest downloads

37. Social media in academia?
So what!
Why should I care?
I DON’T HAVE
TIME FOR THIS
I’LL PASS ON THIS ONE

38. Practical example of the use of social media in an academic context in order to highlight research output

39. How are Rhodes University librarians are using social media to raise research visibility?
http://www.ru.ac.za/library/

40. Putting it together

41. 
@RhodesResearch Twitter account – articles, conference papers, theses, reports of research, etc. are tweeted regularly
These are re-tweeted on subject-related Twitter accounts
which are embedded in our Subject LibGuides – increase visibility
Subject blogs – monthly posting of research (presently Science & Pharmacy) output with links to articles/papers
which Rhodes Library Facebook & Twitter then advertise

42. @RhodesResearch - Twitter account https://twitter.com/RhodesResearch
Initiated as an experiment
in May 2013: with sole purpose of promoting Rhodes research output

43. Alerts to Rhodes- affiliated research:
Other sources:
How is Rhodes research information sourced by librarians?

Web of Science

Scopus

EBSCOhost

Sabinet

ResearchGate

SAePublications

Academic department websites & researchers

Rhodes University webpage

Media

Word of mouth

GoogleScholar author alerts

44. Article on publisher’s site
Use the DOI in the Twitter link to the article

45. Publisher’s website : “Share” options
Sharing is facilitated by the fact that more and more publishers are including ‘share’ options at article-level – makes it so much easier

46. Say it with a #hashtag! Make your Tweets more visible
.
Albany Museum
#AlbanyMuseum
Biochemistry
#RUBiochem
Biotech Innovation Centre (RUBIC)
#RUBiotech
Botany
#RUBotany
Chem
#RUChem
ComSci
#RUComSci
EBRU
#RUEBRU
Env Sci
#RUEnvSci
Geography
#RUGeography
Geology
#RUGeology
HKE
#RUHKE
IWR
#RUIWR
Maths
#RUMaths
Pharmacy
#RUPharm
Physics
#RUPhysics
Stats
#RUStats
Zoo
#RUZoo
#RUIWR- example of standardised hashtag for academic departments
#tags for RU Science Depts

47. @RUBiochemnews Twitter account follows @RhodesResearch
Retweets from @RhodesResearch

48. @RULPharmNews Twitter account follows @RhodesResearch
@RULPharmNews ‘Follows’ @RhodesResearch and re-tweets relevant articles, thus providing extra exposure to RU pharmacy research

49. Embedded ‘tweets’ in the Pharmacy Subject Guide
Tweets appear automatically in the embedded @RULPharmNews twitter account on LibGuide

50. Blog: monthly list of Rhodes Science Pharmacy research
http://rulscipharm.blogspot.com/

51. Rhodes Library Facebook page: Advertising RhodesResearch

52. Rhodes Library Twitter site: Advertising Rhodes Research

53. Interest in @RhodesResearch

289 followers ( as at 5 November 2014)

Rhodes students

About 20 Rhodes academics & support staff

Professional & Research organisations

Publishers / journal editors

Journalists / media organisations

Academic librarians (non-Rhodes)

Individuals (other than Rhodes students & staff)

54. @RhodesResearch followers: Research & other organisations
No of followers

@EzemveloScience KZN wildlife (572)

@HSP_70 Scientific Resource (18)

@CSIR Council Science SA (2710)

@ASSAf_Official (179)

@SAPECS_TWEETS social-ecological systems (48)

@FormularyIE Irish Medicines (598)

@OWSD_SAWomen in Science (75)

@ISSF sustainable tuna fishing (4620)

@GreenMatterZA environmental (347)

@GreenLeagueZA environmental (118)

@SAStats (4458)
Potential reach

55. @RhodesResearch followers: Research & other organisations
No. of followers

@Research Africa Research funding (439)

@SAYAS_SA Young Academy of Science (139)

@ASSAf_Official Academy of Science SA (179)

@ACEP_ZA Coelacanth programme (256)

@agingandsociety US aging research (173)

@NHLSBRC Bio-Resource Center (3)

@ELIDZSTP1R&D facilities (26)

@eoth_moz community-based conservation (592)

@EiffelCorpSA educational technology (17)

@prospectpredict business development USA (635)

@DorringtonResGr microbiologists (20)

@SASBi_Bioinf Society for Bioinformatics (132)

56. @RhodesResearch followers: Publishers, journal editors, media
No of followers

@SasjaSA SA Science Journalists' Association (475)

@Rhodes_JMS Rhodes School of Journalism (586)

@Ecquid_Novi African Journalism Studies (145)

@TheJournalistSA Context & history for key issues (454)

@alphagalileo breaking research news - London (2656)

@Awesomelastus journalist – Zambia (637)

@struandouglas freelance journalist (82)

@MakanaEdutouris promotes travel for learning (167)

@SciBraai features: SA research-technology-innovation (659)

@hwasser Prof of Media Studies – UCT (2094)

57. @RhodesResearch followers: Publishers, journal editors, media No of followers

@cdnsciencepub scientific & technical journals (2562)

@CG_Publishing academic publishers – Illinois, USA (99)

@SAJS_Official SA Journal of Science (108)

@sarahemilywild Science editor, Mail & Guardian (2592)

@Steven_Lang journalist (260)

Dalton Transactions Royal Soc Chem journal (2270)

@Grocotts local newspaper (2180)

@mishsolomon freelance journalist – Johannesburg (3817)

@scientist_kenni Science Communicator – Cape Town (327)

58. @RhodesResearch followers: Individuals – a selection
No of followers

@Anneke1976 Programme Dir. Amsterdam Fringe Festival (925)

@brocksaglio Canadian academic (Geography) (205)

@pat_loria Academic library director (359)

@RickMavrovich Global Executive Strategist (2920)

@CazV7776 social worker (94)

@JustinBlakeZA marine biologist (291)

@kveerubhotla Pharmacist – India (14)

@Morgs_John Scientist – Cape Town (39)

@SarahGoodier open access proponent - UCT (784)

@CarolineDean academic librarian – UCT (96)

@gsulc UCT academic & education writer (220)

@schwarzwild1 communications specialist – Germany (119)

@BonnieAgea researcher, writer, commentator – Tanzania (180)

26 Rhodes University academics / support staff

59. From research alert to the world!
“The retweet is one of the most commonly used tools on Twitter, and is a great way to pass on interesting tweets that you have read [to] your followers.”

60. Twitonomy site: retweets from @RhodesResearch
http://twitonomy.com/

61. Twitter Analytics of Followers
https://analytics.twitter.com/about

62. Reaction from Rhodes University community

Polite interest

Mild interest

Total disinterest

Faint enthusiasm

Scepticism

Implied ridicule

Thanks for doing this

Retweeting of tweets

Research items for tweeting

Interest in using for Department

63. What to do? This called for some….

64. which resulted in some interesting responses from academics…..

65. Alerting researchers to the use of Twitter to highlight their research
From: Eileen Shepherd [mailto:e.shepherd@ru.ac.za] Sent: 11 September 2014 11:16 AM
To: ……………………………………… Subject: Crisis! What Crisis? The Multiple Dimensions of the Zimbabwean Crisis
Hi ………………..
Thought you might like to see your article is featured on @RhodesResearch https://twitter.com/RhodesResearch
regards
Eileen

66. Response from this historian From: ……………………………………. Sent: 11 September 2014 11:20 AM To: 'Eileen Shepherd' Subject: RE: Crisis! What Crisis? The Multiple Dimensions of the Zimbabwean Crisis
Wow, thank you. Very innovative of you guys. Keep it up.
From: Eileen Shepherd [mailto:e.shepherd@ru.ac.za] Sent: 11 September 2014 11:16 AM To:……………………….. Subject: Crisis! What Crisis? The Multiple Dimensions of the Zimbabwean Crisis
Hi …………………….
Thought you might like to see your article is featured on @RhodesResearch https://twitter.com/RhodesResearch
Regards
Eileen

67. Another example, with response: a more reserved chemist, time!
From: ………………….
Sent: 28 August 2014 04:59 PM
To: Eileen Shepherd
Subject: Re: MRSA pyruvate kinase inhibitory activity of synthetically derived thiazole containing deoxytopsentin analogues
Thanks so much Eileen, this is quite exciting!
Kind Regards,
………………
On Thu, 2014-08-28 at 11:57 +0200, Eileen Shepherd wrote:
> Hi ……………………. >
> Thought you might like to know your article is featured on
> @RhodesResearch https://twitter.com/RhodesResearch
>

68. Some reflections regarding @RhodesResearch experiment

Is it worth continuing?
Yes
Enhanced engagement with research & researchers
Time-consuming

An added dimension to job responsibilities
But interesting
And stimulating
Provided an opportunity to engage with developing field of altmetrics

69. References
Balm, J., 2014. Open access and social media: helping science move forward. Evidently Cochrane. http://www.evidentlycochrane.net/open-access-social-media-can-help-science-move-forwards/
Gunasekaran, S. & Arunachalam, S., 2014. The impact factors of open access and subscription journals across fields. Current Science, 107(3), pp.380–388. http://www.currentscience.ac.in/Volumes/107/03/0380.pdf
Hitchcock, T., 2014. Twitter and blogs are not add-ons to academic research, but a simple reflection of the passion that underpins it. Impact of Social Sciences. http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/impactofsocialsciences/2014/07/28/twitter-and-blogs-academic-public-sphere/
Konkiel, S.P., 2014. The Imperative for Open Altmetrics. Journal of Electronic Publishing, 17(3). Available at: http://hdl.handle.net/2027/spo.3336451.0017.301
Macpherson, E., 2014. Four things policy-makers need to know about social media data and real time analytics. Impact of Social Sciences. http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/impactofsocialsciences/2014/08/01/four- things-on-social-media-data-for-policymakers/
Neylon, C., 2014. Altmetrics: What are they good for? | PLOS Opens. http://blogs.plos.org/opens/2014/10/03/altmetrics-what-are-they-good-for/
Tabor, A. 2012. Open Access + Social Media = Competitive Advantage. https://www.mysciencework.com/news/6350/open-access-social-media-competitive-advantage
Wing, K., 2014. Scientists across disciplines must get to a better agreement on social media metrics. Impact of Social Sciences. http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/impactofsocialsciences/2014/09/29/what-are-scientists- doing-on-twitter/
Woolman, J. 2014. Social media outcomes in academia: engage with your audience and they will engage with you. Impact of Social Sciences. http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/impactofsocialsciences/2014/09/24/social-media-outcomes-academia/

70. Thank you for listening! Please Follow @RhodesResearch
Hot off the press – now contains
postgrad presentations

71. I will try to answer any questions you may have but would also be interested to hear your reactions and comments. What do you think of this idea? Feel free to contact me (until 15 December 2014) e.shepherd@ru.ac.za