Altmetrics offers an alternative to the traditional ways of measuring the impact of a scholar's work. In particular, proponents of altmetrics argue that to measure a researcher's influence it is important to account for his/her work's circulation across the social Web. For example, an article may be blogged about, talked about on Twitter, make an appearance on YouTube, or be repeatedly bookmarked.
Almetric, a London--based company, published 2014 Top 100, a list of acadmic papers that garnered the most attention online, as captured by altmetrics. The company's commentary offers some explanation of the results that highlights the abilities and limits of altmetrics to capture significant scholarly trends.
Since their introduction, altmetrics have been receiving plenty of attention. The following is a list of recent articles and blog posts about altmetrics.
An Altmetrics groups on Mendeley, regularly updates a list of articles related to the subject.
The Public Library of Science (PLOS) maintains an altmetrics collection.
The Chronicle of Higher Education published a piece about altmetrics in June of 2013.
Nick Scott's critique of altmetrics on the London School of Economics and Political Science blog raises a few good points about their limitations.
To learn more about altmetrics, please visit read a manifesto that explains why traditional measurements no longer suffice to establish scholarly work's influence and impact.
The April/May 2013 issue of ASIS&T Bulletin includes special section on altmetrics. It offers a comprehensive overview of the emerging concept and its uses in academia. Similarly, the June 2013 issue of College & Research Libraries News features an overview of the concept.
SPARC has a guide to article level metrics.
An article in the 2013 April/May issue of ASIS&T Bulletin explains how altmetrics enhance a scholar's cv.
To track your own work, you may want to sign up with a number of different services that will allow you to prepare reports using altmetric data: