The Alternative Impact Factor
Could online activity assessments of academic papers be a viable alternative to impact factor or h-index?
How the data were collected and the process used to collate the Top 100 can be found on the company’s blog (1), but a quick scan of the list reveals a number of articles that (in some cases intentionally) attract a certain kind of attention – not necessarily the right kind. Is online response predominantly driven by toilet humor? Perhaps. Evidently, the system is in its infancy, with room for improvement.
Despite potential drawbacks, it was both pleasing and surprising to find two entries that represent the analytical sciences – testimony to the wide reaching impact of our field on society.
#36: Towards practical, high-capacity, low-maintenance information storage in synthesized DNA (2)
What? Computer files totalling 739 kilobytes of hard-disk storage was converted into DNA code, which was then synthesized.
Result? The synthesized DNA was sequenced and the original computer files reconstructed with 100% accuracy.
Featured in The Analytical Scientist: www.theanalyticalscientist.com/issues/0413/digital-versatile-dna/
#3: Direct Imaging of Covalent Bond Structure in Single-Molecule Chemical Reactions (3)
What? Noncontact atomic force microscopy used to investigate reaction-induced changes in the internal bond structure of oligo-(phenylene-1,2-ethynylenes).
Result? Images revealed complex surface reaction mechanisms behind thermally-induced cyclization cascades of enediynes.
How important is online response to your work? Please let us know by commenting on this article – online!
- www.altmetric.com/blog/the-2013-top-100-list
- N. Goldman et al., Nature (2013) doi:10.1038/nature11875 (Altmetric rank: 36).
- Dimas G. de Oteyza et al., Science, 340 (6139), 1434-1437 (2013) (Altmetric rank: 3).
Rich Whitworth completed his studies in medical biochemistry at the University of Leicester, UK, in 1998. To cut a long story short, he escaped to Tokyo to spend five years working for the largest English language publisher in Japan. "Carving out a career in the megalopolis that is Tokyo changed my outlook forever. When seeing life through such a kaleidoscopic lens, it's hard not to get truly caught up in the moment." On returning to the UK, after a few false starts with grey, corporate publishers, Rich was snapped up by Texere Publishing, where he spearheaded the editorial development of The Analytical Scientist. "I feel honored to be part of the close-knit team that forged The Analytical Scientist – we've created a very fresh and forward-thinking publication." Rich is now also Content Director of Texere Publishing, the company behind The Analytical Scientist.
