Impact Revisited: Citation Impact versus Usage Impact

Abstract

This presentation compares traditional citation-based impact metrics with usage-based impact metrics, emphasizing their relevance in the Open Access context. It discusses the limitations of classical measures like the Journal Impact Factor (JIF) and Hirsch Index, particularly regarding their scope and biases. The talk introduces usage-based metrics as a promising alternative, detailing their advantages in live measurement and relevance to individual documents. Insights into projects like Open Access Statistics (OAS) demonstrate the feasibility of implementing interoperable and standardized usage metrics to complement traditional evaluation methods in scholarly communication.