Extramural Research Impact: Top Articles by Altmetric Score

Altmetrics are data that are complementary to traditional, citation-based metrics and are an emerging measure of research outcomes. These data give insight into the extent that the general public is influenced by, exposed to, promotes, and engages with research online, in the media and beyond. Examples of altmetrics include the number of times a journal article is discussed in online research forums, blogs and social media sites like Twitter, as well as mainstream media coverage.

Below are altmetrics data from altmetric.comexternal icon on peer-reviewed journal articles, resulting from NIOSH-funded extramural research between FY2007 and FY2019. These are the top 25 publications with the highest altmetric scoresexternal icon out of 5,937 extramural publications. These articles rank in the top 5% of more than 15.5 million research publications scored by altmetric.com.

The altmetric attention scores below are intended to be at-a-glance indicators of the volume of attention that these articles have received. However, to truly understand the data, it’s important not only to consider the numbers, but also to look at the associated qualitative information. This often shows where the research is being cited, discussed and used.