Can we use altmetrics at the institutional level? A case study analysing the coverage by research areas of four Spanish universities

Abstract

This paper aims at exploring the coverage of the Altmetric.com database and its potential use in order to show universities’ research profiles in relationship with other databases. Specifically, our objectives are the following:

1. Analyse the coverage of Altmetric.com at the institutional level and verify its validity as a data source for obtaining alternative metrics derived from the research activity of universities in comparison with those from the Web of Science. For this, we will work with a small sample of four Spanish universities with different characteristics.

2. Analyse coverage differences when obtaining bibliometric profiles from Altmetric.com and Web of Science. In some studies a higher coverage of the Social Sciences and Humanities has been reported, suggesting the potential of altmetric indicators in these areas (Costas, Zahedi, & Wouters, 2015b).