Evaluating the impact of the scientific output of researchers using PlumX tools: A case study of the Research Institute of Forests and Rangelands

This paper aims to evaluate the impact of the scientific output of researchers of the Research Institute of Forests and Rangelands in the Scopus using PlumX.

The study is applied research in terms of the purpose and scientometrics descriptive in terms of type, which has been done using the library method and the altmetrics approach. The research population is the scientific output of the researchers of the Research Institute of Forests and Rangelands, indexed in Scopus until March 2020. Bibliographic information, citation counts, and altmetrics indicators for each article were extracted. Descriptive and analytic analysis were performed and presented in tables and figures.

81.6% of the reviewed articles have been received citations. Also, more than 90% of these publications were considered in one of the 13 functions related to the five altmetrics indicators. The Usage indicator was the highest with 61481 times and the Social Media and Mention indicator were the least. The results show a significant positive correlation between the citation and altmetrics indicators.

Conclustion:

 Researchers' activity in social media can increase the visibility of scientific outputs. So researchers can use this context as a "self-archiving" tool.