Libraly Journal

Libraly Journal ›› 2021, Vol. 40 ›› Issue (11): 14-21.

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A Review of Context Information and Application of Mendeley#br# Readership Altmetrics

Yu Houqiang (School of Information Management, Sun Yat-sen University)Cao Xueting (Jiangsu Broadcasting Corporation)   

  • Online:2021-11-15 Published:2021-11-29
  • About author:Yu Houqiang (School of Information Management, Sun Yat-sen University)Cao Xueting (Jiangsu Broadcasting Corporation)

Abstract: Mendeley altmetrics is so far the most robust altmetrics indicator. The context information and application research constitute the two main directions of in-depth study of this indicator. This paper aims to clarify the characteristics of the indicator by reviewing the relevant literature so as to provide reference for further research and application. In summary, source data of Mendeley altmetrics have provided abundant context information, helping better understand the communication process and impact audience of scholarly papers. Mendeley altmetrics could take lesson from the mature experience of normalization of citation indicators, to get rid of the influence of country, discipline and time etc.. Meanwhile, Mendeley altmetrics
is unique in that normalization could be conducted aiming at specific target group. Mendeley altmetrics has been well used in scientific evaluation under various circumstances, intelligent recommendation of related literature and scholars, as well as tracking and mining of knowledge f low and structure. However, the indicator also has limitation in that users are disproportionately distributed and data is not open enough.
In practices both the advantages and limitations should be taken into consideration.