Measuring Research Impact

This guide provides an introduction to measure the impact of publications and authors for promotion and tenure and other purposes.

Measuring Book Impact

Measuring the impact of a book (sometimes called a monograph) is often more challenging than for an article or an author. Most citation indices focus on articles, not books. To measure the impact of a monograph, considering including:

Publisher Quality - was your book published by a professional association or highly respected press?
Number and types of libraries that own a book
Book reviews
Number of citations when available
Book sale numbers
Book awards
Translations

The following resources can help you demonstrate the impact of a book:

Book Review Digest+ (EBSCO)
Offers citations and excerpts of reviews of English language fiction and non-fiction books contained in over 100 periodicals published in the United States, Canada, and Great Britain. From 1983 to present.
Humanities International Index (EBSCO)
Indexes and abstracts thousands of internationally published works including academic journals, magazines, and books on a variety of topics in the humanities. Provides citation information for articles, essays and reviews, as well as original creative works, such as poems, fiction, photographs, paintings, and illustrations. Note: Absorbed American Humanities Index, effective December 2005.
JSTOR
Use Advanced Search. Search by author or title and limit to book reviews.
WorldCat (OCLC)
Use the "Libraries Worldwide" section of an individual book record in WorldCat to see which libraries and how many own a title.

Google Scholar
Search by author or book title to find number of citations.
Open Syllabus Explorer
Use the Open Syllabus Explorer to search for textbooks and other publications to locate course syllabi listing your work.