Abstract
Purpose :
Several approaches exist for defining impact and influence in academic research, yet the lack of standardization makes it difficult to accurately assess, quantify, and differentiate influential research. This scoping review identified the most frequently used metrics to evaluate research impact in ophthalmology.
Methods :
The review followed the updated Joanna Briggs Institute (JBI) framework and the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses extension for Scoping Reviews (PRISMA-ScR). We conducted a comprehensive search spanning 1955 to 2023 within CENTRAL, EconLit, Embase, MEDLINE, and Web of Sciences databases. Included studies were written in the English-language and employed at least one metric to evaluate impact across article-, author-, institutional-, or journal-levels within ophthalmology. Excluded studies were editorials and articles not published in ophthalmology journals, authored by ophthalmologists, or affiliated with an ophthalmology department. We extracted research metrics, definitions, formulas, and application levels of ophthalmic research using Covidence.
Results :
From the 1100 studies retrieved, we included 77 in the analysis (Table 1). The top four metrics for impact in ophthalmic research were citation count (29%), publication count (22%), impact factor (16%), and Hirsch’s index (h-index, 14%). The remaining metrics were altmetric attention score, relative research interest, q category, article influence score, eigenfactor, immediacy index, funding, c-score, collaboration, growth rate, mean rcr, weighted rcr, citation per year, citations per item, scimago, schreiber co-authorship adjusted index, and immediacy index (Table 2). The research metrics most assessed impact at the article- (27%) and the journal-levels (23%).
Conclusions :
In ophthalmic research, citation count, publication count, impact factor and h-index were the predominant metrics used to evaluate impact and influence, often measured at the article-level. Few metrics reflected the evolving landscape of information retrieval and communication; adding download counts or views to future publications would more comprehensively assess contributions to ophthalmic research.
This abstract was presented at the 2024 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in Seattle, WA, May 5-9, 2024.