Making an impact with research is an important part of academic life, whether this is within academia or outside. It's important to think widely about all the potential impacts a piece of research has made and not focus to narrowly. In academia, impact is commonly measured using metrics but there are dangers to relying too heavily on numbers alone. The resources in this section cover all you need to know about common methods of assessment and impact as well as an introduction to the responsible metrics movement.
The University of Cambridge has signed DORA (San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment) and supports the responsible use of metrics in research assessment. You can read more about the University position on this webpage.
From bibliometrics to Altmetrics - the world of academic metrics can be confusing. There are many established measures of academic success but what are they really measuring and what do they actually mean? The resources in this section will introduce the essentials of academic metrics, how they are calculated and how they are used.
The Responsible Metrics movement has developed over the past decade to address some of the growing concerns around an overreliance on metrics. It does not call for researchers to stop using metrics entirely but advocates that they are used as part of a wider toolkit of measures and not as a proxy for research/er quality. The resources in this section outline the development of the Responsible Metrics movement and detail how researchers can position themselves and their work in the best place to take advantage of a broader metrics landscape.
