Research Guides: Research Impact Guide: Book Metrics

Librarian

she/her/hers

Contact:

936-294-4567
eowens@shsu.edu
NGL 223D
ORCID: 0000-0001-9520-9314

I'm Creative Commons Certified! I can advise on CC licenses to reuse, remix, and publish open resources.

Subjects: OER: Open (or Free) Educational Materials, Scholarly Communication

Metrics for Books

Many traditional metrics are limited to journal articles, but there are other ways to demonstrate the impact of your book publication.

book and chapter citations (can be found through tools like Google Scholar)
adopted as a class textbook
included on 'bestseller' lists
awards and honours received
number of copies sold
editions
translations into other languages

How Many Library Hold My Book?

WorldCat (FirstSearch) This link opens in a new window Combined catalog for tens of thousands of libraries around the world. Books, journals, musical scores, computer data files, magazines, newspapers, computer programs, manuscript/archive collections, sound recordings, films/slides, maps, video.

WorldCat is essentially a combined library catalog for hundreds of thousands of libraries around the world. Search for your book in WorldCat to see how many participating libraries have added your book to their collections. You might even pull the names of a few institutions you consider meaningful or prestigious that hold your work.

Syllabi Adoptions

Open Syllabus Explorer

Report that your book has been assigned as required or optional reading in other professors' syllabi--this can show impact on education in your discipline. The Open Syllabus Project will allow you to search for your work and (if found) see the number of syllabi that reference it.
Read more: What do syllabi-based altmetrics actually mean?
Note: This project is not a comprehensive database of all university syllabi.

Book Reviews (Scholarly, Professional, Popular)

Engine Orange This link opens in a new window Find books, articles, films, and MORE with a single search, from the SHSU library catalog and a large number of selected databases.

Search for Journals at SHSU with Publication Finder
Quickly locate SHSU's access to key journals in your field, then search within the journal for reviews of your book.

Choice Reviews Online This link opens in a new window Choice: Current Reviews for Academic Libraries is the premier source for reviews of academic books, electronic media, and Internet resources of interest to those in higher education. Each year, Choice publishes thousands of reviews that are timely, authoritative, concise, and easy to use.