Journal, author and article level metrics are undergoing change these years, and PlumX is an alternative method of counting how people are engaging with research. Moving away from traditional article citation counts, PlumX captures many other types of document exposure as well, from news mentions to likes, tweets, and Mendeley captures, all of which are indications of the level of interest in the document.
With every reference in Scopus, you will find a PlumX “flower” in the upper right hand corner. By clicking the “flower”, you open the full overview of captured metrics.
The green petal “Usage” records the immediate interest by counting clicks and views and, in the case of books, library holdings. Moving clockwise round the “flower”, next up is “Captures” which tracks any putting-aside of the document for later use by counting bookmarks and favourites. “Mentions” counts appearances in blog posts and news media, and as links in Wikipedia. “Social media” interest is captured by counting Facebook likes and shares, tweets and re-tweets, as well as Google +1. Finally, “Citations” counts mostly traditional academic citations.
This way of quantifying interest in a document is still in its infancy but you still might find it useful to explore. We will keep an eye on how it develops in the future and keep you posted.