Academia.edu Adds Analytics Dashboard
- By Mike Hohenbrink
- 08/16/12
Research sharing platform Academia.edu is adding an analytics dashboard in order to allow measurement of the reach of academic papers shared on the site.
The new dashboard enables researchers to see who is accessing their research and how it is being referenced, both by academics and by non-academics. This information becomes invaluable when academics need to defend the merit of new research by noting, for example, that an individual’s research is being cited in Congressional hearings, public interest press releases, journal articles and news briefs.
The dashboard is now fully available for members after previously being available in a beta form.
Metrics available for members to browse include:
- Total profile and research views for each member’s material;
- Information on which search engines have driven traffic to a profile page;
- Details on specific keywords that drive traffic; and
- Breakdowns on which countries’ citizens are viewing specific research.
"Every innovation in the history of medicine and technology has its roots in a scientific paper. If we want the world to move faster, we need to accelerate science, particularly the sharing of scientific research," said Richard Price, founder and chief executive officer, Academia.edu. "The challenge that academics face today is that they aren’t able to measure their influence on the web and derive professional credit from that influence. With the Analytics Dashboard, we’re giving them the tools to measure the reach of their research on the web and incentivizing them to share their work online."
Academia.edu, which is based in San Francisco, CA, has 1.7 million members per its Web site who have contributed roughly 1.5 million papers. The site was launched in 2008 and currently draws 3.9 million unique views per month, according to the company. The platform’s purpose is to facilitate research by encouraging faster peer review, allowing researchers to discover related research, and to facilitate peer interaction within the academic community.
Additional information about the Academia.edu platform can be found at www.Academia.edu.