MONITOR
Monitoring helps you understand where your research is being noticed, used and engaged with, inside and outside academia. A range of tools can alert you to signals of reach, uptake and engagement. These signals do not demonstrate impact on their own, but they can help you identify where deeper impacts may be taking shape and where further evidence gathering is needed.
Societal and Economic Impact
A number of techniques can help you track how your research is being picked up beyond academia:
- Altmetrics – Track the online attention your research outputs receive, beyond academic citations.
- Repository downloads – Monitor download and viewing statistics from platforms such as ARAN, ResearchGate, Academia.edu and LinkedIn.
- Website analytics – Use tools like Google Analytics to understand traffic to project websites and identify who is accessing your research.
- Impact Tracking Templates – Plan, track and review progress towards your impact goals over time.
These approaches highlight patterns of use, engagement and visibility. While they do not capture impact itself, they can point you towards promising areas where your research may be influencing policy, practice, public debate or economic activity.
Overton Index
Overton is the world’s largest searchable database of policy documents and grey literature. It enables you to:
- Track when your publications are cited in policy documents, guidelines, reports and parliamentary materials
- Identify policymakers and organisations engaging with your work
- Explore how your research is informing decision-making
Log in using your University of Galway staff email to access the institutional subscription.
Altmetric Explorer
Altmetric Explorer gathers online attention data from thousands of sources worldwide. You can use it to understand:
- Where your work is referenced in policy and patent documents
- Which news outlets (national and international) are covering your research
- How your field is being discussed across online platforms
- Who is talking about your research and what themes are gaining traction
- Which journals generate the most online attention
Further support is available via the University of Galway Library’s Altmetrics guide.
Downloads & Online Engagement
The University of Galway Research Repository provides open access to peer-reviewed articles, conference papers, working papers, reports and other scholarly outputs produced by University of Galway researchers.
Download and viewing statistics from the Repository offer useful insights into where your work is being accessed globally and can signal emerging interest from academic, professional or public audiences.
Additional indicators of online engagement can be gathered from:
- ResearchGate
- Academia.edu
- LinkedIn and other professional platforms
These metrics can help you understand who is finding and reading your research, and where engagement is developing.
Website Analytics
If your project has a dedicated website, analytics tools can help you understand:
- Overall visitor numbers
- Geographic and sectoral audiences
- Most-viewed pages and content
- Trends in attention over time
Google Analytics is a free tool widely used for tracking and reporting website performance
Researcher Impact Framework (RIF)
Developed by Dr Giovanna Lima and Sarah Bowman (Trinity College Dublin), the Researcher Impact Framework (RIF) provides a structure for crafting audience-focused, evidence-based impact narratives. It connects your scholarly activities, reach, use and relevance data to scientific and societal outcomes.
Academic Impact
Tracking academic impact helps you understand how your research is contributing to disciplinary and interdisciplinary advances.
Bibliometrics
Citation data remains a key—though limited—indicator of academic influence. Common tools include:
- Scopus
- Web of Science
- Google Scholar (noting limitations around data quality)
Support for using these tools is available through the University of Galway Library.
SciVal
SciVal provides enhanced insights into academic impact by enabling you to:
- Visualise citation patterns and collaboration networks
- Benchmark performance relative to peers or institutions
- Identify potential research partners
- Analyse emerging research trends
- Generate customisable reports for planning or reporting
University of Galway offers access to SciVal for research staff.
A full overview of University-supported research tools is available here.
Using Metrics Responsibly
Research assessment internationally is shifting towards more qualitative, fair and context-sensitive approaches. Several key frameworks guide responsible use of metrics, including:
University of Galway is a signatory to the Coalition for Advancing Research Assessment (CoARA). The CoARA Agreement outlines 10 commitments aimed at transforming research assessment systems, strengthening quality, integrity and societal contribution.
The University’s Statement on the Responsible Use of Research Metrics affirms our commitment to transparent, fair and contextually appropriate assessment processes, and to valuing a broad range of contributions to research and society.
Training opportunities
At University of Galway, we offer various workshops and seminars:
Our Research Impact Seminar Series is an opportunity to hear from national and international research impact experts who will share and discuss best practices around the world on impact related topics.
To find out about other workshops and seminars, please visit our SharePoint site.
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Explore our toolkit to learn how to Plan, Capture, Communicate and Monitor your impact.
Please improve this toolkit by sharing tools and other resources you find useful: email Áine Mhic Thaidhg, Research Impact Officer.
The development of this toolkit was led by UCD, with funding from the HEA, and members of a Research Impact Working Group. Further information available here.