Get support with research impact

How visible is your research really? And does the world see the same research contribution that you see yourself?

These questions are becoming increasingly relevant for researchers, research groups, and leadership when research needs to be documented, evaluated, and applied in new contexts. Publications, citations, h-index/FWCI, journal rankings, online mentions, and research profiles are not the whole story of the value of research. But they are often the first impression others encounter.

At the University of Southern Denmark Library, the Research Analytics team helps researchers and research environments gain an overview of their research visibility and the data that underpin it.

“Researchers should take an interest in their visibility for three main reasons. First, funding. Second, career development—not only in Denmark, but especially if you are considering opportunities at universities abroad. The third reason is societal impact, which in many ways loops back to the first two,”

— says Thea Marie Drachen, research librarian in the library's Department for Research Documentation.

Small mistakes can have significant consequences

There are several steps researchers can take to ensure that their work is accurately represented and visible where it is discovered and evaluated. Much of the work involves practical details:

“The challenges typically concern whether a researcher’s publications are correctly registered. Is ORCID connected to the relevant profiles? Are there duplicate Scopus or Web of Science profiles? Are publications missing from Pure? And is the researcher correctly affiliated with SDU?”
— Thea Marie Drachen, Research Librarian, Department of Research Documentation.

These issues may sound technical, but the consequences are very real. Missing publications, fragmented researcher profiles or incorrect affiliations can make a researcher’s visibility and impact appear quite different from reality.

In addition to carrying out analyses, the library advises researchers on how to interpret individual researcher profiles and provides broader analyses that can support research groups, departments and organisational units. 

More than bibliometrics

Research impact is often associated with bibliometrics: publication counts, citations and journal indicators. However, the picture is much broader.

The Research Analytics team works with a wide range of data sources and tools, including Pure, Scopus, SciVal, Web of Science, OpenAlex, Google Scholar, Dimensions and Altmetric.

Together, these platforms can provide valuable insights into how research is published, cited, shared, discussed and discovered. Yet the numbers always require expert interpretation. Databases cover disciplines differently, and indicators do not carry the same meaning across medicine, social sciences, humanities, natural sciences and engineering.

“If your research is not well indexed in Scopus or Web of Science, it is particularly important to claim your profile in Google Scholar. In practice, this means creating and maintaining a Scholar profile that can correctly identify and connect you with your publications, making your research both discoverable and measurable. It is equally important to keep your Pure profile up to date, as it can serve as a validation of your Scholar profile,” — says Thea Marie Drachen.

She emphasises that the service is not simply about finding numbers, but about understanding what those numbers can - and cannot - be used for.

Bibliometric indicators and citation analyses remain important tools, but they represent only part of the overall picture of research quality, value and impact.

“The university has signed the CoARA agreement and is therefore working towards broader approaches to research assessment that extend beyond citation-based indicators alone,” — says Anne Thorst Melbye, Head of the Department of Research Documentation. 

Getting started

A good first step is to ensure that your researcher profiles and Pure records are up to date. This makes it easier for databases, search engines and analytics tools to find your research and correctly connect it to you.

Get support

As a researcher, you can receive support through an individual Research Footprint review, where the library assesses your research visibility across profiles and databases. Research groups and organisational units can also request tailored analyses on topics such as citations, Open Access and collaboration patterns. 

The team also provides presentations, consultancy and practical support when researchers or research environments need data for grant applications, evaluations, strategic planning or internal documentation. 

You can contact the Research Analysis team at RA-support@bib.sdu.dk.