About Artifacts

Research Output (aka Artifacts)

When talking to a new customer during the implementation process, one of the very first questions we ask is, “What do you consider to be research output?” Of course, PlumX gathers robust research metrics around scholarly journal articles, but research output is so much more.

Researchers have many forms of output depending on their field of study. For example, books and book chapters might be their primary output. They might present results at a conference, and share their slides.  They might share underlying data that relates to their research. They might blog about their research, talking about negative results or what information did not make it into their published journal articles.  

We strive to gather research metrics around all of these types of research output we call artifacts. Artifacts are any research output that is available online.

Working in conjunction with our customers, we have defined 67 different types of artifacts that we gather metrics about, including:

  • abstracts
  • articles
  • audio files
  • bibliographies
  • blogs
  • blog posts
  • books
  • book chapters
  • brochures/pamphlets
  • cases
  • catalogues
  • clinical trials
  • code/software
  • collections
  • commentaries
  • conference papers
  • corrections
  • data sets
  • designs/architectural plans
  • editorials
  • exhibitions/events
  • expert opinions
  • file sets
  • figures
  • government documents
  • grants
  • guidelines
  • images
  • interviews
  • issues
  • journals
  • learning objects
  • lectures/presentations
  • letters
  • live performances
  • manuscripts
  • maps
  • media files
  • musical scores
  • newsletters
  • news
  • online courses
  • papers
  • patents
  • policy
  • posters
  • preprints
  • press releases
  • projects
  • recorded works
  • reference entries/works
  • reports
  • research proposals
  • reviews
  • retractions
  • speeches
  • standards
  • syllabi
  • technical documentation
  • textual works
  • theses/dissertations
  • videos
  • visual arts
  • volumes
  • web pages
  • web resources
  • other

Below is a chart that shows how different PlumX customers categorize their research output.

PlumX tracks 67 different types of research output