New Feature Allows Research Impact to be Assessed at a Glance

IPSWICH, Mass.— June 5, 2014—Plum™ Analytics, an EBSCO company, introduces a new way to visualize research impact. The Plum Print will take the data available in Plum Analytics’ product PlumX™ and visually illustrate the impact of a given artifact – an article, presentation, or other types of research, making it easy to see valuable information in one place.

The Plum Print is comprised of five circles representing each of the five categories of metrics that are tracked in PlumX: Usage, Captures, Mentions, Social Media and Citations. The size of each circle corresponds to the number of metrics in that category, allowing users to quickly visualize the relative number of metrics or see if a particular category has any metrics. More detailed information about the metrics in each category is available simply by moving the mouse over the Plum Print.

Plum Analytics President Andrea Michalek says that the Plum Print helps turn a vast amount of metrics into meaningful information. “Our goal is to gather metrics and to present them in a way that makes it easier to understand the complex set of data. By using data visualization tools like the Plum Print, it is easier to navigate the data sets and the impact is easier to grasp.”

In addition to adding the Plum Print, the PlumX artifact page has been updated to make it easier to gauge impact. The metrics PlumX collects are presented in a variety of ways including data visualizations, such as the sunburst that is used to visualize a specific researcher’s output, dashboards and widgets.

Plum Analytics is the only company synthesizing this metrics data for custom analysis for each institution and for publishers. For more information about PlumX and Plum Analytics, please visit: http://www.plumanalytics.com/

About Plum™ Analytics
Plum Analytics is a pioneer in the field of altmetrics, revealing research interest and usage beyond traditional measures. The company helps individuals and organizations that use, fund, support, perform, publish or analyze research obtain a broad-spectrum view of interest and usage in research through both immediate and historical perspectives. Plum Analytics gathers metrics about research from dozens of scholarly sources, media channels and social media tools, and categorizes them into Usage, Captures, Mentions, Social Media and Citations. The complete PlumX Suite of five products delivers research output information based on the unique needs of each type of PlumX user. To learn more, visit http://www.plumanalytics.com.

About EBSCO Information Services
EBSCO Information Services (EBSCO) is the leading discovery service provider for libraries worldwide with more than 8,000 discovery customers in over 100 countries. EBSCO Discovery Service™ (EDS) provides each institution with a comprehensive, single search box for its entire collection, offering unparalleled relevance ranking quality and extensive customization. EBSCO is also the preeminent provider of online research content for libraries, including hundreds of research databases, historical archives, point-of-care medical reference, and corporate learning tools serving millions of end users at tens of thousands of institutions. EBSCO is the leading provider of electronic journals & books for libraries, with subscription management for more than 360,000 serials, including more than 57,000 e-journals, as well as online access to more than 700,000 e-books. For more information, visit the EBSCO website at: www.ebsco.com. EBSCO Information Services is a division of EBSCO Industries Inc., a family owned company since 1944.

For more information, please contact:

Kathleen McEvoy
Vice President of Communications
(800) 653-2726 ext. 2594
kmcevoy@ebsco.com