Attention sources tracked by Altmetric

Edited

Our mission is to track the conversations around research outputs online wherever they're happening. To that end we're constantly looking for new sources of data.

Specifically what we're looking for are sources that regularly link to scholarly content, though in some cases like news outlets and policy documents we're also able to perform text mining to try to match research mentioned (but not linked to) with published scholarly articles.

Attention sources

Altmetric currently tracks the following attention sources for mentions of research outputs. Where possible we surface the original text of each mention, and in some cases are also able to provide demographic data on the author of the mention. It's crucial to us that all of our data is fully auditable, and that you can see not only how many people are talking about the research, but who they are and what they're saying.

Mainstream media

You can check out the news sources page on the Altmetric website for the latest list of news sources that we track. This list currently extends to over 14,000 English and non-English global news outlets.

Blogs

We maintain a manually curated list of over 16,000 academic and non-academic blogs. These are tracked automatically via RSS feeds. More information about blogs can be found here.

Podcasts

Altmetric tracks mentions of research outputs in podcast episode descriptions and content:encoded metatags. We track a curated list of podcasts covering various subjects, via their RSS feed. By adding podcasts, we help you track attention across more sources, plan and manage research impact, report on engagement to funders and leadership, and showcase your publication's broad reach.

Seminars

Altmetric tracks mentions of research outputs referenced in seminars, through a partnership with Cassyni. We track the written references list of each seminar, not the audio, video or transcript content. Seminars are also indexed as research outputs, each with its own DOI.

Social media

  • X (public posts, quotes and reposts only, no favourites)

  • Bluesky (public posts and reposts only)

  • Facebook (posts on a curated list of public Pages only, no individual profiles, no groups and no likes)

  • Reddit (posts and comments)

  • Historical data: Google+ - We can no longer pick up mentions from Google+, but you will still see historical mentions on details pages.

  • Historical data: Pinterest - We can no longer pick up mentions from Pinterest, but you will still see historical mentions on details pages.

  • Historical data: LinkedIn groups - LinkedIn have now unfortunately closed their data stream so we are unable to pick up new mentions from this source. You will still see mentions made before the stream was closed.

  • Historical data: Sina Weibo - Policies now prevent us from retrieving data.

Policy documents

We track a wide range of public policy documents for mentions. We define policy documents as any policy, guidance, or guidelines document from a governmental or non-governmental organisation.

Clinical Guidelines

Clinical guidelines are documents that offer recommendations for clinicians and healthcare practitioners on how to manage and treat specific medical conditions or support decision-making in patient care.

Patent citations

We track patent citations from nine jurisdictions around the world. Patents are a type of intellectual property that are held by either an inventor or a holder.

Peer-review forums

  • Peer Reviews (Publons)

  • Historical data: PubPeer - We no longer pick up reviews from PubPeer but you will still see the historical mentions on details pages.

Online reference managers

Other online sources

Coverage dates

Please refer to the article Attention Sources coverage dates to learn more about the coverage dates for each source.