Research Evaluation

Researchers are increasingly required to report on the impact of their work in evaluating the quality of research. Bibliometric databases such as Scopus and Web of Science play a crucial role in this process by providing quantitative data and metrics that assess the impact and influence of scholarly publications.

Scopus and Web of Science are global bibliometrics data sources, search platforms, and abstract and citation analysis tools widely used by ranking agencies like Times Higher Education (THE), World University Ranking, Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) rankings, Shanghai Ranking's Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU), and other systems.

Measure your Research Impact

Tools to Track and Showcase Research Performance

These bibliometrics tools produce reports on author profiles, Journal impact factors and quartiles, article-level metrics such as usage (citation counts, downloads, HTML views, abstract views), captures (bookmarks), mentions (blog posts, e-comments, Wikipedia references), social media attention, author-level metrics and altmetrics. In the NRF rating applications, promotion and tenure, researchers, institutions, and funding agencies use these bibliometric databases to measure impact and compare performance, identify collaboration, assess productivity, support funding decisions, and enhance visibility.

Training Material

Altmetrics (Alternative metrics)

Altmetric Explorer is a web-based tool that tracks, monitors, and analyses scholarly research outputs' online attention and impact. This tool is designed to help researchers, institutions, publishers, and funders understand and visualise the broader impact of research beyond traditional academic citations.

Training Material

Connect your NWU Profiles to ORCID

The NWU Repositories (Boloka and DaYta Ya Rona) provide research profiles for researchers. These profiles typically include information about the researcher's publications, datasets, and sometimes other scholarly outputs. These profiles help increase the visibility and discoverability of a researcher's work within the academic community and beyond.

To complement and unify these institutional profiles, ORCID serves as a central, one-stop research identity tool that links and integrates with various platforms, including institutional repositories like NWU's, as well as external databases. Through ORCID, researchers can connect their publications, supervised research, and research data across multiple systems, ensuring consistent attribution and broader visibility.

Systems and Tools