On Lampposts, Sneetches, and Stars: A Call to Go Beyond Bibliometrics for Determining Academic Value

Academic scholarship is something that we have always sought to quantify. Journal impact factor, CiteScore, h-index, hi-10, and the alternative metrics (Altmetrics) are terms that are familiar to seasoned academics. Junior scholars are often advise to use bibliometric and publication metrics to decide where to send their work. Whether we are talking about journal-level, article-level, or person-level metrics, these are all human constructs that have arisen as ways to quantify the reach and impact of our academic work.