Altmetrics as an Answer to the Need for Democratization of Research and Its Evaluation

Abstract

In the evaluation of research, the same unequal structure present in the production of research is reproduced. Despite a few very productive researchers (in terms of papers and citations received), there are also few researchers who are involved in the research evaluation process (in terms of being editorial board members of journals or reviewers). To produce a high number of papers and receive many citations and to be involved in the evaluation of research papers, you need to be in the minority of giants who have high productivity and more scientific success. As editorial board members and reviewers, we often find the same minority of giants. In this paper, we apply an economic approach to interpret recent trends in research evaluation and derive a new interpretation of Altmetrics as a response to the need for democratization of research and its evaluation. In this context, the majority of pygmies can participate in evaluation with Altmetrics, whose use is more democratic, that is, much wider and open to all.