PlumX Leverages DSpace Communities for Simple Integration

The integration between PlumX and DSpace makes it simple for DSpace customers to get started quickly to have PlumX metrics, dashboards and analytic reports.

When we work with new customers to implement PlumX we always start with the best place for them. One good example is their Institutional Repository. When a customer has already gathered their research output into an IR we work with them to create the best integration for both initial setup and ongoing maintenance.

DSpace offers a function known as communities that allows users to divide their research into groups and hierarchies. These communities usually reflect their institution, for example, schools and departments. PlumX mirrors the communities to automatically create PlumX research impact dashboards for each DSpace community.

Below is an example from Tomas Bata University in Zlin in the Czech Republic. In their DSpace implementation they have four top communities, each with several communities underneath in the hierarchy. You can see this in the picture below.

image

In PlumX, the top four communities are mirrored.

image

When you click on any of these in PlumX you drill down to the next level in the community hierarchy.

image

For each level you have all of the features and functions of a PlumX Dashboard, including:

  • List of research output or artifacts
  • Table of metrics for all artifacts
  • Analytic reports
  • Ability to export the data
  • Data filters

Once the community and hierarchies are mirrored in PlumX, PlumX uses the OAI protocol for metadata harvesting to get all of the articles and other research output from the DSpace repository. Then, PlumX gathers the metrics and creates the reports. The research output does not need a DOI in order for PlumX to find metrics.

Once the metrics are gathered you can embed the PlumX metrics widget into the DSpace repository. Some PlumX customers have reported that by providing all of these metrics within the IR, authors have seen a benefit to depositing their research because they can go back to the IR to see the reach and impact of their work. We call this the “carrot” approach to IR compliance. We wrote a paper about it that you can access from this blog post.

Below is an example of an article in the University of Manitoba DSpace repository. At the bottom of this article, you can see PlumX metrics in one of the available widgets (there are several).

image

A closer look at the PlumX metrics:

image

Notice that you can see metrics for different versions of the article, not just the one in the DSpace repository.

From DSpace you can link to the record in PlumX where you have access to more features such as transparent detail behind the metric numbers and the list of tweets and blog posts about the article or artifact.

image

 

We love working with customers and their institutional repositories. We have implemented a variety of IRs including:

  • DSpace
  • Fedora
  • ePrints
  • bepress Digital Commons and Selected Works
  • Custom IRs

We work closely with all of our new customers and are constantly learning new things that add to our repertoire of tools for IR integration.

Starting with the IR is an easy way to get started with modern metrics and can provide an incentive for your researchers to deposit research.