7 May 2020
Research Square has formed a partnership with Dimensions to provide early citation data on preprints. The Dimensions Badge will now display on all Research Square preprints that have been cited and will provide four different types of data: the total citations, most recent citations, Field Citation Ratio (FCR), and Relative Citation Ratio (RCR).
Dimensions is a research information platform designed to give researchers a broad view of the research process. The Dimensions Badge is a data visualisation tool that allows authors to demonstrate the impact of their preprint via detailed citation metrics that are displayed directly on their public preprint page. By viewing these metrics, readers of preprints and the research community as a whole can gain a better understanding of a preprint’s influence within a specific research field as well as across disciplines.
Amye Kenall, VP of Publishing and Product at Research Square, describes the importance of providing citation data for preprints, “Accurate and comprehensive metrics are critical for establishing preprints as legitimate objects within the research ecosystem. As more and more papers are stopping at the preprint stage (never proceeding to formal publication), it is important that these papers are also included in the linked scholarly information dataset. Including Dimensions Badges on the Research Square platform helps to accomplish this.”
Research Square provides other usage data for preprints, such as the number of times a preprint has been viewed, downloaded, and commented on. In addition to the Dimensions Badge, an Altmetric Badge is displayed on Research Square preprints and provides detailed information on the overall attention a preprint has received across a range of websites including news pages, blogs, Twitter, Facebook, and Reddit.