Even more journals display ALMs!

In 2009, PLOS became the first (and remains the only) publisher to launch an open source Article-Level Metrics (ALM) app to help other publishers implement ALM on their journals. Now we are pleased to announce that two leading organizations are implementing ALMs using the PLOS open source app.

The Public Knowledge Project (PKP, provides software used by thousands of journals and hosting services to publishers like Co-Action Publishing) and Copernicus Publications (an innovative Open Access publisher) are both launching ALM programs based on the PLOS app.

ALM’s give publishers’ critical insight into the effectiveness of their programs, including highlighting articles that generate the most activity. Other publishers that have introduced ALMs include Biomed Central, eLife, Nature Publishing Group and PeerJ, among others.

Richard Cave, Director of IT for PLOS said “naturally PLOS is particularly gratified when ALMs spread to other journals because of the open source application that we built. PLOS welcomes all publishers who display ALMs because we believe in their power to transform the way research is assessed”.

Juan Pablo Alperin, who lead the development effort for PKP said “like PLOS, we believe that measuring article impact provides a deeper level of understanding about the influence of the work published in journals using our software. We encourage those using OJS systems to sign up for the free ALM service”.

Martin Rasmussen, managing director of Copernicus Publications added “we hope that more publishers will join this initiative and consider implementing it to enable direct comparison across journals”.

PLOS would like to extend a warm ALM welcome to these new journals; we hope these readers enjoy this new dimension to their service.