A Comparison of Research Analytics Tools

Background: Librarians at our institution often receive requests for information about research metrics, but lack the tools required to most efficiently obtain the required data. Therefore when our university’s research office indicated their potential willingness to cover the cost of a new research analytics tool, our library-based group was quick to take the lead on assessing three popular products, Elsevier’s SciVal, Digital Science’s Dimensions Analytics, and Clarivate’s InCites Benchmarking and Analytics. Our purpose was to assess the research analytics tools and compile a report comparing the products and providing our libraries’ recommendations to our research office.

Description: Our library-based research metrics and impact group, composed of librarians from the science, health science, and main libraries, arranged for free trials of each of the tools, and invited stakeholders including administrators, research deans, and librarians and other faculty members to explore the products and provide us with feedback. The trials were conducted consecutively: SciVal in April, Dimensions in July/August, and InCites in September of 2021. An Excel spreadsheet summarized our findings for each tool, including information on their strengths, weaknesses, annual subscription fee, and data sources. In addition, we noted whether the libraries have access to other products from the vendor (e.g., Clarivate’s Web of Science, Elsevier’s Scopus) and if any other units are independently purchasing access to some of the research analytics tools under consideration. We synthesized the evidence and submitted our report of findings to the research office and other stakeholders.

Conclusion: Our comparison of SciVal, Dimensions Analytics, and InCites revealed many similarities, and key differences among the products. Some of the main differences that influenced our recommendations included the tools’ reported metrics, sources of information, and cost. In addition, our access to other products from the vendors was weighted heavily given it affects functionality, and potentially cost, of their research analytics tool. Our preliminary findings indicated the health sciences appeared to be adequately served by all three analytics tools. As far as choosing one product over another, we framed the recommendation based on whether the main consideration was price, coverage, or design. InCites and Dimensions were, by far, the most economical; Dimensions had the largest discipline coverage and data sources; and SciVal was deemed the most user-friendly system. Our group would be pleased with any of these products.