Book impact
The practice and prestige of book publishing varies across disciplines. The impact of published books may be most relevant to authors in the humanities and social sciences.
Book metrics are more limited than article metrics, due to indexing practice of the citation databases. However, there are still several indicators of quality and impact for books and societal impact may also be relevant when considering the impact of a book.
Key measures of book impact include:
What is it?
The number of times that your book has been cited in other works.
Where to find it
How to use it
As a measure of the usage and impact of the cited work. Example statement:
- My book published in 2018 has been cited 45 times (Google Scholar, 2023).
Considerations
- Databases index different sources over different time periods, therefore your citation counts may vary significantly across databases
- Citations accrue at different rates across different disciplines.
- Should not be used to compare books of different age (publication year), document type or discipline.
What is it?
The number of libraries, in Australia or worldwide, that own a copy of your book in either electronic or print form.
Where to find it
- WorldCat - for international library holdings
- Trove - for Australian library holdings
Considerations
- WorldCat and Trove aggregate this information from library catalogues, and it may not be a true reflection of the number of libraries with your book.
What is it?
A written review providing evidence of the esteem in which your book is held, both within academia and society.
Where to find it
The following may support assessing the impact of published books:
- Is the book listed in Best Sellers’ lists?
- Has the book received any awards?
- How many copies of the book have been sold?
- Has the book had further editions?
- Has the book been included in bibliographies?
- Has the book been translated?
- Is the book in a reading list for a school or university subject? Note: this information may not be publicly available.
