There are a wide variety of tools and resources that you can use for your Faculty Annual Achievement Report (FAAR) or tenure/promotion packet. Demonstrating your research's impact can mean various things, from using quantitative measures such as bibliometrics and altmetrics, qualitative measures such as feedback or audience engagement, to simply writing about the importance and significance of your work in your opening statement. There are many ways to accomplish this - this page will help you with some resources to get started.
The metrics that you can use will depend on a few different factors - your discipline, the scholarly or creative output you want to measure, and how long ago it was published. Traditional metrics, such as journal impact factor or Eigenfactor, are generally most useful for journal articles published in established or well-known publications. Citation counts can be helpful for many types of publications, including books, but may require more work to find outside citation databases such as Scopus or Web of Science.
Ultimately, faculty looking to use metrics to showcase their impact should be aware that metrics can be limited in their potential to show impact, and look for metrics that most accurately represent their achievements while avoiding using metrics that might misrepresent their scholarly contributions.
Some disciplines won't generally use more traditional metrics or may not weigh citations received as heavily due to the type of work they create (such as a dance performance, art piece, presentation at an event or conference, etc.). There are other options available! For example, altmetrics can track many things that receive a DOI or even have a persistent URL. Measuring impact could mean counting audience attendance, views on a video, downloads, social media interactions, or something else.
Metrics and other indicators are just one piece of demonstrating the impact of your scholarly or creative work. Impact narratives are written explanations that highlight your progress towards and achievement of "impact" - whether that is within academia, your field of expertise, or even the general public. They help to tell a compelling story that showcases the positive change and results produced by your research, often backed up by various types of data and evidence.
Writing a successful narrative can help articulate why others should care about your work, reach new audiences, and overall increase your reputation as an expert in your field (and perhaps beyond!). To create a successful narrative you'll need to focus on the relevance of your work to a specific project, organization, or set of goals. Provide context and explain why your scholarly or creative activity is significant, using qualitative and/or quantitative evidence to back up your claims. Go beyond just numbers and consider why your work matters to your target audience.
Check out the UWA Research Impact Toolkit for some excellent case studies.
A narrative CV provides a structured written description of a researcher’s contributions and achievements that reflects a broad range of relevant skills, experiences, and competencies. Your narrative CV should focus on your role as a researcher on a project, who benefitted from the project, how they benefitted from the project, and when that benefit occurred. You can use evidence and data to support your narrative where possible. Additionally, depending on the target audience for your narrative CV (such as a funding agency), make sure that your narrative is grounded in the values of the organization.
Portions of the Researcher Impact Framework by Giovanna Lima and Sarah Bowman were used for this section.
Don't have time to review all these resources? Check out this two minute introduction to impact narratives!
Research Impact: The different forms of an impact narrative from UMCG on YouTube.
Would you prefer a deep dive into impact narratives to learn everything there is to know?
Check out the Researcher Impact Framework by Giovanna Lima and Sarah Bowman for an in depth guide.
Further Reading