Societal impact of publications

Publications targeted by researchers at professional communities and the general public can be considered among the key tools of societal impact for scholarship. In the publication classification of the Ministry of Education and Culture, such publications include articles in trade journals, books and book chapters aimed at professionals, as well as popular journal articles, book chapters, books and blog entries.

Responsible use

• Information on the number of publications can be used as support for qualitative description and as evidence.
• Databases do not necessarily include information on all popular and trade publications.
• Since the relevance of publications for professional and general audiences varies by discipline, their numbers may in turn vary.
• Because differences between disciplines have not been comprehensively investigated, it is not possible to use field normalisation. 
• In reporting and description, it is recommended that different publication types be itemised.

Openly available publications help to utilise scholarly knowledge for the benefit of society. The openness of publications can be examined in terms of both quantity and share of the publication group under consideration.

NB!

• The publication practices of disciplines also have an impact on open access publishing. For example, it is usually easier to publish openly scholarly articles than scholarly books.

Publication citations in public engagement material, policy documents, recommendations and reports indicate the societal usefulness of research. Documents and recommendations are produced by international organisations (e.g., WHO, IPCC, EU), governmental bodies (e.g., ministries), national organisations (e.g., the Finnish Medical Society Duodecim), research institutes (e.g., VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland, Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare, Finnish Environment Institute, Finnish Meteorological Institute) and think tanks (e.g., Finnish Innovation Fund Sitra). 

Responsible use

• Information on the number of publications that have been cited can be used as support for qualitative description and as evidence.
• Databases do not necessarily include information on all public engagement publications.
• Publications in different disciplines have varying likelihoods of being cited in documents; normalisation is not possible.

The coverage received by scholarly publications in online media is one form of engagement that promotes impact. The visibility of publications can be monitored, for example, on news sites (e.g., YLE, Helsingin Sanomat, BBC) or on social media services (e.g., X, Facebook, Wikipedia). On online platforms, active parties can include authors, other researchers, journalists, politicians, private individuals and online editorial staff.

Responsible use

• Information on online media coverage can be used as support for qualitative description and as evidence.
• There are deficiencies in the coverage of monitoring services in terms of both publications and the services to be monitored.
• Coverage can vary in type: it is recommended that the content is checked before drawing any conclusions.
• It is not possible to use field normalisation.

Where can I find information on online media attention?