Digital Science has announced a new AI-powered feature for Altmetric, designed to help users better understand and communicate the impact of research outputs.
The new Altmetric Attention Digest automatically generates concise, narrative summaries that interpret the attention and influence surrounding a piece of research. The aim is to move beyond raw metrics and provide clearer insight into how research is being received and discussed across different audiences and channels.
Rather than simply counting mentions, the feature is intended to surface a more nuanced view of engagement – highlighting who is interacting with research, how conversations develop, and what this indicates about real-world impact. Available within Altmetric Explorer, the tool addresses a common challenge for research stakeholders: translating complex attention data into clear, credible and actionable narratives.
The feature is designed for a wide range of users, including researchers, research administration teams, medical affairs teams, pharmaceutical professionals, publishers assessing content performance and editorial strategy, and funders or government bodies tracking the influence of supported research.
According to Digital Science, the tool enables users to:
- Save time and maximise efficiency;
- Demonstrate impact effectively;
- Enhance reporting;
- Assess content performance; and
- Make smarter, data-driven decisions.
Miguel Garcia, VP of Product, Digital Science, said: “We’re all interested in understanding how research impacts society, and although we already have solid ways of assessing academic impact, societal impact analyses could be improved. Altmetric has been counting mentions from multiple sources but it has been hard to explain how the research conversation proliferated, what were the main triggers and what real impact happened, especially at scale. Our dream at Altmetric has always been to provide a clean narrative for this.
“The new Altmetric Attention Digest leverages artificial intelligence to cut through data complexity, offering instant, comprehensive insights that empower users to understand the impact of research at a glance, gain strategic insights and make smarter decisions. It gets us much closer to that dream.”