PlumX

PlumX is an analytics platform for scholarly outputs developed by Plum Analytics. It provides altmetrics—alternative metrics—intended to supplement traditional citation counts by tracking the attention research outputs receive across various online channels.

The platform collects data from a range of sources, including publishers, repositories, social media, and other online services. It organizes metrics into five categories: Usage (views, downloads, clicks), Captures (bookmarks, favorites, saves), Mentions (blog posts, news, policy documents), Social Media (tweets, posts, shares), and Citations (scholarly references). Some implementations also display a composite PlumX Score that reflects overall engagement across these dimensions.

Item- and collection-level analytics are a core feature, with PlumX providing item-level metrics for articles, datasets, posters, and other scholarly outputs, as well as dashboards for departments, journals, or entire libraries. The platform is commonly integrated with library systems, research information management systems, and institutional repositories to support research assessment, collection management, and reporting on research visibility and engagement.

History and context: PlumX originated from Plum Analytics as a tool to measure multidimensional impact beyond traditional citations. It is used by researchers, libraries, and institutional administrators to understand how research is disseminated and discussed across scholarly and public channels. Like other altmetrics tools, PlumX relies on data from diverse sources and faces limitations related to coverage gaps, data quality, and varying practices across platforms.