Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin - Startseite

Citations and altmetrics are prominently displayed in academic search systems, but what role do they actually play when researchers decide which literature deserves closer attention? Drawing on an exploratory user study with fifty researchers from the life and social sciences, this talk traces how researchers use scientometric indicators alongside other relevance clues when assessing scholarly articles. Participants evaluated predefined search results while thinking aloud, allowing their interactions with experimentally modified indicators to be examined across the search process.
The findings suggest that indicators shape attention more than final relevance judgements. Highly cited articles attracted more attention during search-result inspection, with participants often interpreting indicators through a simple “more-is-better” heuristic. At later stages, however, relevance judgements were grounded mainly in topical criteria. Increased attention to highly cited articles therefore did not automatically translate into a corresponding increase in perceived relevance.
The talk argues that scientometric indicators function as stage-dependent relevance clues rather than straightforward proxies for relevance. They can shape researchers’ attention without necessarily determining what they ultimately consider relevant. This highlights the importance of examining relevance assessment as a process in which attention and relevance are closely connected, but not interchangeable.

https://hu-berlin.zoom-x.de/j/66137712462?pwd=bTF4VG9Ca1BxMkFqOE9xTFZxYldWQT09 

Meeting-ID: 661 3771 2462