The American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA)
About the AVMA
The American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) is a not-for-profit association founded in 1863. Representing more than 105,000 members, the mission of the Association is to lead the profession by advocating for their members and advancing the science and practice of veterinary medicine to improve animal and human health.
We spoke to Dr. Sarah Wright, who serves as an Associate Editor for the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association (JAVMA) and the American Journal of Veterinary Research (AJVR), overseeing the manuscript process from submission to final recommendation. Dr. Wright’s responsibilities also extend to social media management, content performance analysis, and hosting the AVMA podcast, Veterinary Vertex.
Adopting Altmetric
The AVMA began using the Altmetric Badges and the Altmetric Explorer in 2022, coinciding with Dr. Wright’s hiring. Their primary goal was to leverage these solutions to demonstrate the impact of their research articles to authors and benchmark against other journals. Shortly after, Dimensions was also adopted to support the Association with analyzing citation data, creating annual publishers’ reports, and identifying reviewers and guest editors.
Enhancing author engagement
Altmetric provides real-time data on online article mentions to help authors understand the reach and impact of their work. Dr. Wright explains, “I have the pleasure of using Altmetric and working with our authors. Showing them the impact of their work is probably one of my favorite things that I get to do.” She adds, “Author loyalty is definitely the number one benefit that we’ve seen. Sharing the real-time link with an author so they can see what work [has] been done has been so important. It’s also really fun to tell people that your work’s doing great, and here’s who it is reaching.”
Strategic use of social media
Insights from Altmetric inform JAVMA and AJVR’s social media strategy, and Dr. Wright notes that the journals’ increased focus on social media has correlated with higher Altmetric scores for individual articles. She shares, “There used to be a connotation that social media didn’t have a place in scholarly publishing and veterinary medicine, but I think Altmetric has shown its importance.”
Dr. Wright also utilizes Altmetric to streamline social media monitoring. She observes, “Altmetric definitely saves me time, as instead of having to sift through each individual notification, I can simply go into Altmetric and get a really high-level overview. If I need to respond to something, I’m able to do that very easily by just clicking into the post.”
Research tracking and assessment
Since implementing Altmetric, JAVMA and AJVR have made a concentrated effort to track noteworthy manuscripts from the time of submission. “We keep an eye on the manuscripts, and if they get accepted, we work with our media team to create press releases, because we see how impactful the news is through Altmetric data. Had it not been for Altmetric, we wouldn’t have put such an emphasis on press releases like we do now,” Dr. Wright explains.
In addition, JAVMA and AJVR use Altmetric to monitor the early reception of articles for reputation management. This proactive approach ensures that the Association can address any negative attention promptly and effectively.
Monthly analysis using the Altmetric Explorer’s journals tab allows JAVMA and AJVR to assess and benchmark their performance relative to other journals in the field. Dr. Wright observes, “We have seen our journals move up in the ranks, receiving more mentions than other journals that we consider competition. It’s great to see that direct impact.”
Future applications and goals
Looking ahead, Dr. Wright seeks to further emphasize the geographic spread of article impact data for targeted author recruitment, and to advocate for the recognition of alternative metrics in scholarly publishing forums. She states, “I think that if we want to support our next generation of authors, we need to explore ways to emphasize alternative metrics of online attention, because that is how the general public consumes this information.”
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