Glad you asked. The canonical URL for this is perhaps altmetrics.org. Basically it is a metric that measures something about an article. This is in stark contrast to journal level metrics, like the Journal Impact Factor.
Yes indeedy.
You aren't currently not required to use an API key to access the PLoS ALM API, but soon will need to.
Get your PLoS API key here
Put your API key in your .Rprofile file using exactly this: options(PlosApiKey = “YOUalmAPIKEY”), and the functions within this package will be able to use your API key without you having to enter it every time you run a search.
You can get this package by installing via install_github() within Hadley Wickham's devtools package.
install.packages("devtools")
require(devtools)
install_github("alm", "rOpenSci")
library(alm)
(We'll not print a few columns so the table prints nicely)
alm(doi = "10.1371/journal.pone.0029797")[, -c(6:8)]
.id pdf html shares groups total
1 bloglines NA NA NA NA 0
2 citeulike NA NA 1 NA 1
3 connotea NA NA NA NA 0
4 crossref NA NA NA NA 7
5 nature NA NA NA NA 4
6 postgenomic NA NA NA NA 0
7 pubmed NA NA NA NA 1
8 scopus NA NA NA NA 4
9 counter 2276 26445 NA NA 28827
10 researchblogging NA NA NA NA 1
11 biod 0 0 NA NA 21
12 pmc 57 334 NA NA 391
13 facebook NA NA 147 NA 228
14 mendeley NA NA 50 0 50
15 twitter NA NA NA NA 9
16 wikipedia NA NA NA NA 49
17 scienceseeker NA NA NA NA 0
18 relativemetric NA NA NA NA 46986
19 f1000 NA NA NA NA 0
20 figshare NA NA NA NA 0
21 pmceurope NA NA NA NA 1
22 pmceuropedata NA NA NA NA 10
23 openedition NA NA NA NA 0
24 wordpress NA NA NA NA 0
25 reddit NA NA NA NA 0
out <- alm(doi = "10.1371/journal.pone.0029797", info = "detail")
## totals
out[["totals"]][, -c(6:8)]
.id pdf html shares groups total
1 bloglines NA NA NA NA 0
2 citeulike NA NA 1 NA 1
3 connotea NA NA NA NA 0
4 crossref NA NA NA NA 7
5 nature NA NA NA NA 4
6 postgenomic NA NA NA NA 0
7 pubmed NA NA NA NA 1
8 scopus NA NA NA NA 4
9 counter 2276 26445 NA NA 28827
10 researchblogging NA NA NA NA 1
11 biod 0 0 NA NA 21
12 pmc 57 334 NA NA 391
13 facebook NA NA 147 NA 228
14 mendeley NA NA 50 0 50
15 twitter NA NA NA NA 9
16 wikipedia NA NA NA NA 49
17 scienceseeker NA NA NA NA 0
18 relativemetric NA NA NA NA 46986
19 f1000 NA NA NA NA 0
20 figshare NA NA NA NA 0
21 pmceurope NA NA NA NA 1
22 pmceuropedata NA NA NA NA 10
23 openedition NA NA NA NA 0
24 wordpress NA NA NA NA 0
25 reddit NA NA NA NA 0
## history
head(out[["history"]])
.id dates totals
1 citeulike 2013-09-16 1
2 citeulike 2013-08-15 1
3 citeulike 2013-07-13 1
4 citeulike 2013-06-10 1
5 citeulike 2013-05-08 1
6 citeulike 2013-04-05 1
# A single PubMed ID (pmid)
alm(pmid = 22590526)[, -c(6:8)]
.id pdf html shares groups total
1 bloglines NA NA NA NA 0
2 citeulike NA NA 5 NA 5
3 connotea NA NA NA NA 0
4 crossref NA NA NA NA 3
5 nature NA NA NA NA 1
6 postgenomic NA NA NA NA 0
7 pubmed NA NA NA NA 1
8 scopus NA NA NA NA 2
9 counter 915 13076 NA NA 14027
10 researchblogging NA NA NA NA 1
11 biod NA NA NA NA 0
12 wos NA NA NA NA 2
13 pmc 23 113 NA NA 136
14 facebook NA NA 59 NA 161
15 mendeley NA NA 39 0 39
16 twitter NA NA NA NA 118
17 wikipedia NA NA NA NA 0
18 scienceseeker NA NA NA NA 1
19 relativemetric NA NA NA NA 27039
20 f1000 NA NA NA NA 0
21 figshare NA NA NA NA 0
22 pmceurope NA NA NA NA 1
23 pmceuropedata NA NA NA NA 0
24 openedition NA NA NA NA 0
25 wordpress NA NA NA NA 0
26 reddit NA NA NA NA 0
# A single PubMed Central ID (pmcid)
alm(pmcid = 212692)[, -c(6:8)]
.id pdf html shares groups total
1 bloglines NA NA NA NA 0
2 citeulike NA NA 8 NA 8
3 connotea NA NA NA NA 0
4 crossref NA NA NA NA 143
5 nature NA NA NA NA 0
6 postgenomic NA NA NA NA 0
7 pubmed NA NA NA NA 143
8 scopus NA NA NA NA 318
9 counter 2448 19707 NA NA 22302
10 researchblogging NA NA NA NA 0
11 biod NA NA NA NA 0
12 pmc 2305 4752 NA NA 7057
13 facebook NA NA 0 NA 0
14 mendeley NA NA 71 0 71
15 twitter NA NA NA NA 0
16 wikipedia NA NA NA NA 0
17 scienceseeker NA NA NA NA 0
18 relativemetric NA NA NA NA 2192654
19 f1000 NA NA NA NA 0
20 figshare 1 2 NA NA 3
21 pmceurope NA NA NA NA 177
22 pmceuropedata NA NA NA NA 52
23 openedition NA NA NA NA 0
24 wordpress NA NA NA NA 0
25 reddit NA NA NA NA 0
# A single Mendeley UUID (mdid)
alm(mdid = "35791700-6d00-11df-a2b2-0026b95e3eb7")[, -c(6:8)]
.id pdf html shares groups total
1 bloglines NA NA NA NA 0
2 citeulike NA NA 8 NA 8
3 connotea NA NA NA NA 0
4 crossref NA NA NA NA 143
5 nature NA NA NA NA 0
6 postgenomic NA NA NA NA 0
7 pubmed NA NA NA NA 143
8 scopus NA NA NA NA 318
9 counter 2448 19707 NA NA 22302
10 researchblogging NA NA NA NA 0
11 biod NA NA NA NA 0
12 pmc 2305 4752 NA NA 7057
13 facebook NA NA 0 NA 0
14 mendeley NA NA 71 0 71
15 twitter NA NA NA NA 0
16 wikipedia NA NA NA NA 0
17 scienceseeker NA NA NA NA 0
18 relativemetric NA NA NA NA 2192654
19 f1000 NA NA NA NA 0
20 figshare 1 2 NA NA 3
21 pmceurope NA NA NA NA 177
22 pmceuropedata NA NA NA NA 52
23 openedition NA NA NA NA 0
24 wordpress NA NA NA NA 0
25 reddit NA NA NA NA 0
dois <- c("10.1371/journal.pone.0001543", "10.1371/journal.pone.0040117", "10.1371/journal.pone.0029797",
"10.1371/journal.pone.0039395")
out <- alm(doi = dois)
lapply(out, head)
[[1]]
.id pdf html shares groups comments likes citations total
1 bloglines NA NA NA NA NA NA 0 0
2 citeulike NA NA 0 NA NA NA NA 0
3 connotea NA NA NA NA NA NA 0 0
4 crossref NA NA NA NA NA NA 1 1
5 nature NA NA NA NA NA NA 0 0
6 postgenomic NA NA NA NA NA NA 0 0
[[2]]
.id pdf html shares groups comments likes citations total
1 bloglines NA NA NA NA NA NA 0 0
2 citeulike NA NA 0 NA NA NA NA 0
3 connotea NA NA NA NA NA NA 0 0
4 crossref NA NA NA NA NA NA 0 0
5 nature NA NA NA NA NA NA 0 0
6 postgenomic NA NA NA NA NA NA 0 0
[[3]]
.id pdf html shares groups comments likes citations total
1 bloglines NA NA NA NA NA NA 0 0
2 citeulike NA NA 1 NA NA NA NA 1
3 connotea NA NA NA NA NA NA 0 0
4 crossref NA NA NA NA NA NA 7 7
5 nature NA NA NA NA NA NA 4 4
6 postgenomic NA NA NA NA NA NA 0 0
[[4]]
.id pdf html shares groups comments likes citations total
1 bloglines NA NA NA NA NA NA 0 0
2 citeulike NA NA 0 NA NA NA NA 0
3 connotea NA NA NA NA NA NA 0 0
4 crossref NA NA NA NA NA NA 5 5
5 nature NA NA NA NA NA NA 0 0
6 postgenomic NA NA NA NA NA NA 1 1
You can also get metrics by day (sum_metrics='day') or month (sum_metrics='month')
alm(doi = "10.1371/journal.pone.0036240", sum_metrics = "year")[, -c(6:8)]
.id x year pdf html likes citations total
1 bloglines NA NA NA NA NA NA NA
2 citeulike NA 2012 NA NA NA NA 5
3 connotea NA NA NA NA NA NA NA
4 crossref NA 2013 NA NA NA 3 3
5 nature NA NA NA NA NA NA NA
6 postgenomic NA NA NA NA NA NA NA
7 pubmed NA NA NA NA NA NA NA
8 scopus NA NA NA NA NA NA NA
9 counter NA 2012 699 10502 NA NA 11234
10 counter NA 2013 216 2574 NA NA 2793
11 researchblogging NA 2013 NA NA NA 1 1
12 biod NA NA NA NA NA NA NA
13 pmc NA 2012 16 53 NA NA 69
14 pmc NA 2013 7 60 NA NA 67
15 facebook NA NA NA NA NA NA NA
16 mendeley NA NA NA NA NA NA NA
17 twitter NA 2012 NA NA NA NA 103
18 twitter NA 2013 NA NA NA NA 15
19 wikipedia NA NA NA NA NA NA NA
20 scienceseeker NA 2013 NA NA NA 1 1
21 relativemetric NA NA NA NA NA NA NA
22 f1000 NA NA NA NA NA NA NA
23 figshare NA NA NA NA NA NA NA
24 pmceurope NA NA NA NA NA NA NA
25 pmceuropedata NA NA NA NA NA NA NA
26 openedition NA NA NA NA NA NA NA
27 wordpress NA NA NA NA NA NA NA
28 reddit NA NA NA NA NA NA NA
alm(doi = "10.1371/journal.pone.0035869", total_details = TRUE)[, 3:10]
publication_date bloglines_pdf bloglines_html bloglines_shares
1 2012-05-11T07:00:00Z NA NA NA
bloglines_groups bloglines_comments bloglines_likes bloglines_citations
1 NA NA NA 0
out <- alm(doi = "10.1371/journal.pone.0001543", info = "detail")
almplot(out, type = "totalmetrics")
almeventsout <- almevents(doi = "10.1371/journal.pone.0029797")
names(out) # names of sources
[1] "bloglines" "citeulike" "connotea"
[4] "crossref" "nature" "postgenomic"
[7] "pubmed" "scopus" "counter"
[10] "researchblogging" "biod" "pmc"
[13] "facebook" "mendeley" "twitter"
[16] "wikipedia" "scienceseeker" "relativemetric"
[19] "f1000" "figshare" "pmceurope"
[22] "pmceuropedata" "openedition" "wordpress"
[25] "reddit"
out <- out[!out %in% c("sorry, no events content yet", "parser not written yet")] # remove those with no data
out[["pmc"]] # get the results for PubMed Central
abstract cited-by figure full-text month pdf scanned-page-browse
1 1 0 9 51 1 8 0
2 0 0 11 15 2 4 0
3 0 0 0 11 3 4 0
4 1 0 0 6 4 2 0
5 0 0 0 5 5 1 0
6 0 0 2 7 6 2 0
7 1 0 3 6 7 3 0
8 1 0 0 5 8 0 0
9 0 0 3 14 9 5 0
10 1 0 1 20 10 4 0
11 0 0 1 13 12 1 0
12 1 0 0 10 11 1 0
scanned-summary supp-data unique-ip year
1 0 0 42 2012
2 0 2 11 2012
3 0 0 12 2012
4 0 0 6 2012
5 0 0 5 2012
6 0 0 9 2012
7 0 0 8 2012
8 0 0 4 2012
9 0 0 13 2012
10 0 0 16 2012
11 0 0 12 2012
12 0 0 9 2012
out[["twitter"]] # get the results for twitter (boo, there aren't any)
id
1 237088032224849920
2 237088322290331648
3 263798980054487041
4 263799348842872832
5 263960642589949953
6 282528931503038464
7 282528931612082177
8 284131287810338818
9 313850610174799873
text
1 #PLOS: Ecological Guild Evolution and the Discovery of the World's Smallest Vertebrate http://t.co/yEGLyWTf
2 #PLOS: Ecological Guild Evolution and the Discovery of the World's Smallest Vertebrate http://t.co/497NRrMR
3 Happy #Halloween from Maria @PLOSONE, dressed as a tiny frog, complete with dime for scale! http://t.co/YWcdPoGP http://t.co/lAxWAHOG
4 RT @multidiscipl1ne: Happy #Halloween from Maria @PLOSONE, dressed as a tiny frog, complete with dime for scale! http://t.co/YWcdPoGP ht ...
5 RT @multidiscipl1ne: Happy #Halloween from Maria @PLOSONE, dressed as a tiny frog, complete with dime for scale! http://t.co/YWcdPoGP ht ...
6 2012: Discovery of the World's Smallest Vertebrate: a frog http://t.co/BwkxRTdm in @PLOSONE via http://t.co/rnM3iFD0 @Hominidos
7 2012: Descubrimiento del vertebrado m<U+00E1>s peque<U+00F1>o: una rana http://t.co/BwkxRTdm in @PLOSONE via http://t.co/rnM3iFD0 @Hominidos
8 @JayBeeAndCrew http://t.co/okFRfXfA
9 Ecological Guild Evolution and the Discovery of the World's Smallest Vertebrate http://t.co/2G6fQJvFhq
created_at user
1 Sun Aug 19 07:26:06 +0000 2012 opdebult
2 Sun Aug 19 07:27:15 +0000 2012 forestalis
3 Thu Nov 01 00:25:53 +0000 2012 multidiscipl1ne
4 Thu Nov 01 00:27:20 +0000 2012 BernScience
5 Thu Nov 01 11:08:16 +0000 2012 mattjhodgkinson
6 Sat Dec 22 16:52:01 +0000 2012 sferrebenedicto
7 Sat Dec 22 16:52:01 +0000 2012 sferrebenedicto
8 Thu Dec 27 02:59:12 +0000 2012 LeeAnaconda
9 Tue Mar 19 03:13:11 +0000 2013 didicikit
user_profile_image
1 http://a0.twimg.com/profile_images/1741153180/Tidan_normal.jpg
2 http://a0.twimg.com/profile_images/654250700/ForestalisIco_normal.jpg
3 http://a0.twimg.com/profile_images/1910116023/261235_920680811178_6708085_43508969_7138379_n_normal.jpg
4 http://a0.twimg.com/profile_images/1788875907/new_normal.jpg
5 http://a0.twimg.com/profile_images/2595571976/bc2za9tnyui0wxobreb0_normal.jpeg
6 http://a0.twimg.com/profile_images/2935384666/94c858315bbf621ae3916019026a6c24_normal.jpeg
7 http://a0.twimg.com/profile_images/2935384666/94c858315bbf621ae3916019026a6c24_normal.jpeg
8 http://a0.twimg.com/profile_images/2765018809/5b540749006aaf85c5661c67d93b68e7_normal.jpeg
9 http://a0.twimg.com/profile_images/1809269429/hop_normal.jpg
out[c("twitter", "crossref")] # get the results for two sources
$twitter
id
1 237088032224849920
2 237088322290331648
3 263798980054487041
4 263799348842872832
5 263960642589949953
6 282528931503038464
7 282528931612082177
8 284131287810338818
9 313850610174799873
text
1 #PLOS: Ecological Guild Evolution and the Discovery of the World's Smallest Vertebrate http://t.co/yEGLyWTf
2 #PLOS: Ecological Guild Evolution and the Discovery of the World's Smallest Vertebrate http://t.co/497NRrMR
3 Happy #Halloween from Maria @PLOSONE, dressed as a tiny frog, complete with dime for scale! http://t.co/YWcdPoGP http://t.co/lAxWAHOG
4 RT @multidiscipl1ne: Happy #Halloween from Maria @PLOSONE, dressed as a tiny frog, complete with dime for scale! http://t.co/YWcdPoGP ht ...
5 RT @multidiscipl1ne: Happy #Halloween from Maria @PLOSONE, dressed as a tiny frog, complete with dime for scale! http://t.co/YWcdPoGP ht ...
6 2012: Discovery of the World's Smallest Vertebrate: a frog http://t.co/BwkxRTdm in @PLOSONE via http://t.co/rnM3iFD0 @Hominidos
7 2012: Descubrimiento del vertebrado m<U+00E1>s peque<U+00F1>o: una rana http://t.co/BwkxRTdm in @PLOSONE via http://t.co/rnM3iFD0 @Hominidos
8 @JayBeeAndCrew http://t.co/okFRfXfA
9 Ecological Guild Evolution and the Discovery of the World's Smallest Vertebrate http://t.co/2G6fQJvFhq
created_at user
1 Sun Aug 19 07:26:06 +0000 2012 opdebult
2 Sun Aug 19 07:27:15 +0000 2012 forestalis
3 Thu Nov 01 00:25:53 +0000 2012 multidiscipl1ne
4 Thu Nov 01 00:27:20 +0000 2012 BernScience
5 Thu Nov 01 11:08:16 +0000 2012 mattjhodgkinson
6 Sat Dec 22 16:52:01 +0000 2012 sferrebenedicto
7 Sat Dec 22 16:52:01 +0000 2012 sferrebenedicto
8 Thu Dec 27 02:59:12 +0000 2012 LeeAnaconda
9 Tue Mar 19 03:13:11 +0000 2013 didicikit
user_profile_image
1 http://a0.twimg.com/profile_images/1741153180/Tidan_normal.jpg
2 http://a0.twimg.com/profile_images/654250700/ForestalisIco_normal.jpg
3 http://a0.twimg.com/profile_images/1910116023/261235_920680811178_6708085_43508969_7138379_n_normal.jpg
4 http://a0.twimg.com/profile_images/1788875907/new_normal.jpg
5 http://a0.twimg.com/profile_images/2595571976/bc2za9tnyui0wxobreb0_normal.jpeg
6 http://a0.twimg.com/profile_images/2935384666/94c858315bbf621ae3916019026a6c24_normal.jpeg
7 http://a0.twimg.com/profile_images/2935384666/94c858315bbf621ae3916019026a6c24_normal.jpeg
8 http://a0.twimg.com/profile_images/2765018809/5b540749006aaf85c5661c67d93b68e7_normal.jpeg
9 http://a0.twimg.com/profile_images/1809269429/hop_normal.jpg
$crossref
issn journal_title
1 1439-6092; 1618-1077 Organisms Diversity & Evolution
2 1313-2970; 1313-2989 ZooKeys
3 00218790 Journal of Animal Ecology
4 1936-6426; 1936-6434 Evolution: Education and Outreach
5 0018-0831; 1938-5099 Herpetologica
6 10557903 Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution
7 00244066 Biological Journal of the Linnean Society
journal_abbreviation
1 Org Divers Evol
2 ZOOKEYS
3 J Anim Ecol
4 Evo Edu Outreach
5 Herpetologica
6 Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution
7 Biol J Linn Soc Lond
article_title
1 New insights into the systematics and molecular phylogeny of the Malagasy snake genus Liopholidophis suggest at least one rapid reversal of extreme sexual dimorphism in tail length
2 Accelerating innovative publishing in taxonomy and systematics: 250 issues of ZooKeys
3 The evolutionary ecology of dwarfism in three-spined sticklebacks
4 Heterochrony: the Evolution of Development
5 A New Species of Miniaturized Toadlet, GenusBrachycephalus(Anura: Brachycephalidae), from the Atlantic Forest of Southeastern Brazil
6 Genetic diversity, phylogeny and evolution of alkaloid sequestering in Cuban miniaturized frogs of the Eleutherodactylus limbatus group
7 Are diminutive turtles miniaturized? The ontogeny of plastron shape in emydine turtles
contributor
1 Frank Glaw; Christoph Kucharzewski; Zolt<U+00E1>n T. Nagy; Oliver Hawlitschek; Miguel Vences
2 Terry Erwin; Lyubomir Penev; Pavel Stoev; Teodor Georgiev
3 Andrew D. C. MacColl; Aliya El Nagar; Job de Roij; Tom Webb
4 Kenneth J. McNamara
5 Rute B. G Clemente-Carvalho; Ariovaldo A Giaretta; Thais H Condez; C<U+00E9>lio F. B Haddad; Sergio F. dos Reis
6 Ariel Rodr<U+00ED>guez; Dennis Poth; Stefan Schulz; Marcelo Gehara; Miguel Vences
7 Kenneth D. Angielczyk; Chris R. Feldman
year publication_type doi fl_count volume
1 2013 full_text 10.1007/s13127-013-0152-4 0 <NA>
2 2012 full_text 10.3897/zookeys.251.4516 1 251
3 2013 full_text 10.1111/1365-2656.12028 0 82
4 2012 full_text 10.1007/s12052-012-0420-3 1 5
5 2012 full_text 10.1655/HERPETOLOGICA-D-11-00085.1 0 68
6 2013 full_text 10.1016/j.ympev.2013.04.031 0 68
7 2013 full_text 10.1111/bij.12010 0 108
issue first_page
1 <NA> <NA>
2 0 1
3 3 642
4 2 203
5 3 365
6 3 541
7 4 727
dat <- signposts(doi = "10.1371/journal.pone.0029797")
plot_signposts(input = dat)
Or plot many identifiers gives a line chart
dois <- c("10.1371/journal.pone.0001543", "10.1371/journal.pone.0040117", "10.1371/journal.pone.0029797",
"10.1371/journal.pone.0039395")
dat <- signposts(doi = dois)
plot_signposts(input = dat)
Or make an interactive chart by doing plot_signposts(input=dat, type="multiBarChart"). Try it out! It should open in your browser and you can interact with it.
Note: Do you the key below in the searchplos call in this example, but if you plan to use rplos more, get your own API key here.
library(rplos)
library(plyr)
dois <- searchplos(terms = "*:*", fields = "id", toquery = list("cross_published_journal_key:PLoSONE",
"doc_type:full", "publication_date:[2010-01-01T00:00:00Z TO 2010-12-31T23:59:59Z]"),
limit = 100, key = "WQcDSXml2VSWx3P")
alm <- alm(doi = do.call(c, dois$id), total_details = TRUE)
alm <- ldply(alm)
The default plot
plot_density(alm)
You can change the color of the density plot
plot_density(alm, color = "#EFA5A5")
Pass in a title or description subtending the title
plot_density(alm, title = "Scopus citations from 2010")
Plot a particular source
names(alm)[1:35]
[1] ".id" "doi" "title"
[4] "publication_date" "bloglines_pdf" "bloglines_html"
[7] "bloglines_shares" "bloglines_groups" "bloglines_comments"
[10] "bloglines_likes" "bloglines_citations" "bloglines_total"
[13] "citeulike_pdf" "citeulike_html" "citeulike_shares"
[16] "citeulike_groups" "citeulike_comments" "citeulike_likes"
[19] "citeulike_citations" "citeulike_total" "connotea_pdf"
[22] "connotea_html" "connotea_shares" "connotea_groups"
[25] "connotea_comments" "connotea_likes" "connotea_citations"
[28] "connotea_total" "crossref_pdf" "crossref_html"
[31] "crossref_shares" "crossref_groups" "crossref_comments"
[34] "crossref_likes" "crossref_citations"
plot_density(input = alm, source = "crossref_citations")
Plot many sources in different panels in the same plot, and pass in colors just for fun
plot_density(input = alm, source = c("counter_total", "crossref_citations",
"twitter_total", "wos_citations"), color = c("#83DFB4", "#EFA5A5", "#CFD470",
"#B2C9E4"))
almtotals(doi = "10.1371/journal.pbio.0000012")
views shares bookmarks citations
1 29359 0 79 143
almtitle(doi = "10.1371/journal.pbio.0000012")
[1] "Genome-Wide RNAi of C. elegans Using the Hypersensitive rrf-3 Strain Reveals Novel Gene Functions"