Research Guides: Scholarly Impact Metrics: Book & Book Chapter Impact

Additional Assistance

Interested in learning more about scholarly impact metrics? Please contact your library subject specialist to set up a consultation.

Measuring Impact for Books

In some disciplines, the book rather than the journal article, is the primary mode of sharing research.

This page offers options on gathering information about a book's impact:

Book Citation Counts
Library Holdings
Book Reviews
Other Qualitative Indicators

"Open Book" by Sarah Browning (CC BY-NC 2.0)

Book Citation Counts

Although counting metrics are not the traditional way of assessing the importance of a book, there are some resources that can help quantify a book's impact.

Google Scholar
A search of Google Scholar for a book title will provide the number of times it has been cited by materials included in Google Scholar searches. Caveat - Google Scholar is not a comprehensive database, and a book may be cited by materials that are outside Google Scholar. Also, Google Scholar does not de-duplicate results, so the "Cited" number may be inflated and inaccurate.

Book Citation Index
A companion database to Web of Science. Includes citations and references from 60,000 books, with 10,000 added each year. The majority of content comes from social sciences, arts, & humanities books. Available at the University of Michigan Libraries. You will need to visit the U of M Libraries and use one of their guest computers to access these databases. Contact an EMU Librarian or read about our reciprocal borrowing agreement for information about using the U of M Libraries.

Library Holdings

Library holdings can measure impact indirectly. It is possible to comment on the breadth of interest in a book based on the number of libraries that include it in their collections.

WorldCat
WorldCat, a catalog that include materials from libraries worldwide, can provide an estimate of library holdings for a particular title. Caveat - The number is only an estimate as not all libraries are included in WorldCat.

Publisher Information
Publishers often can provide sales figures, including the number of copies of a book sold.

Book Reviews

Many of the databases available through the EMU Library include book reviews.

Try searching the database by the title of a book and then limiting to book reviews.

Esearch
Search the Library’s collection of books, articles, book reviews, and more, all from a single interface.
JSTOR
Archive of back issues for many journals
Project Muse
Large collection of journals published by universities and scholarly societies.
List of EMU Library Databases

Book Review Digest Plus
Available at the University of Michigan Libraries. Indexes 2.8 million reviews from over 8,000 periodicals, with complete full text provided for over 100,000 of the reviews, and brief excerpts provided for many more. Contact an EMU Librarian or read about our reciprocal borrowing agreement for information about using the U of M Libraries.
Book Review Index Online
Available at the University of Michigan Libraries. Indexes book reviews from thousands of publications, including refereed journals, general interest publications, and newspapers. Contact an EMU Librarian or read about our reciprocal borrowing agreement for information about using the U of M Libraries.

Other Qualitative Indicators

Book reviews by peers, the publisher's reputation, and other qualitative factors can help determine the importance and impact of a book.

These other qualitative factors may include:

if the book was nominated for or won an award or prize.
if the books was translated or had multiple editions published.
if the book was included on a syllabus or a recommended reading list.
if the author gave public book talks or signings connected to the book.