There are four existing ways in which we can track the visibility and impact of deposits made in UPLOAD, and one potential way to do this in the future.
1. Via the AddThis dashboard
Log in to our AddThis dashboard and review user engagement with UPLOAD deposits. This tool doesn't track downloads, however; just visit and shares.
2. Via our parallel repository in Zenodo
Here's another reason why I love Zenodo and why I have chosen it as the parallel repository and DOI-generation tool for UPOU: we can track views and downloads of individual deposits. We can only track views and downloads of individual deposits, however; we can't track views and downloads across all deposits.
Also, our work seems gain traction quickly on Zenodo. (I'm hoping it's not all bots harvesting Zenodo, especially since Zenodo has taken steps against bot activity.) For example, four days after this MAN thesis was deposited, it had 10 downloads and 16 unique views. (Here's its parallel in our Repository.) As of this writing, it's had 63 views and 30 unique downloads.
3. Using PlumX
Each deposit that has been associated with a preexisting DOI gets a PlumX widget which can track user engagement. However, just like with Zenodo's views and download metrics, the data is on a per-deposit basis, not across all deposits.
4. Using Altmetrics
Each deposit that has been associated with a preexisting DOI gets a Altmetrics widget which can track user engagement. However, just like with PlumX metrics and Zenodo's views and download metrics, the data is on a per-deposit basis, not across all deposits... unless we have a subscription to Altmetric Explorer.
In the future, we might want to consider subscribing to Altmetric Explorer if there's a compelling case for it.
