Library resources provider EBSCO Information Services (EBSCO) has acquired Plum Analytics in a deal that brings together the leading subscription services, database, e-book and discovery provider with the leading provider of alternative research metrics. Plum Analytics is the first altmetrics provider to move beyond metrics about articles and track all research output in any form, providing a powerful tool that augments traditional metrics.
Plum Analytics is the provider of PlumX™, a product that delivers a more complete picture of research and answers questions about research impact for anyone including researchers, librarians, administrators, and funders. PlumX, named Library Journal’s most ambitious database in 2013, gathers metrics across five categories - usage, mentions, captures, social media and citations. Metrics are gathered around what Plum Analytics calls artefacts - more than just the journal articles that a researcher authors.
As a result of this acquisition, Plum Analytics will become a wholly-owned subsidiary of EBSCO Information Services and will continue to operate as Plum Analytics with the same products and management.
Plum Analytics was founded by Andrea Michalek and Mike Buschman. Michalek, Buschman and the rest of the Plum Analytics team are veterans of the library and research communities and will continue to use that expertise to create new ways of evaluating the big data generated when people interact with research.
