Abstract:

［Purpose/Significance］Altmetrics is a hot research topic in the area of scientometrics and research evaluation. This paper intends to address the developing history of Altmetrics from a bibliometrical perspective in order to analyze and grasp the status and trend of Altmetrics as a whole. ［Design/Methodology］467 records were retrieved from the Web of Science and used as the dataset in this study. Bibliometric methods were then employed to conduct an analysis from the aspects including annual publication numbers, major research institutions, core authors, and keywords. The core authors and keywords were analyzed diachronically. We especially focused on the evolution of concepts in the field of Altmetrics. ［Findings/Conclusion］It has been found that the field of Altmetrics is at a stable developing stage. There are mainly five research areas, including impact evaluation, research on social media, bibliometric indicators, citation visibility, citation analysis and academic communication. Among them,infographics , academic profiles, plumx, and reward system of science are emerging research points, and one third of the keywords have been used throughout the whole developing stage.［Originality/Value］This study provides a way to identify the emerging and dying concepts of a field from massive knowledge concepts, which could be of great significance to the development of Altmetrics and knowledge inheritance.

Key words: Altmetrics, Scientometrics, Knowledge concept, Growth and apoptosis, Knowledge gene, Evolution