Bibliometrics at large – the role of metrics beyond academia

The role of bibliometrics, such as impact factors and h-indices, in shaping research has been well documented. However, what function do these measures have beyond the institutional contexts in which, for better or worse, they were designed? Commenting on a study of bibliometrics in the Italian press, Eugenio Petrovich, shows how these numbers play important roles in mediating academic research in the public sphere.