Mendeley reader counts offer early evidence of the scholarly impact of academic articles

Although the use of citation counts as indicators of scholarly impact has well-documented limitations, it does offer insight into what articles are read and valued. However, one major disadvantage of citation counts is that they are slow to accumulate. Mike Thelwall has examined reader counts from Mendeley, the academic reference manager, and found them to be a useful source of early impact information. Mendeley reader data can be recorded from the moment an article appears online and so avoids the publication cycle delays that so slow down the visibility of citations.