How Effective is Altmetrics for Assessing a Specialist's Scientific Contributions?

Introduction. The article explores the effectiveness of altmetrics for as­sessing the scientific contributions of universities' teaching staff and research institutes' personnel. The article's goal is to identify the alt­metric indicators (indices) that are least susceptible to fluctuations and manipulations, while providing valuable insights into a specialist's real achievements. Methods. The article analyses altmetrics as a unique branch of scientometrics in terms of its effectiveness for assessing sci­entific contributions of a scientist with a focus on the general theoreti­cal and practical research methods, including content analysis and bib­liographic coupling. Results and Discussion. Altmetrics has repeatedly garnered attention of foreign and Russian scientists, primarily for its theoretical implications. This article attempts to identify and substanti­ate several altmetric indicators that could serve as additional indicators for generation of a specialist's detailed scientometric profile. Conclu­sion. Research indicates that altmetric scores from specialised academ­ic platforms like ResearchGate and Academia.edu are most suitable for forming a scientific rating for researchers, albeit with some reservations. The country-index provides the most stable and reliable data in various configurations, as it is next to impossible to secure enquiries and uploads from dozens of countries by improper manipulations. Thus, the country-index reliably reflects a specialist's international recognition with a high degree of objectivity. Altmetrics has a certain potential for developing a scientometric profile of a scientists, and some of its data may already serve as additional indicators, whether they are adopted by the administration of the university / research institute.