git:20260711.5ae6f6f to git:20260712.3675171

2 added, 0 removed. Audit A to A.

---

name: scientific-impact-assessment

description: Assess research reach with OpenAlex citations, optional Altmetric data, and journal context. Use when comparing papers, journals, or literature shortlists by influence.

---

# Scientific Impact Assessment

Use this skill to measure the reach of a paper with citation, attention, and journal-level context.

## Instructions

1. Prefer a DOI or OpenAlex work ID as input.

- If you only have a title, use `/crossref-lookup` first to resolve a DOI before running this skill.

2. Use the bundled CLI:

- In this repository: `skills/scientific-impact-assessment/scripts/measure-impact`

- After installation: `~/.agents/skills/scientific-impact-assessment/scripts/measure-impact`

3. OpenAlex is the default source for paper-level citation data.

- The CLI retrieves `cited_by_count`, publication year, journal/source name, and citation history from OpenAlex.

4. Altmetric is optional and should be treated as conditional enrichment.

- Current Altmetric documentation says an API key is required for Details Page API access.

- If `ALTMETRIC_API_KEY` is not available, the CLI should report Altmetric as unavailable instead of failing.

5. Journal-level impact factors come from the curated references table in `references/journal_metrics_2024.tsv`.

- These are curated public web values, mostly from official publisher pages.

- The `Science` row uses a labeled third-party fallback because no public official AAAS JIF page was located during skill creation on March 19, 2026.

6. Keep paper-level and journal-level metrics separate in the final answer.

- Do not present journal impact factor as a proxy for article quality.

- Do not present Altmetric attention as equivalent to scholarly citation impact.

7. If the journal is not in the curated table, return the OpenAlex result anyway and say the journal-level reference lookup was not available.

+ 8. Repeated OpenAlex lookups use a TTL-bound response cache and a cross-process pacing lock. Defaults are `--cache-ttl 86400` and `--min-interval 0.1`; use `--cache-dir` or `OPENALEX_CACHE_DIR` for a project/site cache. Live reports record this request policy.

## Quick Reference

| Task | Action |

|------|--------|

| Measure by DOI | `skills/scientific-impact-assessment/scripts/measure-impact --doi 10.1038/nature12373` |

| Measure by OpenAlex ID | `skills/scientific-impact-assessment/scripts/measure-impact --openalex-id W2741809807` |

| Add OpenAlex polite-pool email | `--mailto you@example.org` |

| Enable Altmetric enrichment | Source `ALTMETRIC_API_KEY` from a private environment file before running |

| Text summary output | `--format text` |

| Save JSON report | `--output impact-report.json` |

| Journal metrics table | `references/journal_metrics_2024.tsv` |

| Deployment regression test | `python3 -m unittest tests/test_scientific_impact_assessment.py -v` |

## Input Requirements

- Python 3

- One of:

- `--doi <doi>`

- `--openalex-id <id>`

- Optional:

- `--mailto <email>` for OpenAlex polite-pool identification

- `ALTMETRIC_API_KEY` loaded from a private environment file

- `--output <path>`

- `--format json|text`

## Output

- OpenAlex-derived paper metadata including:

- title

- DOI

- OpenAlex ID

- publication year

- citation count

- citation history by year

- journal/source name

- Altmetric summary when an API key is available and the record exists

- curated journal-level impact-factor context when the journal matches the bundled references table

- explicit status values when Altmetric or journal-level lookup is unavailable

## Quality Gates

- [ ] The input is resolved to a DOI or OpenAlex work ID before lookup

- [ ] OpenAlex citation data is reported separately from journal-level metrics

- [ ] Altmetric is marked optional and unavailable when no API key is configured

- [ ] Journal impact factors are read from the bundled references table, not improvised from memory

- [ ] Any third-party journal metric source is labeled as such in the output

+ - [ ] Repeated OpenAlex requests record cache TTL and minimum interval; expired responses are refreshed under the pacing lock.

## Examples

### Example 1: DOI-based report

```bash

skills/scientific-impact-assessment/scripts/measure-impact \

--doi 10.1038/nature12373 \

--format text

```

### Example 2: OpenAlex ID plus Altmetric

```bash

source ~/.secrets/altmetric.env

skills/scientific-impact-assessment/scripts/measure-impact \

--openalex-id W2741809807 \

--mailto you@example.org \

--output impact-report.json

```

## Troubleshooting

**Issue**: Altmetric is always unavailable.

**Solution**: Check whether `ALTMETRIC_API_KEY` is set. Current Altmetric docs require a key for all Details Page API endpoints.

**Issue**: The journal-level lookup is empty.

**Solution**: The journal is probably not in `references/journal_metrics_2024.tsv` yet. Return the OpenAlex paper metrics and add the journal later if you can source a public metric page.

**Issue**: Only a title is available.

**Solution**: Resolve the title to a DOI first with `/crossref-lookup`, then rerun this skill using the DOI for a deterministic lookup.

## Related Skills

- `/crossref-lookup` — resolve DOIs before scoring impact

- `/polars-dovmed` — retrieve the full text that backs the impact claim