The Alma Collection Report in InCites Benchmarking & Analytics is a specialized report designed for institutions that use both the Ex Librix Alma Platform and InCites. It helps libraries and research administrators analyze how their institutional research activity aligns with their library collections.
The report bridges the gap between library collections and research performance analytics, helping institutions ensure that their library investments directly support research excellence.
What the Alma Collection Report Does
The report combines:
- Library holdings data from Alma
- Research publication and citation data from Web of Science/InCites
This integration enables institutions to evaluate whether their holdings/collections configured in Ex Libris Alma effectively support their researchers’ publishing and citation behavior.
The report is generally based on the titles available in the institution’s Alma library collection, rather than only on actively subscribed journals. That means the Alma integration typically looks at the organization’s holdings/collections configured in Ex Libris Alma. So, the report reflects the library collection metadata available in Alma, not strictly the financial subscription list.
Key Objectives
The Alma Collection Report is mainly used for:
- Collection development decisions
- Journal subscription optimization
- Research support analysis
- Open access monitoring
- Budget prioritization
Libraries can identify:
- Which journals their researchers publish in most
- Which journals researchers cite frequently
- Which journals cite institutional authors
- Important journals missing from current collections
- Coverage gaps across research disciplines
Main Features
Some commonly used insights in the report include:
Journal Utilization Analysis
Shows relationships between:
- Journals researchers publish in
- Journals they cite
- Journals citing institutional research
This helps determine whether subscribed content is actively supporting research output.
Important Indicators and their definition
| Indicator | Definition | Example | Helps libraries and institutions understand |
| Citation to the journal/book/series | This indicates the number of times researchers from your institution cite content published in a particular journal, book, or book series in their own scholarly publications. | A researcher at your university publishes a paper and cites articles from Nature or a specific book series. |
|
| Citation from the journal/book/series | This indicates the number of times publications from your institution are cited by articles or chapters published in a particular journal, book, or book series. | A paper written by your university researcher gets cited in The Lancet or in a conference proceedings series. |
|
Collection Coverage Mapping
Maps Alma holdings against:
- Web of Science research areas
- Institutional publishing activity
This helps libraries assess subject-wise strengths and weaknesses.
Gap Identification
Highlights:
- High-impact journals not currently subscribed to
- Underused subscriptions
- Potential collection redundancies
Open Access Tracking
Supports monitoring of:
- Open access publishing trends
- Transformative agreement impact
- Institutional OA strategies
Typical Users
The report is especially useful for:
- Library collection managers
- Research offices
- Institutional analytics teams
- Electronic resource managers
- Strategic planning teams
Business Value
The Alma Collection Report helps institutions:
- Make evidence-based subscription decisions
- Align collections with institutional research priorities
- Improve ROI on library spending
- Support researchers with relevant resources
- Strengthen strategic collection planning
How the Integration Works
Institutions using Alma can opt in to share holdings data with InCites through the Alma cloud app integration. The holdings are harvested monthly, and the Alma Collection Report is refreshed regularly within InCites.
Note: Users will not see the Alma Report in InCites immediately after opting in. The report is not populated until the UDM release at the end of month.
To view the Alma Collection report in InCites, Alma administrators must opt-in to share their holdings information with InCites. To opt-in:
- Activate the JCR Cloud App from the Alma Cloud App Center
- Toggle on the 'Share data with Web of Science' option in the JCR Cloud App
Alma Report Update Schedule
Collection data is updated monthly during the UDM release. The UDM release schedule can be viewed here. Please note:
- To see the report following the UDM update, users must have opted in by the 1st of the month.
- If users opt-in after the 1st of the month, they will not see the report until the UDM update at the end of the next month.