Data notes appear at the bottom of search results on some screens. Overton uses them to make users aware of possible limitations and biases in the data.
We strive to ensure the data in Overton is accurate and complete, but limitations and possible biases still exist.
You can read more about our data collection methods and responsible metrics. However, we want to help users who are not familiar with scholarly metadata and citation tools understand when to interpret results with caution.
How do data notes work?
The system automatically generates data notes based on the filters you apply in your search or the results you view.
Not all search results will have data notes. When notes are generated, they will appear at the bottom of the search results page. Click on the “Data notes” bar to view them.
Each note includes three bullet points. These points provide background on the issue, explain why it might be a problem, and offer advice on how to address it. You may also find a link to a relevant help page for more details.
Priority of data notes
Some notes cover background information that is useful but doesn’t significantly affect further analysis. Other notes point out biases or potential limitations that users need to be aware of.
To address this, we assign each note a priority level: low, medium, or high. The note sidebar is colour-coded to reflect the priority level: red for high priority, yellow for medium priority, and green for low priority.
If your search results in at least one high priority data note we’ll show the data notes bar at the top of the page.
To see all our data notes along with an interpretation of the limitations, see the following pages ‘Low priority data notes’, ‘Medium priority data notes’ and ‘High priority data notes’.
Hiding, adding or customising notes
We will keep adding new data notes whenever we find use cases that might be affected by spotty metadata or our data processing and structuring methods.
If you think we are missing important notes or if you are an institutional account holder and want to hide or customise data notes for your users, please contact us at support@overton.io.