Grey matter: Integrating Grey Literature and Mainstream Media Mentions into Scientometric Analysis

This study describes a proof of concept for the integration of grey literature and, more specifically, mainstream
media mentions of academic researchers within scientometric and bibliometric analyses. The Python pipeline
automatically and on a large scale harvests, contextualizes, and evaluates researchers’ mentions in mainstream
media against their academic activities. Merging data from FRIS, OpenAlex, and Belga.Press databases, we
developed a methodology to discern mentions related to genuine research from academic expertise or those
mentions driven by a researcher's non-academic activities. A scoring is assigned for each mention to differentiate
between research-specific and more general expertise. In the process, each step is logged, traceable, and fully
transparent, compliant with the push towards Open Science. This approach enhances the understanding of a
researcher's public visibility and equally contributes to more informed assessments of research impact, paving the
way for more refined metrics in academic evaluations.