Anna

I think the value of a scholarly content item--be it a journal article, monograph, or something else--depends primarily upon the item's individual contributions to the discipline or disciplines in which it is based. An item that contributes something original and relevant to its field--and this can be determined by peer review or possibly alternatives to peer review--likely has a high amount of value. It helps if an item that does these things is widely read and disseminated, too, but I don't think levels of readership or dissemination alone really say that much about a scholarly content item's value.