For better or worse, tenure evaluations are a crazy important part of academic life in the US. You have roughly five years to produce enough research of a high enough quality to earn the right to keep doing said research.
The three common metrics for evaluating are:
1. citations -- highly cited papers are evidence of contributing to academic society
2. impact factor -- papers published in highly selective journals that peer reviews submissions are considered better
3. money -- AFAIK nobody says this out loud, but if your department can't bring in revenue to support you and your researchers, your tenure case is on thin ice.
The three common metrics for evaluating are:
1. citations -- highly cited papers are evidence of contributing to academic society
2. impact factor -- papers published in highly selective journals that peer reviews submissions are considered better
3. money -- AFAIK nobody says this out loud, but if your department can't bring in revenue to support you and your researchers, your tenure case is on thin ice.