The relation between social media mentions and academic citations in orthodontic journals: A preliminary study

Dina G Hassan; Maha El Tantawi; Mohamed G Hassan

doi:10.1016/j.ejwf.2023.05.003

The relation between social media mentions and academic citations in orthodontic journals: A preliminary study

J World Fed Orthod. 2023 Jun;12(3):125-130. doi: 10.1016/j.ejwf.2023.05.003. Epub 2023 May 17.

Authors

Dina G Hassan¹, Maha El Tantawi², Mohamed G Hassan³

Affiliations

¹ Department of Environmental Medical Sciences, Faculty of Graduate Studies and Environmental Research, Ain Shams University, Cairo, Egypt.
² Department of Pediatric Dentistry and Dental Public Health, Faculty of Dentistry, Alexandria University, Alexandria, Egypt.
³ Department of Orthodontics, Faculty of Dentistry, Assiut University, Assiut, Egypt; Division of Bone and Mineral Diseases, Department of Medicine, School of Medicine, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO. Electronic address: hmohamed@wustl.edu.

PMID: 37208205
DOI: 10.1016/j.ejwf.2023.05.003

Abstract

Background: To study the relation between social media mentions and academic citations for articles published in peer-reviewed orthodontic journals.

Methods: Articles published in early 2018 in seven peer-reviewed orthodontic journals were retrospectively analyzed in September 2022. Citation counts of the articles were evaluated using two databases: Google Scholar (GS) and Web of Science (WoS). The Altmetric Attention Score, Twitter, Facebook mentions, and Mendeley reads were tracked using the Altmetric Bookmarklet. The citation counts and social media mentions were correlated using Spearman rho.

Results: A total of 84 articles were identified during the initial search; 64 (76%) were original studies and systematic review articles and included in the analysis. A total of 38% of the articles had at least one mention on social media. Over the study period, the average number of citations of the articles mentioned on social media was higher than the non-mentioned articles for GS and WoS, respectively. Moreover, significant positive correlations existed between the Altmetric Attention Score and the number of citations in GS and WoS (r_s = 0.31, P = 0.001 and r_s = 0.26, P = 0.04).

Conclusions: Social media mentions and citations of articles published in peer-reviewed orthodontic journals are correlated, with a clear difference in the number of citations in articles mentioned on social media versus those not mentioned, indicating possible increased reach of articles disseminated on social media.

Keywords: Altmetrics; Citation; Facebook; Google Scholar; Publication; Social media; Twitter; Web of Science.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Bibliometrics
Humans
Journal Impact Factor
Periodicals as Topic*
Retrospective Studies
Social Media*