The Use of Twitter by the Trauma and Orthopaedic Surgery Journals: Twitter Activity, Impact Factor, and Alternative Metrics

Abstract

AimSocial media (SoMe) platforms have become leading methods of communication and dissemination of scientific information in the medical community. They allow for immediate discussion and widespread engagement around important topics. It has been hypothesized that the activity on Twitter positively correlates with highly cited articles. The purpose of this study was to analyze the prevalence and activity of Trauma and Orthopaedic Surgery journals on Twitter, with the hypothesis that impact factor is positively associated with Twitter usage.MethodsThe top 50 Trauma and Orthopaedic Surgery journals, ranked by 2016 Impact Factor were analyzed. The Twitter profiles of each journal or affiliated society were identified. Other SoMe platforms used were also recorded. Twitonomy software (Digonomy Pty Ltd, New South Wales, Australia) was used to analyze the Twitter profiles over a one-year period. Twitter Klout Scores were recorded for each journal to approximate the SoMe influence. Altmetric Scores (the total number of mentions via alternative metrics) were also recorded. Statistical analysis was carried out to identify correlations between journal Impact Factors, SoMe activity, Twitter Klout Scores and Altmetric Scores. ResultsTwenty-two journals (44%) had dedicated Twitter profiles. Fourteen journals (28%) were associated with societies that had profiles and 14 journals (28%) had no Twitter presence. The mean Impact Factor overall was 2.16 +/- 0.14 (range, 1.07-5.16). The journals with dedicated Twitter profiles had higher Impact Factors than those without (mean 2.41 vs. 1.61; P=0.005). A greater number of Twitter followers were associated with higher Impact Factors (R2 0.317, P=0.03). Journals with higher Twitter Klout Scores had higher Impact Factors (R2 0.357, P=0.016). Altmetric Score was positively associated with Impact Factor (R2 0.310, P=0.015). Journals with higher numbers of retweets (virtual citations in the Twittersphere) had higher Altmetric Scores (R2 0.463, P=0.015).ConclusionTrauma and Orthopaedic Surgery journals with dedicated Twitter profiles have higher Impact Factors than those without. Altmetrics is likely to play a significant role in the literature evaluation going forward along with the traditional metrics. The engagement with Twitter by Trauma and Orthopaedic surgeons should be encouraged.

Correlation Between Social Media Posts and Academic Citations of Orthopaedic Research

“…Both patients and surgeons increasingly look to social media platforms such as Twitter to communicate, educate, and disseminate information, 1 2 3 4 5 6 and many academic journals have adopted Twitter profiles in response. 7 , 8 In this study, through a systematic analysis of recent research publications in three high-impact orthopaedic surgery journals, we have shown that social media posting is weakly, but markedly, correlated with academic citation. Although each of the three journals demonstrated a presence on social media, the notable differences in social media utilization between the journals may represent an opportunity to more effectively share published research by leveraging online platforms.…”

“…Many academic journals have adopted Twitter profiles to have a greater social media presence, both within the academic community and the general public. 7 , 8 Currently, Twitter is the most commonly used social media platform for the dissemination of medical research, accounting for more than 80% of online posts of musculoskeletal research, 9 with more than 300 million active monthly users. 10…”

Digital images of pediatric mental disorders do not accurately represent the conditions

“…Online media are a network of web-based and informatics tools that aid the creation, sharing and dissemination of information between individuals and online communities ( Hughes et al., 2017 ). The use of online media has expanded significantly since its inception ( Kaplan and Haenlein, 2010 ).…”

The impact of social media on citation rates in coloproctology

“…In contrast to citation counts or the JIF, altmetrics reflects a broader setting . An example is Twitter activity . Twitter is arguably one of the most popular social media platforms today.…”

“…Research regarding the broader role of social media in coloproctology has been conducted in the past . Although a positive correlation between Twitter activity and citation rates has been reported in urology and other fields of medicine , no such research has yet been undertaken in coloproctology. Critically, not all such studies showed a significant correlation between the two variables; therefore, this topic remains somewhat controversial .…”