Analysis of highly tweeted dental journals and articles: a science mapping approach

Assessing the visibility and public engagement of bone marrow and stem cell transplantation research: An altmetric analysis

Background

Bone marrow and stem cell transplantation have led to significant advancements in modern medicine, offering potential cures for various hematological disorders and specific cancers. This study aims to investigate and analyze research in this field using altmetrics in a world outside the academic scholarly and publishing environment.

Methods

This study examines articles in the field of bone marrow and stem cell transplantation in a ten-year period (2013-2022) extracted from the Web of Science database. The Altmetric Explorer database and tool were used to extract data. After an initial review of the data for their completeness and accuracy, the study considered descriptive reports, statistical analyses, bibliometric network analysis, and overlaps between articles, journals, and research centers in terms of the Altmetric Attention Score (AAS) and citations using Excel, SPSS, Python, R, and VOSviewer.

Result

This study evaluated 12924 articles published in 293 journals. Findings show that 85.67% of the articles were mentioned at least once on various social media and their tools. The AAS varied between 0 and 1125, and the median of this score was 2. The highest score was assigned to an article that provides critical insights into the outcomes of patients with refractory diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL). Mendeley, X (formerly Twitter), and News were the most important and active social tools, respectively, where these articles were mentioned. The highest number of tweets, news stories, Facebook posts, and policy documents were from the USA, USA, USA, and UK, respectively. The @PaperbirdsM and @MayoClinic accounts on X had the highest tweet and follower statistics, respectively. The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center also had the highest number of mentions on social networks. Network analysis maps of the top AAS articles showed "Stem Cell Transplantation" as the most popular author keyword, with Blood having the most influence at the journal level, the USA at the country level, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center at the research center level, and Kenneth C. Anderson at the author level. Finally, the results of the tests showed a significant correlation between citation and Altmetric indicators/AAS. However, nor were there differences in AAS based on the open access status of articles or the journal quartile.

Conclusion

A high percentage of articles in this field are present on social networks and platforms. Furthermore, highly cited articles on social media have attracted more attention. Both traditional and web-based metrics offer different perspectives on scholarly impact. While each provides valuable insights, further research is needed to explore how these metrics can be effectively combined for a more comprehensive evaluation of scientific outputs.

Does the quality of orthodontic studies influence their Altmetric Attention Score?

Objective

The aim of this study was to determine whether an association between study quality, other study characteristics, and Altmetric Attention Scores (AASs) existed in orthodontic studies.

Methods

The Scopus database was searched to identify orthodontic studies published between January 1, 2017, and December 31, 2019. Articles that satisfied the eligibility criteria were included in this study. Study characteristics, including study quality were extracted and entered into a pre-pilot data collection sheet. Descriptive statistics were calculated. On an exploratory basis, random forest and gradient boosting machine learning algorithms were used to examine the influence of article characteristics on AAS.

Results

In total, 586 studies with an AAS were analyzed. Overall, the mean AAS of the samples was 5. Twitter was the most popular social media platform for publicizing studies, accounting for 53.7%. In terms of study quality, only 19.1% of the studies were rated as having a high level of quality, with 41.8% of the studies deemed moderate quality. The type of social media platform, number of citations, impact factor, and study type were among the most influential characteristics of AAS in both models. In contrast, study quality was one of the least influential characteristics on the AAS.

Conclusions

Social media platforms contributed the most to the AAS for orthodontic studies, whereas study quality had little impact on the AAS.

Scientific Hypotheses: Writing, Promoting, and Predicting Implications

Scientific hypotheses are essential for progress in rapidly developing academic disciplines. Proposing new ideas and hypotheses require thorough analyses of evidence-based data and predictions of the implications. One of the main concerns relates to the ethical implications of the generated hypotheses. The authors may need to outline potential benefits and limitations of their suggestions and target widely visible publication outlets to ignite discussion by experts and start testing the hypotheses. Not many publication outlets are currently welcoming hypotheses and unconventional ideas that may open gates to criticism and conservative remarks. A few scholarly journals guide the authors on how to structure hypotheses. Reflecting on general and specific issues around the subject matter is often recommended for drafting a well-structured hypothesis article. An analysis of influential hypotheses, presented in this article, particularly Strachan's hygiene hypothesis with global implications in the field of immunology and allergy, points to the need for properly interpreting and testing new suggestions. Envisaging the ethical implications of the hypotheses should be considered both by authors and journal editors during the writing and publishing process.

Altmetric analysis of the contemporary scientific literature in Endodontology

AIM

To analyse and visualize the knowledge structure of scientific articles in the field of Endodontology with high altmetric attention scores to discover hot topics, active researchers and the journals involved.

METHODOLOGY

On 5 June 2019, the altmetric database (Altmetric LLP, London, UK) was searched using the titles of 11 endodontic journals. Bibliometric data from endodontic articles and journals with an altmetric score >5 (top 5%) were retrieved from PubMed and analysed using the VOSviewer. Science mapping of articles with an altmetric score >5 at two levels was created: author keywords co-occurrence and co-authorship network analysis.

RESULTS

Of the 2197 articles in the field of Endodontology identified with altmetrics, 192 had altmetric scores >5 (top 5%). Considering the total mentions amongst all altmetric resources, the Journal of Endodontics had the highest rank followed by the International Endodontic Journal and Australian Endodontic Journal. Twitter was the most popular altmetric data resource followed by patents and Facebook. Meta-analysis, systematic review and pulpitis were the hot topics. At the author level, Dummer P.M.H had the greatest influence on the network. There was no significant correlation between altmetric score and citations count (P > 0.05). Mendeley mentions correlated with citations (P < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONS

Overall, the altmetric scores of topics within Endodontology were low, possibly due to the specific and specialized nature of the specialty, as well as the difficulty members of the public probably have in understanding endodontic research. Journals and researchers with a focus on Endodontology would have more influence if they were to set-up their own social media profiles and thus enhance their visibility and social impact by immediately sharing research findings and communicating with their network and audience.