Relationship between Twitter and Radiology Journal Citations

The Role of Twitter in Radiology Medical Education and Research: A Review of Current Practices and Drawbacks

The trends in society have provided favourable conditions for the rapid growth of radiology on social media, specifically there has been an expanding presence on Twitter. Currently, simple searches on Twitter yield a plethora of radiology education resources, that may be suited for medical students, residents or practicing radiologists. Educators have many tools at their disposal to deliver effective teaching. Over time, strategies such as including images and scrollable stacks often are more successful at gaining popularity or clicks online. Journals and authors can use Twitter to promote their new scientific work and potentially reach audiences they couldn't have prior. Attendees at conferences can get involved in the conversation by tweeting about the meeting and engaging with other attendees with mutual interests. Interested medical students, residents and even practicing radiologists can use Twitter as a means of networking and connecting with other scholars all around the globe. Within its glory, Twitter does carry some drawbacks including privacy concerns, equality, and risk of misinformation. Above all, the future of Twitter is bright and promising for all who are currently on it and plan to use it for their education, research, or professional advancement.

Trends in Twitter Utilization Among Academic Otolaryngologists

OBJECTIVE

To characterize Twitter utilization among academic otolaryngologists and evaluate the relationship between Twitter utilization and research productivity.

METHODS

Data were collected manually from accredited US otolaryngology residency programs from July-November 2021. Program and faculty demographics were documented, including citations and H-index for faculty and Doximity reputation and US News and World Report ranking for programs. Twitter metrics were also recorded. Descriptive analyses and multivariable logistic regression models were used to identify predictors of Twitter utilization.

RESULTS

Currently, 333 (16%) faculty and 70 (62%) programs have a Twitter account. Of these, 36 (11%) and 27 (39%), respectively, were created in 2020. The regression model indicates that for each 5 unit increase in H-index, the odds of having a Twitter account increase 22% (OR 1.22, 95% CI 1.10-1.34, p = 0.0009). The number of faculty with a Twitter account predicts the existence of program Twitter accounts (OR:1.49, 95% CI 1.01-2.19, p = 0.04). Finally, of the 323 faculty with a Twitter account and available Scopus profile, we found that the number of individuals with Twitter use out of proportion to their academic productivity was low (n = 8/323).

CONCLUSION

The H-index is a significant predictor of faculty Twitter accounts, whereas the number of faculty with Twitter is a significant predictor of program Twitter utilization. Although Twitter utilization is increasing, especially during the coronavirus pandemic, the findings indicate that there is ample room for growth, particularly amongst faculty with strong academic portfolios.

LEVEL OF EVIDENCE

NA Laryngoscope, 134:1190-1196, 2024.

Does Reader Engagement with Neurosurgery Journal Websites Correlate with the Number of Citations Received by Articles?

BACKGROUND

Medicine has begun adapting to new information-sharing paradigms in the hyper-connected social media era. In this milieu, the role of journal websites in the dissemination of clinical and research information needs to be reevaluated.

OBJECTIVE

We sought to explore whether reader engagement with neurosurgical journal websites, reflected by the number of article views and downloads, correlated with the eventual number of citations received by the articles.

METHODS

The websites of all Medline indexed neurosurgical journals were screened to identify those that provided information regarding the number of abstract and full text views and downloads. Articles published in these journals between July 2010 and June 2011 were included in this analysis. Various article attributes were identified and the number of citations per article was obtained from Google Scholar. The impact factors of the selected journals for the year 2010 were obtained from the Journal Citation Reports.

RESULTS

Twenty-two journals that had published 2527 articles were finally included in this analysis. The number of abstract views, full-text views, and downloads all correlated strongly with the journal impact factors in 2010 as well as the eventual citations per article. The number of article downloads independently predicted the citations per article on multivariate analysis. Neurology India had significantly higher article views and downloads but lower citations per article than the other journals.

CONCLUSIONS

Readers were found to engage significantly with neurosurgical journal websites and therefore, open access to articles would lead to increased visibility of articles, resulting in higher citation rates.

A New (Digital) Era in Medical Journalism: Leveraging Social Media and Other Online Tools to Increase Reach and Engagement

Social media is a popular communication and marketing tool in modern society, with the power to reach and engage large audiences. Many members of the medical and radiology communities have embraced social media platforms, particularly X (formerly known as Twitter), as an efficient and economic means for performing patient outreach, disseminating research and educational materials, building networks, and promoting diversity. Editors of medical journals with a clear vision and relevant expertise can leverage social media and other digital tools to advance the journal's mission, further their interests, and directly benefit journal authors and readers. For editors, social media offers a means to increase article visibility and downloads, expand awareness of volunteer opportunities, and use metrics and other feedback to inform future initiatives. Authors benefit from broader dissemination of their work, which aids establishment of a national or international reputation. Readers can receive high-quality high-yield content in a digestible format directly on their devices while actively engaging with journal editors and authors in the online community. The authors highlight the multifaceted benefits of social media engagement and digital tool implementation in the context of medical journalism and summarize the activities of the RadioGraphics Social Media and Digital Innovation Team. By enumerating the social media activities of RadioGraphics and describing the underlying rationale for each activity, the authors present a blueprint for other medical journals considering similar initiatives. ©RSNA, 2023.

The growing role of social media for research and education in radiology

While the adoption of social media platforms has become commonplace for personal life use, its practice has tremendously grown for professional usage in medicine, and particularly in the field of radiology. The use of alternative metrics, or altmetrics, scores have developed in an effort to quantify the impact of research beyond traditional metrics, such as citation rate and journal impact factor, particularly to recognize the impact of social media on dissemination and promotion of research. Social media usage in the realm of radiology has expectedly been adopted for the purposes of medical education, research, networking, and advocacy. However, some platforms have been used as a medium to discuss and share the day-to-day nature in the field of radiology, burnout in radiology, as well as radiology-themed humor. The purpose of this review article was discuss the role of altmetrics, as well as the specific uses of social media platforms including Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, Youtube, and more. The role of ethics in social media practice related to radiology are discussed.

Influences of the Social Media Continuum Model in Radiology: Theory and Reality

Social media utilization has been growing exponentially worldwide and has created a thriving venue for radiologists and the profession of radiology to engage in on both the academic and social levels. The aim of this article is to conduct updated literature review and address a gap in the literature by introducing a simple classification for social media utilization and a new theoretical model to outline the role and potential value of social media in the realm of radiology. We propose classifying social media through usage-driven and access-driven indices. Furthermore, we discuss the interdependency of radiologists, other physicians and non-physician stakeholders, scientific journals, conferences/meetings and the general public in an integrated social media continuum model. With the ongoing sub-specialization of radiology, social media helps mitigate the physical barriers of making connections with peers and audiences which would have otherwise been unfeasible. The constant evolution and diversification of social media platforms necessitates a novel approach to better understand its role through a radiological lens. With the looming fear of 'ancillary service' labelling, social media could be the golden plate to halt the path towards commoditization of radiology.

Twitter Mentions Influence Academic Citation Count of Shoulder and Elbow Surgery Publications

Background

Social media use among scholars and journals is growing and has augmented the academic impact of published articles in several areas of medicine. However, the influence of social media postings on academic citations of shoulder and elbow surgery publications is not known. In this study, we sought (1) to quantify the adoption of Twitter use for the dissemination of research publications by three prominent shoulder and elbow surgery journals and (2) to determine the correlation between Twitter mentions and academic citations in shoulder and elbow surgery publications.

Methodology

A total of 396 original research articles from three shoulder and elbow surgery journals (Journal of Shoulder and Elbow Surgery (JSES), Shoulder & Elbow, and JSES International) published in 2018 were assessed 34 to 45 months after print publication. For each article, the total number of Twitter mentions were obtained using Altmetric Bookmarklet and grouped into those tweeted by authors, an official outlet, or a third party. Article citation data was obtained using the Google Scholar search engine. Pearson correlation was used to determine the association between the number of Twitter mentions and citation count.

Results

Of all articles, 51% (202/396) had at least one Twitter mention. Of all Twitter mentions, 12.7% (367/2,879) occurred within the first week of online publication dates, while 51.5% (1,482/2,879) occurred between online and print publication dates. Articles mentioned on Twitter had 1.3-fold more Google Scholar citations (17.7 ± 15.2) than articles with no Twitter mentions (14.0 ± 15.7) (p = 0.017). The number of Twitter mentions had a weakly positive correlation with academic citation count (r = 0.25; p < 0.001). No significant difference in academic citation rates was found between articles tweeted by authors or official outlets when compared to articles tweeted by a third party only (p = 0.97 and p = 0.34, respectively).

Conclusions

Approximately half of shoulder and elbow surgery publications are shared on Twitter, with the majority of the activity occurring prior to their print publication date. The finding that tweeted articles have more academic citations within three years of release suggests that social media activity seems to amplify the academic impact of shoulder and elbow surgery publications.

Association Between Twitter Mentions and Academic Citations in Otolaryngology Literature

OBJECTIVE

To evaluate the relationship between Twitter mentions and academic citations in otolaryngology literature.

STUDY DESIGN

Retrospective cross-sectional analysis.

SETTING

Altmetric Twitter mention and Google Scholar citation rosters.

METHODS

Original research articles from 10 leading otolaryngology journals were assessed 26 months after print publication. Article Twitter mentions were tracked through the Altmetric Bookmarklet, and article citation data were determined through the Google Scholar search engine. Twitter mentions and citation metrics of articles were compared through 2-tailed t test analysis (P < .05).

RESULTS

Of all articles, 50.7% (152/300) had at least 1 Twitter mention. Of all article Twitter mentions, 25% (432/1758) happened within the first week of online publication dates, while 64% (1130/1758) occurred between online and print publication dates. Articles mentioned on Twitter had 1.6-fold more Google Scholar citations (8.6 ± 0.7, mean ± SD) than articles with no Twitter mentions (5.4 ± 0.4, P < .01). A total of 8% (24/300) of publications were tweeted by their authors. Articles self-tweeted by authors were associated with an 8.4-citation increase (14.8 ± 3.1) for Google Scholar when compared with articles not shared by their authors on Twitter (6.4 ± 0.4; 2.3-fold increase, P < .01).

CONCLUSION

Most otolaryngology articles are disseminated over Twitter, with greatest Twitter activity occurring before print publication date of articles. Citations within 2 years of release are positively associated with the number of mentions on Twitter. Article Twitter mentions may augment the academic influence of otolaryngology publications.