Does altmetric score affect the impact factor of anatomy journals?

Abstract

The impact of a scientific article is measured by the impact factor (IF) of the journal in which it was published and the number of citations. The real impact is causing delays as citations happen over time. The Altmetric score originated as a measure of the digital dissemination of a scientific article across multiple social platforms. Our study aims to determine whether the Altmetric scores are related to the journal impact factor and the number of citations in the anatomy literature. The top 10 most cited articles were determined for the 15 anatomy journals with the highest impact factor in 2014, 2017 and 2019. Citation counts and Altmetric scores were recorded for each article. The relationship between the Altmeric score and 2019, 2017 and 2014 citation numbers were evaluated. It was also evaluated in correlation with the 2020 impact factor. At the same time, it was determined whether the articles had anatomical content or not. In 2014, Altmetric scores did not correlate with citation number (r = 0.368, P = 0.177) and journal impact factor (r = 0.43, P = 0.52). In 2017, there was significant positive correlation between Altmetric scores and citation number (r = 0.914, P = 0.000), as well as between Altmetric scores and journal impact factor (r = 0.038, P = 0.003). Also significant positive correlation between 2017 Altmeric scores and 2019 impact factor (r = 0.065, P = 0.021). This study is the first to link traditional bibliometric measurements with newer digital dispersion measurements for anatomy publications. The altmetric score correlates only weakly with citation numbers in the anatomy literature. However, the increase in the number of citations or the impact factor of the journals in which articles on anatomy are published shows that anatomy studies can be effective.