Abstract
BackgroundNew metrics have been developed to assess the impact of research and provide an indication of online media attention and data dissemination. We aimed to describe online media attention of articles evaluating cancer treatments and identify the factors associated with high online media attention.MethodsWe systematically searched MEDLINE via PubMed on March 1, 2015 for articles published during the first 6 months of 2014 in oncology and medical journals with a diverse range of impact factors, from 3.9 to 54.4, and selected a sample of articles evaluating a cancer treatment regardless of study design. Altmetric Explorer was used to identify online media attention of selected articles. The primary outcome was media attention an article received online as measured by Altmetric score (i.e., number of mentions in online news outlets, science blogs and social media). Regression analysis was performed to investigate the factors associated with high media attention, and regression coefficients represent the logarithm of ratio of mean (RoM) values of Altmetric score per unit change in the covariate.ResultsAmong 792 articles, 218 (27.5%) received no online media attention (Altmetric score = 0). The median [Q1–Q3] Altmetric score was 2.0 [0.0–8.0], range 0.0–428.0. On multivariate analysis, factors associated with high Altmetric score were presence of a press release (RoM = 10.14, 95%CI [4.91–20.96]), open access to the article (RoM = 1.48, 95%CI [1.02–2.16]), and journal impact factor (RoM = 1.10, 95%CI [1.07–1.12]. As compared with observational studies, systematic reviews were not associated with high Altmetric score (RoM = 1.46, 95%CI [0.74–2.86]; P = 0.27), nor were RCTs (RoM = 0.65, 95%CI [0.41–1.02]; P = 0.059) and phase I/II non-RCTs (RoM = 0.58, 95%CI [0.33–1.05]; P = 0.07). The articles with abstract conclusions favouring study treatments were not associated with high Altmetric score (RoM = 0.97, 95%CI [0.60–1.58]; P = 0.91).ConclusionsMost important factors associated with high online media attention were the presence of a press release and the journal impact factor. There was no evidence that study design with high level of evidence and type of abstract conclusion were associated with high online media attention.
Highlights
New metrics have been developed to assess the impact of research and provide an indication of online media attention and data dissemination
There was no evidence that study design with a high level of evidence and type of abstract conclusion were associated with high online media attention
Most important factors associated with high online media attention are presence of a press release and journal impact factor
Summary
New metrics have been developed to assess the impact of research and provide an indication of online media attention and data dissemination. Citations only measure the impact in the scientific community [4] but not on other important stakeholders such as policy makers, patients, and the general public [2] This impact can be assessed only after a wait of months [5, 6]. New metrics have been developed to assess the impact of research and provide an indication of online media attention, data dissemination and effect of research across global community. Altmetric was developed to measure the media attention an article receives online [7] These metrics track online attention for a specific research through an output (e.g., journal article), an identifier linked to the output (e.g., digital object identifier (DOI)) and mentions in a source (e.g., online news outlets). This score is widely used by journal editors and researchers to analyze the effect of the research they publish within days after their publication [2, 10,11,12,13]
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