Medical Faculty’s Perception of the Use of Altmetrics

Abstract

In recent years, Academia is increasingly engaging with online scholarly tools (e.g., Mendeley) and social media platforms (e.g., Twitter), providing potentially impactful alternative pathways for research dissemination and engagement. These platforms flatten access to knowledge with online platforms fostering easier access by both peers and the broader community alike. Termed altmetrics, or “alternative metrics”, these platforms carry with them novel methods for tracking scholarly impact and reach whose potential is not yet fully understood. These non‐traditional Altmetrics capture quantitative data indicative of social media shares, clicks and plays. The use of altmetrics as indicators of scholarly/societal impact is garnering increased attention over the last decade. However, the degree to which faculty demographics, career stage, professional roles, and areas of research focus influence perceptions and use of altmetrics within academia is yet to be characterized. This study examined the perceptions of medical faculty regarding their use of altmetrics, exploring how factors, such as career focus and social media use, influence these opinions.Medical faculty responded to a Qualtrics survey distributed through social media platforms and organizational listservs. The survey collected demographic information, and data on social media usage, the likelihood of disseminating altmetric outcomes in academic documents (e.g., CV), and perceptions on the value/utility of altmetrics.Of the 48 respondents, 23 were male and most were from North America or Oceania (81%). All age groups and career levels were represented. While only 17% indicated their institution endorses altmetrics, slightly more than half (54%) indicated altmetrics were ‘moderately’ to ‘extremely valuable’. A Pearson’s correlation revealed that frequent social media usage was strongly and positively correlated with favorable perceptions of altmetrics (r=0.512, p<0.001). Neither age range, career level, nor years of experience explained one’s level of social media usage (p>0.402) or one’s favorable perceptions of altmetrics (p>0.200). Irrespective of respondents’ primary professional roles, areas of research focus, or whether their institution endorsed altmetrics, no significant differences (p>0.05) in social media usage or altmetric perceptions scores were detected.This study suggests that more favorable perceptions of altmetrics are associated with higher social media use. Even though institutions may not endorse altmetrics for promotion and tenure purposes, many medical faculty still regard them to be valuable. These results also indicate that favorable perceptions of altmetrics traverse career level, age ranges, and years of experiences, supporting a more universal appreciation for these non‐traditional evaluations of impact. Future work will explore, through qualitative inductive interviews, motivations for those engaging (or not) in social media platforms and altmetrics.