Social versus scientific-driven evidence-based orthodontics: Prediction of correlation among scientometric, altmetric, and level of evidence

Abstract

Aim: The present study was conducted to analyze the correlation between citations, altmetric score, and level of evidence of top prestigious orthodontic journals. Materials and Methods: Data mining of selected journals American Journal of Orthodontics and Dentofacial Orthopedics (AJODO), European Journal of Orthodontics (EJO), and Angle Orthodontist (AO) was carried out using the Dimensions and the Webometric Analyst 4.1. The scores were correlated against the strength of study grades, which were interpreted from the GRADE criteria. Pearson's correlation test was used to assess the data statistically using the SPSS software version 21. Results: AJODO (3786) produced maximum publications followed by AO (1515) and EJO (1135). Most of the publications of AJODO (3654) were under “closed access,” whereas AO (194) provided the maximum of its publications under open access in comparison to EJO (151) and AJODO. It was also found that “Clinical Sciences” category had the maximum number of publications in all. The AO had maximum “mean” of field citation ratio (FCR) and relative citation ratio (RCR) (Mean FCR = 1.78/Mean RCR = 1.68) and AJODO received maximum total attention on social platform. The EJO showed the highest Pearson correlation value of 0.39 between citations and Altmetric, whereas AJODO showed the highest value of 0.16 for citations and grade of evidence. Conclusion: The present study found that the Altmetric score and level of evidence among all the three journals showed slight positive correlation by EJO and weak correlation by AJODO and AO in relation to citation and Altmetrics. However, weak positive correlation by AJODO and EJO in relation to citations and grade of evidence. It was found that only AO showed positive weak correlation between Altmetric score and grade of evidence.