SP7.9 Correlation between Altmetric score and number of citations in 12 high impact factor medicine, surgery and anaesthesia journals

Abstract

Abstract Introduction The citation count is traditionally used to measure the impact of scientific publications. The Altmetric attention score (AAS) by contrast, measures the digital dissemination of articles across social media platforms to determine their audience reach. However, whether the AAS correlates with citation counts is currently not well defined. This study, aimed to discern the correlation between citation counts and AAS in medical journals. Method We identified 12 highest impact journals in Internal Medicine, Surgery and Anaesthesia and included original articles, systematic reviews, meta-analyses, editorials and research letters published between 1 January 2019 and 31 December 2019. Up-to-date citations and AAS for each article were obtained between 1 and 7 January 2023 using a linked research information dataset, Dimensions Citation Data (https://app.dimensions.ai/discover/publication). Results We identified 2790 published manuscripts with median (IQR) AAS and citation scores of 39 (10-152) and 19 (7-56) respectively. Both scores differed by journal specialty, with the highest scores identified in Medicine and lowest in Anaesthesia journals. Randomized clincial trials had both the highest citations and AAS, with research letters having the lowest. There was a positive correlation between AAS and citations (ρ=0.4538; P<0.001). Other factors found to correlate with the citation scores were journal specialty (ρ=0.2047, P<0.001), journal impact factor(ρ=0.4538, P<0.001) and the type of study (ρ=0.4566, P<0.001). Conclusion This cross-sectional study, across 12 high impact factor specialty journals found that the AAS correlated with the citation count, suggesting that audience engagement via social media may influence the overall clinical and academic impact of publications.