Twitter Activity Is Associated With a Higher Research Citation Index for Academic Thoracic Surgeons

Abstract

Academic surgeons are encouraged to promote their work on social media. We hypothesized that thoracic surgeons who are active on Twitter have a higher research citation index (Hirsch index [h-index]) than their counterparts who are not. Thoracic surgeons on CTSNet.org in Canada and the United States were queried for profiles with an h-index on Google Scholar and/or Research Gate in July 2018. Surgeons were categorized by whether they possessed a Twitter account (T+) or not (T-), and h-index values were compared. Within the T+ cohort a multivariate regression model was used to identify independent predictors of increased h-index among variables related to Twitter activity. Of 3741 surgeons queried, 19.3% (722) had a known h-index. The mean h-index for the entire cohort was 14.54 (SD, 15.73). The median h-index was 10 (range, 0-121), and the 75th percentile h-index was 20. T+ surgeons had a median h-index of 10 (range, 0-66), and T- surgeons had a median h-index of 10 (range, 0-72; P= .25). The 75th percentile h-index for T+ surgeons was 23 compared with 20 for T- surgeons (P= .24). For T+ surgeons the regression model identified the number of followers (P= .029), the number of people followed (P= .048), and the frequency of tweeting (P= .046) as independent predictors of a higher h-index. The median h-index for an academic thoracic surgeon in Canada and the United States is 10. Surgeons who engage in Twitter activity are more likely to have their research cited by others.