Jessica G Y Luc1, Edward Percy2, Sameer Hirji3, Dominique Vervoort4, Gurkiran K Mann1, Kevin Phan5, Mahmoud Dibas6, Muthiah Vaduganathan7, Ourania Preventza8, Mara B Antonoff9. 1. Division of Cardiovascular Surgery, Department of Surgery, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. 2. Division of Cardiovascular Surgery, Department of Surgery, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada; Division of Cardiac Surgery, Department of Surgery, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts. 3. Division of Cardiac Surgery, Department of Surgery, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts. 4. Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, Maryland. 5. Faculty of Medicine, University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia. 6. Sulaiman Al Rajhi Colleges, College of Medicine, Qassim, Saudi Arabia. 7. Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital Heart and Vascular Center and Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts. 8. Division of Cardiothoracic Surgery, Michael E. DeBakey Department of Surgery, Baylor College of Medicine and the Texas Heart Institute, Houston, Texas. 9. Department of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery, University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas. Electronic address: mbantonoff@mdanderson.org.
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Altmetric scores are increasingly used as nontraditional metrics of scholarly impact that capture article social media attention. This study aims to characterize articles from The Annals of Thoracic Surgery that achieved the greatest online reach over a longitudinal period. METHODS: The 50 articles with the highest Altmetric scores published in The Annals of Thoracic Surgery for 2013, 2015, and 2017 were identified. Spearman rank correlation coefficient was used to assess the correlation of Altmetric scores with citations. Independent predictors of Altmetric scores (25 or greater) were identified through univariable and multivariable logistic regression analysis. RESULTS: Over time, article Altmetric scores increased significantly (2013, 11.9; 2015, 24.8; and 2017, 75.3; P < .001); with more authors on Twitter in recent years to disseminate scholarly work (2013, 10%; 2015, 20%; and 2017, 42%; P < .001). Recent articles attracted greater attention from news outlets (2013, 1.02; 2015, 2.36; and 2017, 7.48; P < .001) and tweets (2013, 1.84; 2015, 6.68; and 2017, 27.8; P < .001), reaching a larger readership through Twitter (2013, 4210; 2015, 19,300; and 2017, 66,800; P < .001). Log-transformed Altmetric scores were correlated with log-transformed citations for articles published in 2017 (rs = 0.40; P = .02). On multivariable analysis, tweets (odds ratio = 1.27; 95% confidence interval, 1.01-1.61; P = .044) and mentions by news outlets (odds ratio = 30.49; 95% confidence interval, 4.03-230.16; P = .001) were predictive of high Altmetric scores. CONCLUSIONS: This longitudinal analysis demonstrates that social media attention related to top performing articles has increased in recent years. Social media is an effective tool to increase article reach and knowledge translation, with Altmetric scores that correlated with citations.
BACKGROUND: Altmetric scores are increasingly used as nontraditional metrics of scholarly impact that capture article social media attention. This study aims to characterize articles from The Annals of Thoracic Surgery that achieved the greatest online reach over a longitudinal period. METHODS: The 50 articles with the highest Altmetric scores published in The Annals of Thoracic Surgery for 2013, 2015, and 2017 were identified. Spearman rank correlation coefficient was used to assess the correlation of Altmetric scores with citations. Independent predictors of Altmetric scores (25 or greater) were identified through univariable and multivariable logistic regression analysis. RESULTS: Over time, article Altmetric scores increased significantly (2013, 11.9; 2015, 24.8; and 2017, 75.3; P < .001); with more authors on Twitter in recent years to disseminate scholarly work (2013, 10%; 2015, 20%; and 2017, 42%; P < .001). Recent articles attracted greater attention from news outlets (2013, 1.02; 2015, 2.36; and 2017, 7.48; P < .001) and tweets (2013, 1.84; 2015, 6.68; and 2017, 27.8; P < .001), reaching a larger readership through Twitter (2013, 4210; 2015, 19,300; and 2017, 66,800; P < .001). Log-transformed Altmetric scores were correlated with log-transformed citations for articles published in 2017 (rs = 0.40; P = .02). On multivariable analysis, tweets (odds ratio = 1.27; 95% confidence interval, 1.01-1.61; P = .044) and mentions by news outlets (odds ratio = 30.49; 95% confidence interval, 4.03-230.16; P = .001) were predictive of high Altmetric scores. CONCLUSIONS: This longitudinal analysis demonstrates that social media attention related to top performing articles has increased in recent years. Social media is an effective tool to increase article reach and knowledge translation, with Altmetric scores that correlated with citations.