The online attention to research in periodontology: An Altmetric study on the most discussed articles on the web

Abstract

Aim: To assess the online attention to research in the field of Periodontology. To assess the correlation between the Altmetric Attention Score (AAS) and the citations count in Web of Science (WOS), Scopus and Dimensions. Material and Methods: The articles were identified by a search performed through the Dimensions Free App. The search included the six journals related to periodontology listed in the Journal Citation Report (JCR) in the year 2017. The 200 articles with the highest AAS were collected and screened for data related to publication, authorship and research. Citations were harvested from WOS, Scopus and Dimensions. Results: The Journal of Clinical Periodontology was the most prevalent publication accounting for the 51, 5% of the published items followed by the Journal of Periodontology that published the 34, 5% of the 200 articles with the highest AAS. 65% of these articles were published between 2013 and 2018. The mean AAS was 33, 81 being Tweets and news outlets the most frequent Altmetric resources. Systematic reviews were the most prevalent study design. The correlation between the AAS and the citations in WOS, Dimensions and Scopus was poor. A strong correlation exists between the citations in WOS, Dimensions and Scopus. Conclusions: Online attention to periodontal research is high. Systemic interaction studies had a significantly higher visibility. The classic citations count in combination with the AAS can offer a more comprehensive insight into research by highlighting what is valuable for the researcher and for the lay persons. The online profile of journals should be edited to facilitate spread of research information in non-scholar audiences.

The online attention to orthodontic research: an Altmetric analysis of the orthodontic journals indexed in the journal citation reports from 2014 to 2018

“…In Table 3, the published item editorial was included, despite not being considered a study design, because it was able to attract considerable online attention and our aim was to identify every published item able to get a significant AAS. The results are similar to the ones reported in Altmetric studies performed in cardiovascular research, in Neurointervention, Endodontics, and Periodontics [10,23,26,27].…”

“…In our sample, the correlation between the citation count in the WOS and Scopus with the AAS was poor along the studied period. This result is in agreement with other authors in different fields of dentistry, who observed no correlation between the AAS and the citations count in Scopus or WOS [10,15,19,23]. In the previous investigation in Orthodontics by Livas et al, no correlation was observed between AAS and citation in Scopus (r = 0,09; p = 42), while the correlation in WOS was not assessed by these authors [15].…”

“…The percentage of articles with a positive AAS presents a huge variability among the journals, being 65% in Progress in Orthodontics and just 0.9% in the Australian Orthodontic Journal. The same huge variability was observed in a sample of pediatric dentistry journal and periodontics journals [10,19]. The variability could be explained by the different online activity among the studied journals.…”

“…In our data, Twitter activity represents the most frequent Altmetric data resource in all of the journals, while Facebook was the second one ( Table 2). The global ratio between tweets and mentions on Facebook walls was 1293/717 in our study group, while it was 11510/1967 in the whole dental literature in 2015, 466/59 in pediatric dentistry journals, and just 1871/193 in periodontics journals [10,19,22]. In 2018, Kolahi et al reported that tweets are the main Altmetric data resource that determine the global AAS, while Facebook activity represented only 3.76% of the total activity in dental literature in 2015, having the lowest relative importance when compared with the other analyzed items [22].…”

“…Social media is easily accessible, and in the web, it is operating many spam companies by selling votes or tweets from registered users. Altmetric claims to use a specific algorithm to limit the effect of such misconducts by tracking down artificial patterns of attention or detecting social media automation tools [10]. The very low number of patents in the studied period could indicate a sort of disconnection between orthodontic research and the industry in contrast to the findings in periodontics, endodontics, and implant dentistry [10,18,23].…”