The correlation between altmetric score and traditional measures of article impact for studies published within the Surgeon Journal

• Published in: The surgeon (Edinburgh) Vol. 22; no. 1; pp. 18 - 24
• Main Authors: Fox, Edward S., McDonnell, Jake M., Wall, Julia, Darwish, Stacey, Healy, David, Butler, Joseph S.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Scotland Elsevier Ltd 01.02.2024
• Subjects: Almetrics; Altmetrics; Bibliometrics; Citations; Humans; Journal Impact Factor; Reads; Research impact; Retrospective Studies; Social Media; Surgeons; Research impact; Bibliometrics; Citations; Almetrics; Reads
• ISSN: 1479-666X; 2405-5840
• DOI: 10.1016/j.surge.2023.09.005

Alternative metrics, or altmetrics, have emerged as a promising tool for measuring the social impact of research, which is increasingly important in today's digital and social media-driven world. Altmetric Attention Score (AAS) is a weighted count of all the online attention garnered by a study, and it is currently unclear whether a relationship with traditional bibliometrics exists. The purpose of this article was to retrospectively review articles published in the Surgeon Journal from 2003 to 2020 to compare AAS with bibliometric parameters using an Independent t-test and Pearson's correlation analysis. There were statistically significant weakly positive relationships between AAS and sample size, number of reads, and number of citations. There was no statistically significant relationship between AAS and number of authors, H-index, or level of evidence. This study highlights the potential value of altmetrics by measuring the social impact of research as altmetrics can provide valuable information not captured by traditional metrics. It is currently unclear what the optimal balance of social and academic impact is in evaluating research impact and how altmetrics can be integrated into existing research frameworks. •Altmetrics, have emerged as a promising tool for measuring the social impact of research.•However, it is unclear how altmetrics relates to traditional bibliometrics.•This study evaluates this relationship for all studies published in The Surgeon.•Significant relationships were seen with sample size, number of reads and citations.