Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Hospital for Special Surgery, New York, New York, U.S.A..
Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Rush University Medical Center, Chicago, Illinois, U.S.A.
Arthroscopy. 2021 Aug;37(8):2591-2597. doi: 10.1016/j.arthro.2021.03.056. Epub 2021 Apr 8.
To compare social media attention and citation rates between infographics (visual abstracts) and original research articles.
All infographics in 2019 from electronic versions of Arthroscopy were matched by topic to articles in the "Original Research" section of the journal in a 4:1 ratio within the same year. The primary outcome was the Altmetric Attention Score (AAS), a cumulative measure of social media attention from various platforms such as Twitter and Facebook. Secondary outcomes included citation rates, article characteristics, and number of shares on social media platforms. Independent t tests and χ analyses were used to compare primary and secondary outcomes between infographics and control articles. Multivariate linear regression analysis was performed to determine the association between article type and social media attention while controlling for bibliometric characteristics.
A total of 60 matched research articles (n = 48, 80.0%) and infographics (n = 12, 20.0%) published in 2019 in Arthroscopy were included. The mean AAS among all infographics was 29.75 ± 32.84 (range, 3-118), whereas the mean AAS among all control research articles was 5.75 ± 8.90 (range, 0-41), representing a statistically significant difference (P < .001). Infographics had significantly more Twitter mentions (100% vs 70.8%, P < .001) and Facebook mentions (75% vs. 6.2%, P < .001) compared with original articles. Multivariate linear regression analysis demonstrated a statistically significant and positive association between AAS and article type, with an additional mean increase in the AAS of 33.7 (95% confidence interval 11.6-50.6; P = .003) for every infographic article compared with an original research article. The mean citation rate among all infographics was 2.4 ± 2.4 (range, 0-7), whereas the mean citation rate among all control research articles was 2.2 ± 4.0 (range, 0-27), which was not a significant difference (P = .69).
Infographics resulted in significantly greater AAS and social media attention in comparison with original research articles of similar topics. We recommend the routine creation of infographics by journals to increase the social media attention that their research and chosen topics of interest receive. However, viewers of infographics should read them out of interest but turn their attention toward the original article or a source of more detailed information before making changes in clinical decision-making or practice, as they can be oversimplified.
Infographics are an increasingly used by journals as a form of depicting research findings from select studies. By producing infographics, journals may increase the amount of social media attention received for a particular study or topic of interest.
比较图表（视觉摘要）和原始研究文章的社交媒体关注度和引用率。
在同一年，将 Arthroscopy 电子版 2019 年的所有图表按主题与该杂志“原始研究”部分的文章以 4:1 的比例进行匹配。主要结局指标是社交媒体关注度的 Altmetric 关注度得分（AAS），这是一个从 Twitter 和 Facebook 等各种平台累计的社交媒体关注度的衡量指标。次要结局指标包括引用率、文章特征以及在社交媒体平台上的分享次数。采用独立 t 检验和 χ2 分析比较图表和对照文章的主要和次要结局指标。进行多元线性回归分析，以确定在控制文献计量学特征的情况下，文章类型与社交媒体关注度之间的关联。
共纳入 Arthroscopy 2019 年发表的 60 篇匹配的研究文章（n=48，80.0%）和 12 篇图表（n=12，20.0%）。所有图表的平均 AAS 为 29.75±32.84（范围，3-118），而所有对照研究文章的平均 AAS 为 5.75±8.90（范围，0-41），差异具有统计学意义（P<.001）。图表在 Twitter 上的提及率（100%比 70.8%，P<.001）和 Facebook 上的提及率（75%比 6.2%，P<.001）明显高于原始文章。多元线性回归分析表明，AAS 与文章类型之间存在统计学上显著的正相关关系，与原始研究文章相比，每篇图表文章的 AAS 平均增加 33.7（95%置信区间 11.6-50.6；P=.003）。所有图表的平均引用率为 2.4±2.4（范围，0-7），而所有对照研究文章的平均引用率为 2.2±4.0（范围，0-27），差异无统计学意义（P=.69）。
与具有相似主题的原始研究文章相比，图表的 AAS 和社交媒体关注度明显更高。我们建议期刊常规制作图表，以增加其研究和所选感兴趣主题的社交媒体关注度。然而，图表的读者应该出于兴趣阅读它们，但在做出临床决策或实践改变之前，应将注意力转向原始文章或更详细信息的来源，因为它们可能过于简化。
图表作为展示特定研究结果的一种形式，越来越多地被期刊使用。通过制作图表，期刊可以增加特定研究或感兴趣主题的社交媒体关注度。
