Mullins C Haddon, Boyd Carter J, Ladowski Joseph M
Department of Surgery, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, Alabama.
Department of Plastic Surgery, New York University School of Medicine, New York, New York.
J Surg Res. 2023 Dec;292:324-329. doi: 10.1016/j.jss.2023.07.051. Epub 2023 Sep 7.
With the advent of social media and the associated increase in connectivity between scientists and the lay public, the Altmetric Attention Score has been created as a way to measure these interactions between scholarly publications and media dissemination. Little is known, however, whether these types of media exchanges measured by Altmetrics may serve as a proxy for public engagement. As such, we have sought to determine whether or not an association exists between Altmetric scores and public engagement, as measured by article citation in a health policy document.
The top 100 highest scoring articles in the medical and health sciences with respect to Altmetric Attention Scores were selected from each of 3 y (2014, 2015, and 2016). Each article was then matched to an article from the same year and journal with the highest Relative Citation Ratio (RCR) for comparison. Bivariate analysis compared article groups with respect to citation in a public policy document, open-access status, and funding status, as well as Altmetric and RCR scores. A multivariable model was then constructed to identify significant factors associated with citation in a public policy document. Finally, a contour plot was generated in order to estimate the interaction between Altmetric Scores and RCR and their comparative effects on the probability of inclusion in a health policy document.
Of the 600 articles included in the analysis, 286 (48%) had been cited by a public policy article. The only difference that existed between the cohorts was for funding status, with 55 articles (40%) in the RCR cohort having received funding compared to 81 (60%) in the Altmetric cohort (P = 0.011). On bivariate analysis, both Altmetric (P = 0.0018) and RCR (P < 0.0001) scores were independently predictive of policy citation. In a multivariable model, the interaction between Altmetric Scores and RCR with respect to policy inclusion was significant (OR = 1.22; 95% CI = 1.08-1.38) and a contour plot demonstrates that either high Altmetric score or RCR alone is sufficient to generate a high probability of policy inclusion.
Scholarly article Altmetric Scores may serve as a novel means to explore public engagement in scientific research and health policy. In addition, journals that aim to impact public policy through article dissemination may benefit from engagement in social media avenues in addition to traditional citation pathways in order to encourage broader inclusion.
随着社交媒体的出现以及科学家与普通公众之间联系的相应增加，替代计量关注度得分应运而生，作为衡量学术出版物与媒体传播之间这些互动的一种方式。然而，对于替代计量所衡量的这类媒体交流是否可以作为公众参与度的一种替代指标，人们知之甚少。因此，我们试图确定替代计量得分与公众参与度之间是否存在关联，公众参与度通过健康政策文件中的文章引用情况来衡量。
从2014年、2015年和2016年这3年中，每年选取替代计量关注度得分最高的100篇医学与健康科学领域的文章。然后将每篇文章与同年同一期刊中相对引用率（RCR）最高的文章进行匹配，以供比较。双变量分析比较了文章组在公共政策文件中的引用情况、开放获取状态、资金状况以及替代计量得分和RCR得分。随后构建一个多变量模型，以确定与公共政策文件中引用相关的显著因素。最后，生成一个等高线图，以估计替代计量得分与RCR之间的相互作用及其对被纳入健康政策文件可能性的比较影响。
在纳入分析的600篇文章中，286篇（48%）被一篇公共政策文章引用。各队列之间唯一的差异在于资金状况，RCR队列中有55篇文章（40%）获得了资金支持，而替代计量队列中有81篇文章（60%）获得了资金支持（P = 0.011）。在双变量分析中，替代计量得分（P = 0.0018）和RCR得分（P < 0.0001）均独立预测了政策引用情况。在多变量模型中，替代计量得分与RCR在政策纳入方面的相互作用显著（OR = 1.22；95% CI = 1.08 - 1.38），等高线图表明，单独的高替代计量得分或高RCR得分都足以产生被纳入政策的高可能性。
学术文章的替代计量得分可能作为一种新的手段来探索公众对科学研究和健康政策的参与度。此外，旨在通过文章传播影响公共政策的期刊，除了传统的引用途径外，可能还会从参与社交媒体渠道中受益，以鼓励更广泛的纳入。
