Social media landscape of rheumatology journals.

INTRODUCTION

Social media (SoMe) platforms provide ample opportunities for disseminating research results and journal updates. The presence of indexed rheumatology journals on SoMe has been scarcely explored.

OBJECTIVES

The purpose of this study is to assess the presence of mainstream rheumatology journals on key SoMe platforms and to analyze the relationship between bibliometric indicators and alternative metrics.

METHODS

Quantitative data were collected from the SCImago Journal and Country Rank platform. The availability of journal SoMe channels (X, Facebook, YouTube), number of subscribers, and activity indicators were analyzed. Bibliometric indicators, including values of journal Hirsch index, SCImago Journal Rank (SJR), journal quartile ranking based on SJR, total number of publications and citations over the past three years, as well as the region and publication mode (open access) were analyzed. The association between SoMe metrics and bibliometric indicators was assessed using Spearman's rank correlation coefficient (ρ).

RESULTS

Among the analyzed 76 rheumatology journals, 29 (38.2%) had an official SoMe account. X (formerly Twitter) turned out to be the most frequently used platform - 28 (96.5%), followed by Facebook - 12 (15.8%), and YouTube 5 (6.6%). SJR and number of followers on X positively correlated (ρ = 0.594, P = 0.001). The number of Facebook followers also showed a positive correlation with SJR (ρ = 0.587, P = 0.045). Only five journals had YouTube channels with a total of 2,471 subscribers, 272 videos, and 288,530 views. The Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases had the most popular YouTube channel, with 1,130 subscribers and 170,575 views.

CONCLUSION

SoMe channels are crucial for promotion of rheumatology journals. The prominence of the X channels points to their crucial role in disseminating journal updates and boosting their alternative impact metrics.