Social Media Engagement for Urology Journals — A Correlation Analysis of Traditional and Social Media Metrics
Abstract
Introduction The growing adoption of social media (SoMe) by the scientific community has cemented the role of
SoMe in information dissemination and engagement of academic work. The objective of this study is to evaluate the
relationship between traditional and alternative SoMe metrics of urology journals.
Methods Urology journals listed on the SCImago Journal & Country Rank (SJR) electronic portal were selected
and data pertaining to traditional metrics were collected. Official SoMe platforms of eligible journals were identified
and indicators of online activity were recorded. Correlations between traditional metrics (SJR, h-index, and Scopus
CiteScore) and social metrics were performed via Spearman rank-order correlation.
Results Of 107 journals, 54.2% of journals had at least one form of SoMe presence. The median SJR (0.535 versus
0.334, P = 0.005), h-index (34 versus 20, P = 0.001), and Scopus CiteScore (3.25 versus 2.20, P = 0.014) were significantly
higher among journals with SoMe networks. All 3 traditional indicators demonstrated strong global correlations with
various Twitter-based metrics (rs = 0.428 to 0.571). In particular, SoMe journals with more than 3000 citations in the
previous 3 years also displayed very strong correlations between all 3 traditional metrics and alternative social metrics
(rs = 0.714 to 0.821).
Conclusions Journals with SoMe presence had significantly higher traditional metric values (SJR, h-index, and
CiteScore) compared to journals without SoMe presence. Strong, positive correlations between citation-based and
alternative social metrics were also observed. Alternative social metrics may be harnessed as supplemental indicators
of a journal’s scientific impact.
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