Year: 2015
Type: article
Abstract: ABSTRACT Twitter popularity, which measures the total frequency of mentions on Twitter, is proposed as an altmetrics indicator to assess the social impact of a given journal. Based on the 2013 Journal Citation Report, 30 journals with high impact factors in the library and information science (LIS) field were identified as top‐tier journals. Through the investigation, the Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology (JASIST), College & Research Libraries (CRL), and Scientometrics are the most prevalent LIS journals with 2668, 1730, and 625 mentions, separately, on Twitter. To explore the association between the proposed altmetrics indicator and citation‐based measures, Spearman's rho nonparametric correlation analysis was conducted to test the correlations between Twitter mentions and 8 citation‐based measures (total cites, impact factor, 5‐year impact factor, immediacy index, articles, cited half‐life, Eigenfactor score, and article influence score). There is a significant and moderate correlation observed between the Twitter mentions and Eigenfactor score for the investigated journals. In conclusion, although the proposed altmetrics indicator, journal Twitter popularity, may not measure the scientific impact as the citation‐based measurements do, this study puts forward the possibility of using journal Twitter popularity as a complementary indicator of journal impact.
Authors: Yuehua Zhao, Dietmar Wolfram
Institution: University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee
Language: English
Subfield: Library and Information Sciences
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: bronze
OpenAlex ID: W2531418982