Altmetric Analysis of Contemporary Iranian Medical Journals

Literature search strategies in dental education and research

A well-organized literature search is a fundamental requirement for research-based dental education. The execution of a literature search is not beneficial unless researchers possess basic knowledge about it. In this article, all basic strategies and research tools essentially required for a literature search, including Boolean operators, correct use of keywords, database selection, and the evaluation of filtered data and limitations, are discussed. The present article offers vital information and literature search guidelines for early career dental researchers and dental students. In addition, it contains a collection of all the essential information related to the generally used electronic databases in dentistry research. This will be helpful for dental students, residents, consultants, and allied science researchers.

Meta-Analysis of Correlations between Altmetric Attention Score and Citations in Health Sciences

INTRODUCTION

In recent years, several controversial reports of the correlation between altmetric score and citations have been published (range: -0.2 to 0.8). We conducted a meta-analysis to provide an in-depth statistical analysis of the correlation between altmetric score and number of citations in the field of health sciences.

METHODS

Three online databases (Web of Science, Scopus, and PubMed) were systematically searched, without language restrictions, from the earliest publication date available through February 29, 2020, using the keywords "altmetric," "citation," and "correlation." Grey literature was also searched via WorldCat, Open Grey, and Google Scholar (first 100 hits only). All studies in the field of health sciences that reported on this correlation were included. Effect sizes were calculated using Fisher's z transformation of correlations. Subgroup analyses based on citation source and sampling methods were performed.

RESULTS

From 27 included articles, 8 articles comprise several independent studies. The total sample size was 9,943 articles comprised of 35 studies. The overall pooled effect size was 0.19 (95% confidence interval 0.13 to 0.26). Bivariate partial prediction of interaction between effect size, citation source, and sampling method showed a greater effect size with Web of Science compared with Scopus and Dimensions. Egger's regression showed a marginally nonsignificant publication bias (p = 0.055), and trim-and-fill analysis estimated one missing study in this meta-analysis.

CONCLUSION

In health sciences, currently altmetric score has a positive but weak correlation with number of citations (pooled correlation = 0.19, 95% C.I 0.12 to 0.25). We emphasize on future examinations to assess changes of correlation pattern between altmetric score and citations over time.

Using the Quadruple Helix Model for evaluation of health science researches

Purpose

Altmetrics is a complementary method in scientometrics for evaluating the performance of individuals, organizations, institutions and countries in social media. Due to the large volume of data related to the interactions in science, technology and innovation, there is no choice but to develop and implement accurate models for analysis and decision making. The Quadruple Helix Model examines the scientific outcomes in four spaces of innovation, knowledge, consensus and government with a distinctive attention to the “innovation space”. In other words, it aims to find the connection between the academic space and other sectors of a society (public, media and government) to see if scientific outputs respond appropriately to their needs.

Design/methodology/approach

The present paper studied the impact of health-related researches in D8 countries) including Iran, Turkey, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Malaysia, Egypt and Nigeria) using the Altmetrics scores of their indexed journal in the Web of Science (WOS). The results demonstrated distribution of interactions of the mentioned four spaces in health science researches in terms of social media, geographical distribution and theme for D8 countries. This was conducted using content analysis, scientometric and altmetric indicators in the WOS and Altmetrics.com databases.

Findings

In D8 countries, more interaction has taken place in the knowledge and innovation spaces; however, there exist Quadruple imbalances in these countries. Moreover, some interactions have been observed in all social networks, displaying that users consider health topics in D8 countries, and clinical sciences has gotten more interaction in all the four spaces.

Originality/value

The application of this model using altmetrics data with current approach has been conducted for the first time.