Tweeting about journal articles: Engagement, marketing or just gibberish?

TL;DR

This study analyzes tweets about journal articles in Dentistry, examining their motivations and the role of journals in self-promotion, and questions the effectiveness of altmetrics as indicators of broader impact.

Contribution

It provides a critical examination of the motivations behind tweeting journal articles and assesses the role of journals in self-promotion within altmetrics.

Findings

Lack of evidence supporting altmetrics as impact indicators

Journals play a limited role in promoting their articles via tweets

Current claims about altmetrics' ability to measure impact are unsubstantiated

Abstract

This paper presents preliminary results on the analysis of tweets to journal articles in the field of Dentistry. We present two case studies in which we critically examine the contents and context that motivate the tweeting of journal articles. We then focus on a specific aspect, the role played by journals on self-promoting their contents and the effect this has on the total number of tweets their papers produce. In a context where many are pushing to the use of altmetrics as an alternative or complement to traditional bibliometric indicators. We find a lack of evidence (and interest) on critically examining the many claims that are being made as to their capability to trace evidences of 'broader forms of impact'. Our first results are not promising and question current approaches being made in the field of altmetrics.