Public Reaction to Scientific Research via Twitter Sentiment Prediction

TL;DR

This paper presents a method to predict Twitter users' emotional responses to scientific research and explores which research features influence these sentiments, aiding scientists in understanding societal impact.

Contribution

It introduces a sentiment prediction approach for Twitter responses to scientific articles and analyzes research features affecting public reactions.

Findings

Successful prediction of Twitter sentiments towards research articles

Identification of key research features influencing public emotions

Enhanced understanding of societal impact of scientific publications

Abstract

Social media users share their ideas, thoughts, and emotions with other users. However, it is not clear how online users would respond to new research outcomes. This study aims to predict the nature of the emotions expressed by Twitter users toward scientific publications. Additionally, we investigate what features of the research articles help in such prediction. Identifying the sentiments of research articles on social media will help scientists gauge a new societal impact of their research articles.