Influencing factors of Twitter mentions of scientific papers

TL;DR

This study investigates factors influencing Twitter mentions of scientific papers, highlighting the dominant role of mainstream news and topical issues like COVID-19, with implications for understanding altmetrics and societal impact.

Contribution

It identifies key factors affecting Twitter mentions of research, emphasizing the influence of mainstream news and topical relevance over expert recommendations or reviews.

Findings

Mainstream news most influences Twitter mentions.

COVID-19 as a highly topical issue increases mentions.

Expert recommendations and reviews have weaker influence.

Abstract

Purpose: This paper explores some influencing factors of Twitter mentions of scientific research. The results can help to understand the relationships between various altmetrics. Design/methodology/approach: Data on research mentions in Altmetric and a multiple linear regression analysis are used. Findings: Among the variables analyzed, the number of mainstream news is the factor that most influences the number of mentions on Twitter, followed by the fact of dealing with a highly topical issue such as COVID-19. The influence is weaker in the case of expert recommendations and the consolidation of knowledge in the form of a review. The lowest influence corresponds to both the public policies through references in reports, and to citations in Wikipedia, while mentions in patent applications does not have a significant influence. Research limitations: A specific field was studied in a specific time frame. Studying other fields and/or different time periods might result in different findings. Practical implications: Governments increasingly push researchers toward activities with societal impact and this study can help understand how different factors affect social media attention. Originality/value: Understanding social media attention of research is essential when implementing societal impact indicators.