Online distribution channel increases article usage on Mendeley: a randomized controlled trial.

Area of Science:

• Scholarly communication
• Bibliometrics
• Digital publishing

Background:

• Mendeley saves correlate with future citations.
• Evidence-based strategies to increase Mendeley saves are lacking.
• Online reference manager usage is increasing.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the impact of the TrendMD cross-publisher distribution channel on Mendeley article saves.
• To determine if promoting article links via TrendMD increases scholarly article discoverability.
• To provide evidence for effective scholarly article promotion strategies.

Main Methods:

• A 4-week randomized controlled trial was conducted.
• 400 articles from the Journal of Medical Internet Research were randomized into two groups: TrendMD promotion (n=200) and control (n=200).
• Mendeley saves were compared between the TrendMD and control groups.

Main Results:

• Articles promoted via TrendMD showed a 77% increase in Mendeley saves compared to the control group.
• The mean difference in Mendeley saves was 2.7 (95% CI [2.63, 2.77]), which was statistically significant (p < 0.01).
• A positive correlation (Spearman's rho r=0.60) was observed between TrendMD pageviews and Mendeley saves.

Conclusions:

• This is the first randomized controlled trial demonstrating that TrendMD enhances Mendeley saves.
• Cross-publisher article recommendations via TrendMD may serve as an effective strategy to increase scholarly article visibility.
• Further research and replication are needed, but findings suggest TrendMD can enhance article citations.