Predictors of High-Impact Articles in The Annals of Thoracic Surgery

Altmetric scores are increasingly used as nontraditional metrics of scholarly impact that capture article social media attention. This study aims to characterize articles from The Annals of Thoracic Surgery that achieved the greatest online reach over a longitudinal period.

The 50 articles with the highest Altmetric scores published in The Annals of Thoracic Surgery for 2013, 2015, and 2017 were identified. Spearman rank correlation coefficient was used to assess the correlation of Altmetric scores with citations. Independent predictors of Altmetric scores (25 or greater) were identified through univariable and multivariable logistic regression analysis.

Over time, article Altmetric scores increased significantly (2013, 11.9; 2015, 24.8; and 2017, 75.3; P < .001); with more authors on Twitter in recent years to disseminate scholarly work (2013, 10%; 2015, 20%; and 2017, 42%; P < .001). Recent articles attracted greater attention from news outlets (2013, 1.02; 2015, 2.36; and 2017, 7.48; P < .001) and tweets (2013, 1.84; 2015, 6.68; and 2017, 27.8; P < .001), reaching a larger readership through Twitter (2013, 4210; 2015, 19,300; and 2017, 66,800; P < .001). Log-transformed Altmetric scores were correlated with log-transformed citations for articles published in 2017 (r_s = 0.40; P = .02). On multivariable analysis, tweets (odds ratio = 1.27; 95% confidence interval, 1.01-1.61; P = .044) and mentions by news outlets (odds ratio = 30.49; 95% confidence interval, 4.03-230.16; P = .001) were predictive of high Altmetric scores.

This longitudinal analysis demonstrates that social media attention related to top performing articles has increased in recent years. Social media is an effective tool to increase article reach and knowledge translation, with Altmetric scores that correlated with citations.