Positive Correlation Between Social Media Utilization by Orthopaedic Journals and Impact Factor

Area of Science:

• Orthopaedic Surgery
• Medical Publishing
• Bibliometrics

Background:

• Social media platforms have gained widespread adoption globally.
• The role of social media in academic publishing, particularly in specialized fields like orthopaedics, is an emerging area of interest.

Purpose of the Study:

• To analyze the social media presence of orthopaedic journals.
• To determine if a correlation exists between the number of social media followers and a journal's impact factor.

Main Methods:

• Identified orthopaedic journals with a 2022 impact factor > 1.5.
• Assessed the presence of these journals on Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook.
• Collected follower counts for each platform.

Main Results:

• A significant positive correlation was found between total social media followers and journal impact factor (PCC = 0.67, P = 0.003).
• Twitter and Facebook follower counts showed significant correlations with impact factor (PCC = 0.80, P < 0.001 and PCC = 0.54, P = 0.02, respectively).
• Twitter had the highest number of followers among the analyzed platforms.

Conclusions:

• A notable association exists between social media engagement and journal impact factor in orthopaedics.
• Orthopaedic journals can leverage these findings to inform their social media strategies for increased visibility and potential impact factor enhancement.