Vascularised Composite Allotransplantation - A guide to optimal dissemination of scientific outputs

The impact of academic research is not just important within the clinical domain but within society as a whole. Altmetric Attention Score (AAS) offers a means of assessing how scholarly outputs are interacted with online. Vascularised Composite Allotransplantation (VCA) is a modern but rapidly evolving topic which encompasses a broad range of complex and clinically significant surgical interventions. Primarily VCA is utilised in the reconstruction of complex, composite tissue defects, including limb and face transplantation. There is also a growing interest in the role of VCA as an early means of real-time immuno-monitoring, in sentinel skin flap transplant (SSF).

In July 2024, a search was conducted using the Altmetric Explorer (AE) database using the search term 'vascular-composite' AND 'allograft' OR 'allotransplant'. A simultaneous literature search was carried out using Web of Science (WoS) database utilising the same search terms with extraction of traditional citation-based metrics as well as relevant 'meso' and 'micro' subject headings. Corresponding citation-based metrics were extracted utilising SCImago. Data was compiled and analysed using a linear regression model with level of significance set at p < 0.05.

The Top 100 (T100) performing articles relating to VCA displayed a mean Altmetric Attention Score (AAS) of 3.31. All T100 papers were published in the English language. Sixty percent (n = 60) of T100 papers were published in Q1 Journals. News outlet mentions (r = 6.95), blog mentions (r = 6.20), and Twitter/X mentions (r = 0.52) demonstrated the greatest positive impact on AAS upon application of a linear regression model (p < 0.05).

Altmetric Scores offer a means of appraising the impact of research outputs in both academic and societal domains. Such modern metrics are useful in evolving topics such as VCA as AAS is not dependent on citation counts. Publishing of outputs in high quartile, open access journals with timely utilisation of news and social media outlets should be utilised by researchers aiming to maximise dissemination of research outputs in the field of VCA.