Abstract

Background and Study Aims: Bibliometric analysis has long been established as a marker of scientific research quality; however, it fails to measure the impact of research on the non-scientific population and the dissemination of knowledge from research to clinical practice. These short comings have recently been addressed by alternative metrics. We aim to: (i) determine the most influential Gastroenterology and Hepatology (G&H) journal articles using alternative metrics; (ii) identify the factors influencing alternative metrics; and (iii) analyse the relationship between alternative metrics and bibliometrics.

Patients and Methods: Altmetric.com search tool was used to determine the 100 most influential G&H articles based on their Altmetric Attention Scores (AAS). Bibliometric analysis of these articles was then carried out and the online media factors that influence AAS were also recorded.

Results: The AAS of the top 100 mentioned articles ranged from 2123 to 48. Nature Reviews Gastroenterology and Hepatology (48) and Lancet Gastroenterology and Hepatology (28) were the most prolific journals with USA (35) and England (19) having the most publications. Inflammatory Bowel Disease, Gut microbiome/microbiota and Hepatitis C were the most influential topics. Twitter mentions, Mendeley readers, news mentions, and Facebook mentions all showed positive association with AAS. There was no significant correlation between AAS and bibliometrics.

Conclusion: The dissemination of G&H research is multifarious across countries, journals and topics of research. Online media is an essential tool for researchers and publishers for rapid dissemination of newly created knowledge. Alternative metrics in combination with bibliometrics provide an in-depth measure of the research dissemination.

Keywords: Altmetrics; Alternative Metrics; Bibliometrics; Social Media; Scholarly Impact; Web; Gastroenterology; Hepatology; Citation Metrics; Impact Factor

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