Knowledge Sharing on Social Media: Bibliometric and Altmetric Analyses

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

1 PhD Student in Information and Knowledge Management, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran.

2 Professor in Library and Information Science, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran.

3 Associate Professor in Library and Information Science, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran.

4 Assistant Professor in Library and Information Science, Tarbiat Mo-dares University, Tehran, Iran.

Abstract

Purpose: Given the growing significance of social networks in fostering knowledge sharing among researchers, the present study examines the scientific output related to sharing on social media using bibliometric and altimetric methods. The aim is to explore the thematic trends and behavioral patterns of knowledge sharing among researchers in this field.
Methodology: This applied research utilizes a descriptive approach and employs bibliometrics and altmetric methods. A total of 1498 articles published in the area of “knowledge sharing on social media” and indexed in Scopus from 1999 to 2021 were examined. Descriptive statistics, including frequency tables, and inferential statistics, such as Spearman correlation test, were used to analyze the data. To study the extent of sharing research outputs on social media, Digital Object Identifiers (DOIs) extracted from Scopus were queried in the Altmetric Explorer database. Altmetric data for the articles were collected and analyzed in Excel format. VOSViewer software was utilized to visualize the thematic map of articles. Additionally, R software was employed to analyze the relationship between citation and altmetric indicators and the creation of a correlation matrix.
Findings: The findings suggest a significant increase in research outputs in the field of sharing on social media over time. Authors affiliated with the United States, China, and the United Kingdom had the highest share of publications. The results demonstrate that the interdisciplinary nature of sharing on social media has attracted researchers from various fields, including computer science, social sciences, business, management, accounting, engineering, and decision science, to contribute to research publications in this area. Seventy-three percent of the articles studied have received at least one citation in Scopus. The analysis of word co-occurrence networks in publications reveals that keywords such as "knowledge sharing," "social media," "social networks," "social network analysis," "knowledge management," "social capital," and "social software" are the most frequently mentioned in the articles studied. The keyword co-occurrence analysis also indicates that in the early 2010s, researchers primarily focused on concepts like and in the early 2020s, there has been an increasing emphasis on concepts such as “Facebook”, “Twitter”, and “enterprise social media”.
Twenty percent of research outputs with DOIs received a non-zero altmetric score. The most commonly used altmetric sources among researchers were Twitter, news sites, Facebook, blogs, and policy documents. An analysis of social media mentions over the ten years from 2012 to 2021 showed a consistent upward trend. The study of the geographical distribution of attention to research outputs showed that the highest number of attentions was received from European countries, North American countries, and Oceania. The comparison of the geographic distribution of publications and mentions indicated that countries such as China and Taiwan, which were among the top five countries with the highest number of publications, are placed in lower ranks on the list of countries with the most mentions of articles on social media. On the other hand, researchers from countries such as the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and Germany have significantly utilized social media platforms to share their research findings. The study of journals publishing research articles indicated that the journal Computers in Human Behavior had the highest number of mentioned articles.
The results demonstrated a statistically significant and positive relationship between the number of citations received in Scopus and the level of attention these articles garnered on social media platforms. In essence, the attention given to articles on social media positively influences the citation of these documents in other research outputs, and articles that are extensively shared on social media tend to have a greater citation impact over time. The results did not reveal a statistically significant difference between the altmetric score of open-access articles and non-open-access articles.
Conclusion: The research results emphasize the importance and the growing role of social media in knowledge sharing among researchers. An analysis of the frequency of articles with altmetric indicators reveals an upward trend in the share of research outputs related to social media in recent years. This study provides a comprehensive analysis of the bibliometric and altmetric characteristics of research outputs in the area of “knowledge sharing on social media”. The findings of this research can be valuable for future studies, policy-making, and practical efforts related to knowledge sharing on social media.

Keywords

Main Subjects

References

ابراهیمی، س.، عفیفیان، ف.، و گل‌تاجی، م. (1397). آیا اشتراک دانش در شبکه علمی ریسرچ‌گیت شاخص‌های بهره‌وری پژوهشگران را افزایش می‌دهد؟ مطالعه موردی فیزیک‌دانان برتر جهان. پژوهش‌نامه علم‌سنجی، 4(8)، 57-72. https://doi.org/10.22070/rsci.2018.614
عرفان‌منش، م. (1395). حضور مقاله‌های ایرانی علم اطلاعات و کتابداری در رسانه‌های اجتماعی: مطالعه آلتمتریک. پژوهشنامه پردازش و مدیریت اطلاعات، 32(2)، 348-373. https: doi.org/10.35050/jipm010.2017.045
 
Ahmed, Y. A., Ahmad, M. N., Ahmad, N., & Zakaria, N. H. (2019). Social media for knowledge-sharing: A systematic literature review. Telematics and Informatics, 37, 72-112. https://doi.org/ 10.1016/j.tele.2018.01.015
 
Ali, P.M.N., Malik, B.A., & Reza, A. (2018). Bibliometric analysis of literature on knowledge sharing. Annals of Library and Information Studies, 65(4), 217-227. https://doi.org/ 10.56042/alis.v65i4.20965
 
Aromaa, S., Tsourma, M., Zikos, S., Kaasinen, E., Kreposna, M., Drosou, A., & Tzovaras, D. (2020). User experience of a social media-based knowledge sharing system in industry work. In Human Interaction and Emerging Technologies [Conference Presentation]. Proceedings of the 1st International Conference on Human Interaction and Emerging Technologies (IHIET 2019), August 22-24, 2019, Nice, France (pp. 117-123). Springer International Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-25629-6_19
 
Ceballos, H. G., Fangmeyer, J., Galeano, N., Juarez, E., & Cantu-Ortiz, F. J. (2017). Impelling research productivity and impact through collaboration: A scientometric case study of knowledge management. Knowledge Management Research & Practice, 15(3), 346-355. https://doi.org/10.1057/s41275-017-0064-8
 
Corcoran, N., & Duane, A. (2018). Using social media to enable staff knowledge sharing in higher education institutions. Australasian Journal of Information Systems, 22. https://doi.org/10.3127/ajis.v22i0.1647
 
Costas, R., Zahedi, Z., & Wouters, P. (2015). Do altmetrics correlate with citations? Extensive comparison of altmetric indicators with citations from a multidisciplinary perspective. Journal of the Association for Information Science & Technology, 66(10), 2003-2019. https://doi.org/10.1002/asi.23309
 
Ebrahimi, S., Afifian, F., & Goltaji, M. (2018). Does Knowledge Sharing in ReseachGate Scientific Network Increase Research-ers’ Productivity Indicators? Case Study of Top World Physicists. Scientometrics Research Journal, 4(8), 57-72. https://doi.org/10.22070/rsci.2018.614  [In Persian].
 
Erfanmanesh, M. (2017). The Presence of Iranian Information Science and Library Science Articles in social media: An Altimetric Study. Iranian Journal of Information Processing & Management, 32(2), 349-373. https: doi.org/10.35050/jipm010.2017.045 [In Persian].
 
Eysenbach, G. (2006). Citation advantage of open access articles. PLOS Biology, 4(5), e157. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.0040157
 
Gaviria-Marin, M., Merigó, J. M., & Baier-Fuentes, H. (2019). Knowledge management: A global examination based on bibliometric analysis. Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 140, 194-220. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.techfore.2018.07.006
 
Ghalavand, H., Panahi, S., & Sedghi, S. (2021). How social media facilitate health knowledge sharing among physicians. Behaviour & Information Technology. 41(7), 1544-1553. https://doi.org/10.1080/0144929X.2021.1886326
Kim, J., Lee, C., & Elias, T. (2010). Factors affecting information sharing in social networking sites amongst university students: Application of the knowledge-sharing model to social networking sites. Online Information Review, 39(3), 290-309 https://doi.org/10.1108/OIR-01-2015-0022
Haustein, S., Costas, R., & Larivière, V. (2015). Characterizing social media metrics of scholarly papers: The effect of document properties and collaboration patterns. PLOS One, 10(3), e0120495. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0120495
 
Holmberg, K.J. (2015). Altmetrics for information professionals: Past, present and future. Chandos Publishing.
Hoseini, M., Saghafi, F., & Aghayi, E. (2019). A multidimensional model of knowledge sharing behavior in mobile social networks. Kybernetes, 48(5), 906-929. https://doi.org/10.1108 / K-07-2017-0249
 
Naeem, M. (2019). Uncovering the role of social media and cross-platform applications as tools for knowledge sharing. VINE Journal of Information & Knowledge Management Systems, 49(3), 257-276. https://doi.org/10.1108/VJIKMS-01-2019-0001
 
Nonaka, I., & Takeuchi, H. (2007). The knowledge-creating company. Harvard Business Review, 85(7/8), 162. https://www.academia.edu/download/61456563/The-Knowledge-Creating-Company20191208-52913-jqqjmu.pdf
 
Ortega, J. L. (2018). Disciplinary differences of the impact of altmetric. FEMS Microbiology Letters, 365(7), 1-6. https://doi.org/10.1093/femsle/fny049
 
Paulin, D., & Suneson, K. (2012). Knowledge transfer, knowledge sharing and knowledge barriers–three blurry terms in KM. Electronic Journal of Knowledge Management, 10(1), 82-92. https://academic-publishing.org/index.php/ejkm/article/view/953
Ramy, A., Floody, J., Ragab, M. A., & Arisha, A. (2018). A scientometric analysis of Knowledge Management Research and Practice literature: 2003–2015. Knowledge Management Research & Practice, 16(1), 66-77. https://doi.org/10.1080/14778238.2017.1405776
 
Safitri, A., & Mahendrawathi, E. R. (2019). Social software and knowledge sharing: A systematic literature review. [In 2019 International Conference on Advanced Computer Science and Information Systems (ICACSIS)], October 12-13, 2019, Bali, Indonesia (pp. 389-394). IEEE. https://doi.org/10.1109/ICACSIS47736.2019.8979920
 
Sankar, K., & Bouchard, S.A. (2009). Enterprise web 2.0 fundamentals. Cisco Press. https://doi.org/10.5860/choice.47-3214
 
Seitz, S. R., & Misra, K. (2020). Knowledge sharing in social networks: considering the role of political skill and trust. International Journal of Organization Theory & Behavior, 23(2), 121-140. https://doi.org/10.1108/ijotb-07-2019-0091
Selwyn, N. (2008). An investigation of differences in undergraduates' academic use of the internet. Active Learning in Higher Education, 9(1), 11-22. https://doi.org/10.1177/1469787407086744
Serenko, A., Bontis, N., Booker, L., Sadeddin, K., & Hardie, T. (2010). A scientometric analysis of knowledge management and intellectual capital academic literature (1994‐2008). Journal of Knowledge Management., 14(1), 3-23. https://doi.org/10.1108/13673271011015534
 
Serenko, A. (2013). Meta-analysis of scientometric research of knowledge management: Discovering the identity of the discipline. Journal of Knowledge Management, 17(5), 773-812. https://doi.org/10.1108/JKM-05-2013-0166
 
Serenko, A. (2021). A structured literature review of scientometric research of the knowledge management discipline: a 2021 update. Journal of Knowledge Management. 25(8), 1889-1925. https://doi.org/10.1108/JKM-09-2020-0730
 
Thelwall, M., Haustein, S., Larivière, V., &  Sugimoto, C. R. (2013). Do altmetrics work? Twitter and ten other social web services. PLOS One, 8(5), e64841. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0064841
 
Weller, K. (2015). Social Media and Altmetrics: An Overview of Current Alternative Approaches to Measuring Scholarly Impact. In: Welpe, I., Wollersheim, J., Ringelhan, S., Osterloh, M. (eds) Incentives and Performance. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-09785-5_16
 
Zarei, E., & Jabbar Zadeh, A. (2019). Knowledge management and social media: A scientometrics survey. International Journal of Data and Network Science, 3, 359-378. https://doi.org/10.5267/j.ijdns.2019.2.008
 
(TITLE ("knowledge transfer" AND "social media") OR TITLE ("knowledge transfer" AND "social network*") OR TITLE ("knowledge transfer" AND "social software*") OR KEY ("knowledge transfer" AND "social media") OR KEY ("knowledge transfer" AND "social network*") OR KEY ("knowledge transfer" AND "social software*") OR TITLE ("knowledge sharing" AND "social media") OR TITLE ("knowledge sharing" AND "social network*") OR TITLE ("knowledge sharing" AND "social software*") OR KEY ("knowledge sharing" AND "social media") OR KEY ("knowledge sharing" AND "social network*") OR KEY ("knowledge sharing" AND "social software*") OR TITLE ("knowledge dissemination" AND "social media") OR TITLE ("knowledge dissemination" AND "social network*") OR TITLE ("knowledge dissemination" AND "social software*") OR KEY ("knowledge dissemination" AND "social media") OR KEY ("knowledge dissemination" AND "social network*") OR KEY ("knowledge dissemination" AND "social software*") OR TITLE ("knowledge exchange" AND "social media") OR TITLE ("knowledge exchange" AND "social network*") OR TITLE ("knowledge exchange" AND "social software*") OR KEY ("knowledge exchange" AND "social media") OR KEY ("knowledge exchange" AND "social network*") OR KEY ("knowledge exchange" AND "social software*") OR TITLE ("knowledge diffusion" AND "social media") OR TITLE ("knowledge diffusion" AND "social network*") OR TITLE ("knowledge diffusion" AND "social software*") OR KEY ("knowledge diffusion" AND "social media") OR KEY ("knowledge diffusion" AND "social network*") OR KEY ("knowledge diffusion" AND "social software*") OR TITLE ("knowledge distribution" AND "social media") OR TITLE ("knowledge distribution" AND "social network*") OR TITLE ("knowledge distribution" AND "social software*") OR KEY ("knowledge distribution" AND "social media") OR KEY ("knowledge distribution" AND "social network*") OR KEY ("knowledge distribution" AND "social software*"))
 

Files

Share

How to cite

Statistics