Scientometrics Research Journal

Scientometrics Research Journal

Knowledge Sharing on Social Media: Bibliometric and Altmetric Analyses

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors
Leila Jabbari 1
Mohammad Hassanzadeh 2
Fatemeh Zandian 3
Atefeh Sharif 4
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.
10.22070/rsci.2024.17582.1663
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
Knowledge sharing
Social media
Knowledge management
Bibliometrics
Altmetrics
Subjects
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