Academic Influencers on X (Former Twitter) and Their Impact on Research Metrics: A Narrative Review and Correlation Analysis of Top 100 Altmetric Articles (2017–2021) Publisher



Torabi M ; Hadavandsiri F ; Kazemzadeh H ; Goodarzi M
Source: Medical Journal of the Islamic Republic of Iran Published:2026

Abstract

Background: Researchers are increasingly using social media platforms, especially X (formerly Twitter), to share scientific knowledge. But it’s still unclear how activity on X affects traditional academic impact. This study looks at how X mentions relate to Altmetric Attention Scores (AAS) and citation counts for high-profile research. Methods: We combined a narrative review of medical field academic influencers with a quantitative correlation analysis of the top 100 Altmetric articles from 2017–2021. Data included AAS, X mentions, and citation counts from Dimensions. Pearson correlation coefficients were calculated to see yearly trends. We also did a systematic search on PubMed and Google Scholar on August 3, 2024, using MeSH terms and Boolean operators. Results: There were strong positive correlations between X mentions and AAS (r = 0.673–0.944, P < 0.05). The relationships between AAS and citations were weaker and varied (r = 0.075–0.504, P < 0.05 in 2020 and 2021). The review showed mixed links between social media influence and academic productivity across different specialties. Conclusion: X helps increase research visibility but isn’t a strong predictor of long-term citations. These results suggest that altmetrics are useful as complementary tools for evaluating research. Future studies should look at multiple platforms and consider global differences in digital influence. Copyright © Iran University of Medical Sciences. This work has been published under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 license.