Use and assessment of general-interest social networks and academic databases in Galician universities

Introduction: This article examines the knowledge, use, assessment and impact of the social networks Facebook and Twitter and bibliographic databases among the Teaching and Research Staff (TRS) of three Galician universities. Methods: The study is based on a survey conducted among a sample of 463 respondents selected from a universe of 5,498 professors and researchers. The survey has a margin of error of 5% and a confidence level of 95%. Results: 50.2% of the TRS considers that Facebook and Twitter are suitable for teaching and research while the remaining 49.8% thinks otherwise. Scopus and Google Scholar are the most known and used databases, with percentages above 80% and 60%, respectively, while EBSCO and EMBASE are the least known. Discussion and conclusions: There is significant knowledge and use of academic databases, but the opinions regarding the suitability of Facebook and Twitter for teaching and research activities are very divided.