The impact of social media on sleep journals: analyzing the correlation between altmetrics and citation count

Purpose The assessment of scientific articles is essential for making informed decisions regarding promotion, tenure, and funding, as well as for identifying influential research within a specific field. Traditional metrics like citation count have been the standard for evaluating the reach and influence of publications, but they have limitations. A new web-based metric-the Altmetric Attention Score (AAS)-offers a dynamic analysis of online engagement through social media platforms, including X (Formerly Twitter), Facebook, and YouTube. This study primarily examines the role of X activity in shaping AAS and explores its correlation with traditional citation counts in sleep medicine journals. Methods The study included articles from the top 10 sleep journals ranked by impact factor, focusing on articles published in 2020 and 2021. Data on citation counts were extracted from Journal Citation Reports (JCR), while AAS data were retrieved from the Altmetrics website. The analysis primarily focused on X activity as a proxy for online engagement. Pearson's and Spearman's correlations were used to evaluate the relationship between AAS, citation counts, and X activity. Statistical analysis was conducted using R software. Results A total of 3,944 articles were analyzed. The average AAS was 20, with a median of 2. A weak but statistically significant positive correlation (r = 0.22, P < 0.001) was observed between AAS and citation counts. X activity showed a strong correlation with AAS (r = 0.65, P < 0.001), but only a weak correlation with citation counts (r = 0.16, P < 0.001). Conclusion This study highlights the strong relationship between X activity and AAS, emphasizing X's role in influencing Altmetric scores. However, the weaker correlation between AAS and citation counts implies that while AAS may measure immediate online attention, it is not always a reliable predictor of long-term academic impact.