Promoting Publications through Plastic Surgery Journal Instagram Accounts: Is it Worth it?
Christopher Goydos, BS1, Rose S. Maisner, BS1, Melody Ong, BS1, Shona Jain, BA1, Payal Shah, MBS1, Brian Kim, BS1 Jack Wright, BA1, Nidhi Patel, BA1, Kailash Kapadia, MD1, Edward S. Lee, MD1
1Division of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Department of Surgery, Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, Newark, NJ
PURPOSE: Plastic surgery journals are increasingly using social media to increase engagement and article visibility. However, no study to date has explored the performance of these promoted articles. We aim to determine the impact of Instagram promotion on and identify social media tools that effectively enhance article engagement and citations.
METHODS: Instagram accounts for Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Annals of Plastic Surgery, Aesthetic Surgery Journal, and Aesthetic Plastic Surgery were reviewed for posts published by 2/08/2022, promoting articles. Articles from corresponding Open Access journals were excluded. Per post, caption word count, and the number of likes, tagged accounts, and hashtags were recorded. Inclusion of videos, article links or author introductions, was noted. All articles from journal issues published between the dates of the first and last posts promoting articles were reviewed, excluding commentaries, discussions, erratum, obituaries, and book reviews. Altmetric data approximated article engagement. Citation numbers from the National Institute of Health iCite tool were recorded. Differences in engagement and citability of articles with and without Instagram promotion were compared by Mann Whitney U-Tests. Univariate and multivariable regressions were used to calculate factors predictive of more engagement (Altmetric score >=5) and citations (>=6) (p<0.05).
RESULTS: Overall, 5037 articles were included, of which 675 (13.4%) were promoted on Instagram. Of posts featuring articles, 274 (40.6%) included videos, 469 (69.5%) article links, and 123 (18.2%) author introductions. On such posts, median word count was 52, number of likes 94, number of accounts tagged 6, and number of hashtags used 7. Promoted articles had higher median Altmetric Scores, percentiles compared to others from the same journal of similar publication age, number of Mendeley readers, and citations (p<0.001). On multivariable analysis, for promoted articles, using more hashtags predicted higher article Altmetric scores (OR=2.05, p<0.001) and more citations (OR=2.40, p<0.001). Tagging more accounts (OR=1.56, p=0.034), accruing more likes (OR=2.85, p<0.001), and including article links (OR=2.46, p<0.001) predicted higher Altmetric scores. Including author introductions negatively predicted higher Altmetric scores (OR=0.41, p<0.001) and citations (OR=0.57, p=0.014). Caption word count had no significant impact on engagement or citations of promoted articles.
CONCLUSION: Instagram promotion increases plastic surgery article engagement and citability. Journals should utilize more hashtags, tag more accounts, and include manuscript links to increase article metrics. We recommend authors use opportunities to promote on journal social media to maximize article reach, engagement, and citations, which positively impacts research productivity with minimal additional effort in designing Instagram content.
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