Journal of Parkinson’s Disease 7 (2017) 81–87 81 DOI 10.3233/JPD-179000 IOS Press Short Communication Top Altmetric Scores in the Parkinson’s Disease Literature Rui Araujo´ a, Aaron A. Sorensenb, Stacy Konkielc and Bastiaan R. Bloemd,∗ aDepartment of Neurology, Centro Hospitalar e Universit´ario de Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal bUberResearch¨ – Digital Science, Inc., Cambridge, MA, USA cAltmetric LLC – Digital Science, Inc., Cambridge, MA, USA dDepartment of Neurology, Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Radboud University Medical Centre, Nijmegen, The Netherlands Abstract. A new class of social web-based metrics for scholarly publications (altmetrics) has surfaced as a complement to traditional citation-based metrics. Our aim was to study and characterize those recent papers in the field of Parkinson’s disease which had received the highest Altmetric Attention Scores and to compare this attention measure to the traditional metrics. The top 20 papers in our analysis covered a variety of topics, mainly new disease mechanisms, treatment options and risk factors for the development of PD. The main media sources for these high attention papers were news items and Twitter. The papers were published predominantly in high impact journals, suggesting a correlation between altmetrics and conventional metrics. One paper published in a relatively modest journal received a significant amount of attention, reflecting that public attention does not always parallel the traditional metrics. None of the most influential papers in PD, as reviewed by Ponce and Lozano (2011) made it to our list, suggesting that recent publications receive higher attention scores, and that altmetrics may omit older, seminal work in the field. Keywords: Altmetric, impact factor, Parkinson’s disease, social media INTRODUCTION Academics have long relied on citation-related metrics as the main indicators of a publication’s Social media, such as Facebook and Twitter, have impact [2]. With the advent of social media, a new profoundly changed our cultural and societal land- class of social web-based metrics (“altmetrics”) has scapes, and dramatically altered the way the news is surfaced as a fast, format-agnostic complement to reported and how opinions are conveyed. By 2020, the traditional indicators, showcasing attention amongst number of worldwide social media users is expected many different stakeholder groups. There is discus- to reach 2.95 billion, around a third of the Earth’s sion regarding altmetrics’ significance, specifically population [1]. Nearly all aspects of life have been relating to how altmetrics correlate with traditional, changed by this phenomenon, politics being one citation-based metrics, as well as concerning its gen- example that may come to mind, but the advent of eral usefulness [3, 4]. The current view is that even social media has also affected science. though there may be a correlation between altmetrics and traditional metrics, the two most likely represent ∗ Correspondence to: Bastiaan R. Bloem, Department of Neu- different aspects of a publication’s reach [5]. rology, Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Radboud University Medical Centre, Nijmegen, The Netherlands. Our aim was to study which recent papers in the Tel.: +31 24 3615202; Fax: +31 24 3541122; E-mail: field of Parkinson’s disease (PD) had received the [email protected]. highest Altmetric Attention Scores, a weighted score ISSN 1877-7171/17/$35.00 © 2017 – IOS Press and the authors. All rights reserved This article is published online with Open Access and distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (CC BY-NC 4.0). 82 R. Ara´ujo et al. / Top Altmetric Scores in Parkinson’s Disease assigned by an altmetrics reporting service, Altmet- pattern (a unilaterally reduced arm swing on the ric, and to compare this to the traditional metrics. right side, which could potentially signal the pres- ence of early parkinsonism) in a series of five highly ranked Kremlin officials, among them Russian Pres- METHODS ident Vladimir Putin and Prime Minister Medvedev. The worldwide fascination with the Russian Presi- Scientific articles indexed in PubMed with the dent, the excitement of the possible implication of MeSH term “Parkinson’s Disease” or with the key- early parkinsonism in elite Russian politicians (as word “Parkinson” in the title were selected and well as the alternative explanation that the absent arm ranked according to their Altmetric Attention Score swing was actually a “gunslinger’s gait”, explained using Altmetric Explorer database (Version 2 for by KGB or other forms of weaponry training), the Institutions)—updated 29/12/2016. Altmetric Atten- compelling videos that came with the article, and the tion Scores are calculated via an automated algorithm public attention given to the special edition of the created by the company Altmetric, representing a British Medical Journal (where the paper was pub- weighted count of the amount of attention a particu- lished) arguably contributed to the paper’s relatively lar paper has received in various online sources. The generous amount of online attention [9]. The strict score is weighted to reflect the relative reach of each scientific merits were more modest for this paper, type of source. A news story is worth 8 points, a tweet although it does draw attention to the presence and is worth 1 point, and a Facebook post is worth a importance of the earliest stages of PD. quarter point. This is based on the assumption that Fatigue was the subject of two very highly ranked news stories are likely to generate more attention papers (#5, #6). Paper #5 reports on a symposium that the single Facebook post. Regarding news sites, in which members of the general public participated each is assigned a tier, which determines the weight [10]. This prompted the attention of the Movement of their contribution to the overall attention score Disorders Society with the publication of paper #6, meaning that newspapers with worldwide readership considering fatigue as being one of the most impor- contribute more heavily to the score than do local tant, albeit neglected aspect of PD [11]. Both were news outlets. Other sources are weighted differently highly reported upon in news outlets, suggesting this [6]. Articles’ traditional citations were obtained from is also an important issue for the general public. Scopus, and the two scores were compared qualita- The fields most consistently covered in this list tively. are new disease mechanisms (#1, #4, #14, #15) [7, 12–14], treatment options (#8, #9, #11, #12, #16, RESULTS #17, #19) [15–21] and risk factors for the devel- opment of PD (#10, #13, #20) [22–24]. These are Table 1 shows the 20 publications on PD with the topics that rank very highly among the concerns of PD highest Altmetric Scores. Mainstream media men- patients and their families, because no curative treat- tions and Twitter mentions comprised a majority of ment exists. Other subjects included MRI changes in the attention that these articles received online. The patients with cognitive impairment associated with three highest scoring papers in field of PD have PD (#7) [25] and impulse-control disorders associ- received a considerable amount of attention from ated with dopaminergic agonists (#18) [26]. news media and Twitter, even though they are funda- Virtually all papers were published in journals mentally very different articles. The first (#1) reports with high impact factors, indicating a potential a new disease mechanism for PD, establishing a correlation between traditional metrics and altmet- potentially exciting link between intestinal micro- rics. One exception worth mentioning is the paper biota, motor symptoms and neuro-inflammation in in 8th position—dealing with cannabis (medical a cleverly designed animal model of PD [7]. The sec- marijuana), as a possible treatment for motor and ond (#2) reports a significant increase in the incidence non-motor symptoms of PD—with the highest num- of PD over the last decade, which understandably ber of raw mentions by far, mainly due to Twitter. raises concern among policy makers and the gen- The use of medical marijuana is still the subject of eral public [8]. In both cases, the scientific merits lively debate in many parts of the world [27], which and public attention went hand in hand. This was likely contributed to the paper’s attention in social somewhat different for the third paper (#3), which media. It is also interesting to note that the study describes a unique and remarkably consistent gait that was published in the New England Journal of Table 1 Papers in PD literature with the highest Altmetric Attention Scores Paper Rank [Ref] Altmetric Altmetric Score Journal Impact Year of Topic Main Main social Citations Raw Score context by paper publication findings media outlet mentions age and Journal∗∗ Gut microbiota regulate motor 1 [7] 926 #3 Cell 28.710 2016 Disease Gut microbiome may Twitter 1 654 deficits and neuroinflammation mechanism influence risk of PD. in a model of Parkinson’s disease Time trends in the incidence of 2 [8] 905 #1 JAMA Neurology 8.230 2016 Epidemiology Incidence of PD is rising. News 1 220 Parkinson disease “Gunslinger’s gait”: a new cause 3 [9] 735 #8 British Medical 19.697 2015 Semiology Highly ranked Russian Twitter 1 553 of unilaterally reduced arm Journal (BMJ) politicians exhibit R. Ara´ swing reduced arm swing. ␣-Synuclein binds to TOM20 and 4 [12] 588 #5 Science 16.264 2016 Disease New pathogenic News 5 109 ujo et al. / Top Altmetric Scores in Parkinson’s Disease inhibits mitochondrial protein Translational mechanism mechanism in PD. import in Parkinson’s disease Medicine Fatigue in Parkinson’s disease: 5 [10] 490 #1 NPJ Parkinson’s NA 2016 Fatigue Fatigue is prevalent and News NA 72 report from a mutidisciplinary Disease merits recognition by symposium experts, policy-makers and the general public. Parkinson’s disease-related 6 [11] 479 #1 Movement 6.010 2016 Fatigue Recommendation for News NA 69 fatigue: A case definition and Disorders diagnosis/investigation recommendations for clinical PD-related fatigue.