Table 2 Summary of the objectives and methods according to the variables of interest in the review and author’s conclusions

1

Amath et al., 2017 [15]

(Medical Education Journals)

To analyze the relationships among Altmetric score, access counts and citation counts.

Year of search strategy: 2012 and 2013.

Sample size: n = 482.

Data extraction: citation counts, access counts and Altmetric score.

Altmetric scores were weakly correlated with readership (access counts) and impact (citation counts).

2

Araujo et al., 2018 [11]

(Physiotherapy)

To analyze factors related with citation counts, journal impact factor and time since publication with Altmetric score.

Year of search strategy: between 2010 and 2015.

Sample size: n = 200.

Data extraction: citation counts, journal impact factor, time since publication and Altmetric score.

Researchers should preferably select high impact factor journals for submission.

3

Araujo et al., 2021 [16]

(Physiotherapy)

To analyze factors related with citation counts, journal impact factor, open access and time since publication with Altmetric score.

Year of search strategy: between 2015 and 2017.

Sample size: n = 66 systematic reviews.

Data extraction: citation counts, journal impact factor, open access, time since publication and Altmetric score.

Researchers should preferably publish their articles in journals with high impact factor (which is indirectly linked to citations).

4

Assad et al., 2020 [17]

(Plastic Surgery)

To analyze the relationship between citation counts and Altmetric score.

Year of search strategy: 2016.

Sample size: n = 1420.

Data extraction: citation counts and Altmetric score.

Altmetric scores were weakly correlated with citation counts.

5

Ayoub et al., 2021 [26]

(Gastroenterology and Hepatology)

To analyze the relationship between citation counts and Altmetric score.

Year of search strategy: 2014.

Sample size: n = 4026.

Data extraction: citation counts and Altmetric score.

Altmetric scores were strongly correlated with citation counts.

6

Barakat et al., 2019 [18]

(General Medicine Journals)

To analyze the relationship between citation counts and Altmetric score for high-impact general medicine journals.

Year of search strategy: 2014.

Sample size: n = 551.

Data extraction: citation counts and Altmetric score.

Altmetric scores were poorly correlated with the number of citations in the subsequent 3 years.

7

Barbic et al., 2016 [19]

(Emergency Medicine)

To analyze the citation counts, journal impact factor and Altmetric scores in emergency medicine journals.

Year of search strategy: 2014.

Sample size: n = 50.

Data extraction: citation counts, journal impact factor and Altmetric score.

Altmetric scores were weakly correlated with citation counts and journal impact factor.

8

Bornmann et al., 2018 [20]

(Biomedical Area)

To analyze the dimensions of measurement for citation counts and Altmetric.

Year of search strategy: between 2011 and 2013.

Sample size: n = 33.683.

Data extraction: citation counts and Altmetric score.

Altmetric reader score are associated to citation counts.

9

Chen et al., 2019 [21]

(Rheumatology)

To analyze the relationship between citation counts and Altmetric score.

Year of search strategy: between 2010 and 2015.

Sample size: n = 1460.

Data extraction: citation counts and Altmetric score.

Disease area did not correlate with Altmetric and citations counts. Altmetric identified different articles as high impact compared with citation metrics.

10

Costas et al., 2015 [22]

(Multidisciplinary)

To analyze the relationship between citation counts, journal impact factor and Altmetric score.

Year of search strategy: 2013.

Sample size: n = 500.229.

Data extraction: citation counts, journal impact factor and Altmetric score.

Altmetric scores were weakly correlated with citations. This findings suggests that the potential of Altmetric to replace traditional citation analysis is not very strong.

11

Dagar et al., 2021 [23]

(Psychiatry)

To analyze the relationship between citation counts and Altmetric score.

Year of search strategy: 2016.

Sample size: n = 360.

Data extraction: citation counts and Altmetric score.

Altmetric scores were weakly correlated with citation counts. Besides that, the authors found a very high degree of public engagement with psychiatry research.

12

Didegah et al., 2018 [25]

(Social Sciences & Humanities, Engineering & Technology, Medical & Natural Sciences)

To analyze the differences between citation counts and Altmetric score.

Year of search strategy: between 2012 and 2014.

Sample size: n = 13.623.

Data extraction: citation counts and Altmetric score.

Altmetric reader score are associated to citation counts.

13

Haneef et al., 2017 [24]

(Oncology)

To analyze the variables journal impact factor, press release and open access with Altmetric score of articles evaluating cancer treatments.

Year of search strategy: first 6 months of 2014.

Sample size: n = 792.

Data extraction: journal impact factor, press release, open access and Altmetric score.

The press release and the journal impact factor are the most important factors associated with high online media attention were the presence.

14

Knight, 2014 [27]

(Solid Organ Transplantation)

To analyze the association between citation counts and Altmetric score in the field of solid organ transplantation.

Year of search strategy: between August 2011 and July 2012.

Sample size: n = 6.979.

Data extraction: citation counts and Altmetric score.

Altmetric scores were weakly correlated with citation counts. Blogging and expert recommendation, in particular, are associated with higher citation rates.

15

Kunze et al., 2020 [29]

(Joint Arthroplasty)

To analyze the relationship between citation counts and the Altmetric score.

Year of search strategy: 2016.

Sample size: n = 42.

Data extraction: citation counts and Altmetric score.

High methodologic quality and limited study bias markedly contribute to the Altmetric of RCTs in the total joint arthroplasty literature.

16

Lamb et al., 2018 [30]

(Ecology and Conservation)

To analyze the association between citation counts and the Altmetric score.

Year of search strategy: between 2005 and 2015.

Sample size: n = 8.322.

Data extraction: citation counts and Altmetric score.

There are strong association between science communication (measured by the Altmetric score) and citation counts.

17

Richardson et al., 2020 [28]

(Spine Journals)

To analyze the relationship between citation counts and the Altmetric score.

Year of search strategy: January, February and March 2017.

Sample size: n = 380.

Data extraction: citation counts and Altmetric score.

Altmetric scores were weakly correlated with citation counts in seven spine journals.

18

Richardson et al., 2021 [31]

(Journal of Burn Care & Research and Burns)

To analyze the relationship between citation counts and the Altmetric score.

Year of search strategy: 2017.

Sample size: n = 285.

Data extraction: citation counts and Altmetric score.

Altmetric scores were weakly correlated with citation counts. Besides that, the authors recommend the combined use of Altmetric and traditional metrics such as citation count and impact factor.

19

Rosenkrantz et al., 2017 [32]

(Radiology)

To analyze citation counts and Altmetric score for articles in popular general radiology journals.

Year of search strategy: 2013.

Sample size: n = 892.

Data extraction: citation counts and Altmetric score.

Articles published in four popular radiology journals overall received relatively low attention on social media comparison with citations.